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Slovakia risks fine over enviro-laws

[03.04.2012, The Slovak Spectator, NEWS]

Slovakia may suffer the consequences of failing to implement European environmental legislation. If it does not pass measures required by the European Commission (EC) or if it repeats errors that are present in current laws, it could be taken to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and forced to pay a fine amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros.

“According to the information available to the commission, Slovakia has not yet transposed correctly several provisions of the Directive,” reads the EC statement.

Moreover, the EC says that Slovak legislation does not sufficiently encourage recycling and the use of recycled materials, nor does it prioritise energy recovery when it is preferable to material recycling for environmental and cost-benefit reasons.

In addition, Slovak law contains some provisions that restrict competition in relation to packaging and packaging waste. Radovan Kazda, an analyst with the Conservative Institute of M. R. ©tefánik, wrote in an article for the Trend weekly that this objection pertains to the fact that Slovakia prefers domestic companies for evaluation of dangerous waste.

Radka Minarechová. Article was published in the Slovakia`s English-language weekly The Slovak Spectator. Read the whole article here.