Environment

Environmental legislation throughout the European Union is meant to protect the environment (Art. 191 (1) TFEU) based on the precautionary principle and the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay (Art. 191 (2) TFEU). However when one looks more closely, it will become obvious that environmental legislation is about licensing the degree of pollution allowed to cause. In other words, it focuses indirectly on the water we drink, the air we breath and the earth we walk on through the regulation of activities causing pollution. Under the later Industry does have dominant position. Hence, Industry and Environment, although being contradictory terms, interrelate heavily. In the present paper the main licences that need to be obtained for the operation of industrial undertakings in Cyprus will be examined following the protected goods that form the notion of environment, those being water, soil and air. For the purposes of answering the question “why should the industry bother?” the sanctions foreseen in law for the operation without license as well as for breaching same are set out.

What waste categories are within the ambit of the 2011 Waste Law (no. 185(I)/2011)?

The 2011 Waste Law (Law 185(I)/2011) in Cyprus, hereinafter ‘the Law’, has been in force since its publication in the Cyprus Gazette on the 23rd December 2011. The Law regulates all necessary procedures in relation to the protection of the environment and human health, in an effort to minimize the negative implications of the production and to regulate the management of waste. The Law does not apply to:

• Emissions waste that are released into the atmosphere
• To land, including land that has undergone pollution
• To radioactive waste
• Declassified explosives
• To excreta, if these do not come under par. 2, subpar. (b)
• Incineration of human bodies
• Animal by-products, animal bodies, waste that is produced as a result of mining processes, as long as these come under a different legislative regime.

The Law harmonizes local legislation with European Directives 2008/98/EC, 96/59/EC, 99/31/EC, 2002/96/EC, 2006/66/EC, 2011/65/EC and with EC Regulation no. 1013/2006.

Environmental liability is regulated in Cyprus through Law on Environmental Liability with regard to the Prevention and Remedying of Environmental Damage No. 189 (I)/2007 (Official Gazette No. 4154 Pt. I of 31.12.2007 - hereinafter “Law No. 189(I)/2007”), which was done for the purposes of implementing Directive 2004/35/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage (OJ L 143 , 30.4.2004 p. 56 - hereinafter “Environmental Liability Directive”). The main points of this legislation are discussed below.