Discussion Papers 1995. No. 20.
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary
CENTRE FOR REGIONAL STUDIES OF HUNGARIAN
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
DISCUSSION PAPERS
No. 20
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in
the Republic of Hungary
by
BENKŐNÉ,
LODNER Dorottya
Series editor
HRUBI, László
Pécs
1995
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
INTRODUCTION
In order to discuss the topic indicated by the title above, some fundamental
concepts must be clarified first as to what is meant by environmental pro-
tection from the legal point of view, and what its content elements are. When
defining the concept of environment, the starting point of the current legis-
lature was an environmental protection and human approach. Only those
elements are included which can be influenced by human behaviour, acti-
vity or negligence, either in a positive or negative way. Further restrictions of
legal regulations – the fact that protection does not cover the whole sur-
rounding environment – can be explained by the following. From one point
of view, certain elements of the environment had already been put into dif-
ferent protection categories before the overall legal regulation of environ-
mental protection took place in 1976 (e.g. working environment into
labour safety; monument environment into preservation of monuments).
From another point of view, and for reasons of justification, only those
elements can be included which have a significant impact upon either a
wider community or the natural environment. Within the concept of envi-
ronment two subcategories can be differentiated: natural and artificial. The
former refers to the complex of natural elements which together produce an
effect on the biological conditions of human life at a given place and time.
The latter (the built environment) consists of the environment shaped by
people according to their own needs. This differentiation is justified by the
need for different types of legal regulation for protection. (The earth and
water for instance, as elements of the environment, are managed according
to different criteria as compared to the protection of separate protected en-
vironmental objects; although the former, in addition to other elements, also
appear in the protection regulations of the settlement environment but with
a different focus.)
Several concepts have been coined by Hungarian professionals but
there is no unified standpoint as far as environmental protection is concerned.
These definitions share the following features: human-centredness environ-
mental protection activity is aimed at keeping people and their health safe,
and complexity in two different meanings. The first is the complexity of
protection which presumes the mutual participation of several components,
in close interrelationship with one another (e.g. social, political, legal,
economic, technical, biological, ecological etc.). The second is the complex-
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
ity of elements; protection, with the above mentioned restrictions, covers all
the elements of the environment (earth, water, air, flora and fauna, land-
scape, settlement environment etc.) and manages them as a whole, concent-
rating on their interrelationships. Although the legal regulation of environ-
mental protection does not define the concept of environmental protection,
but rather sets the aims of the law and the task of environmental protection
(see Act II on environmental protection in 1976)), the component elements
of protection can be deduced from the general regulations. Consequently, en-
vironmental protection means a conscious activity to serve the health condi-
tions and interests of both the present and the future generations, including:
• the prevention of dangerous phenomena, environmental damage
detrimental to people (damage protection);
• the elimination and reduction of the already existing decline in the
quality of the environment (damage limitation);
• the rational social use of utilisable natural resources and natural en-
vironmental elements;
• the conservation and rehabilitation of natural areas (nature conser-
vation);
• the creation and continuous improvement of socially favourable
living conditions for the future (systematic nature conservation).
Nature conservation, as the list above suggests, is situated within the
conceptual scope of environmental protection. It covers the protection, con-
servation and specific goal-oriented maintenance of both the natural areas,
more or less free from human intrusion, with scientific and cultural signifi-
cance (e.g. caves, certain species of plants); and also products of human
creation (e.g. parks).
As a result of the socio-economic changes in the Republic of Hun-
gary, a new attitude can be seen concerning the management of environ-
mental protection issues. The government program, through the uniform
adjustment of the natural and man-made environment, has set the aim of
developing the conditions and quality of life. This task, however, is far from
easy. The decline of environmental quality is a direct consequence of the last
four decades’ economic policy. The material- and energy-intensive econo-
mic structure; the high proportion of pollutive technologies and equally pol-
lutive different branches of industry; excessive economic centralisation;
and the neglect of infrastructure were all factors inducing and conserving en-
vironmental pollution. The situation of environmental protection was further
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
hindered by the monolithic political system and the state administration
which served it, by giving priority to production interests only and pushing
the non-productive sector into the background. As a means of implementing
this policy, the regulations, besides declaring the principle of prevention,
were characterised by the idea of subsequent intervention. The dominance
of the direct commands of authorities; the scattered allocation of tasks and
competence; the concentration of sectoral and environmental interest repre-
sentation and assertion in the hands of a certain ministries (e.g. the ministries
of agriculture and industry) were all factors which prevented effective envi-
ronmental protection activity by the state. The present government wants to
stop the disintegration of environmental quality by the millennium. The pri-
mary task is to reduce the harmful effects directly endangering the health
conditions of the population; that is to improve the air and water quality, and
to solve the problem of waste disposal. Other aims of high priority are the
conservation of the irreplaceable natural environment and active participa-
tion in the regional and global protection of the Carpathian Basin.
In order to achieve these aims it is essential to reform the legal regula-
tions of environmental protection; an environment-friendly jurisdiction
should be established and this principle is also endorsed by the legislature.
What are the characteristics today of the Hungarian central legislation serv-
ing the interests of a healthy environment? Concerning environmental pro-
tection, the body of law consists of a vast number of legal instruments, a
conglomeration quite difficult to survey. A relatively small number of over-
all regulations can be found wholly covering the environment protected by
law. The majority of present provisions apply first to specific elements of the
environment and to the wholly or partly damaging activities (e.g. soil pro-
tection: qualitative and quantitative protection of agricultural lands, mineral
resource protection; waste: dangerous, solid and liquid, of settlements) and
second, they are associated with economic activity in the environment. On
the other hand, the provisions concerning environmental elements are often
linked with economic activities (e.g. forestry, waterworks, mining). Further-
more, all those legal norms should be mentioned as a result of which, in the
context of the socio-economic changes and the renewal of jurisdiction and
the state administration system and its operation, environmental protection
tasks are determined and allocated and their scope changed.
The fundamental condition of an effective and productive administra-
tion is an unambiguous and implementable legal regulation from the point of
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
view of substantive and procedural law. In terms of environmental protec-
tion, the present body of law does not meet these requirements. Concerning
the legislation of the recent period following the change of system, three
main courses can be differentiated in the updating of legal regulations:
the modification of certain fields within the area of environmental
protection (e.g. the 27/1992 (I. 30.) government decree on the cont-
rol of the formation of toxic waste and on the activities related to
their neutralisation), the re-regulation of general issues (e.g. the
1992 Act LXXXIII on certain separated state funds, including the
Central Environmental Protection Fund), and the introduction of
new subject matters to be regulated (e.g. the Ministry of Environ-
mental Protection et. al.’s 18/1991 (XII. 18.) decree on the control
and check of motor vehicles from the environmental protection
point of view; and the 86/1993 (VI. 4.) government decree on the
temporary regulation of inspecting the environmental effects of
certain activities);
the integration of environmental protection regulations into the
mechanisms „commanding” economic change (e.g. state compa-
nies, co-operatives) and the re-regulation of branches of industry
(e.g. new laws on mining);
norms regulating the management and organisation of environ-
mental protection and the restructuring of the scope of tasks and
competence (e.g. the 1991 Act XX, 24/1992 (I. 28.) government
decree on the modification of environmental protection provisions
of the law and on the tasks and competence of the clerk of local
government).
As far as the result is concerned, these legal provisions can be consi-
dered to be dealing with minor issues, means and organisational framework
only without clarifying their content, the essential questions constituting the
environmental protection activity of the state. The central legislation still
lacks the regulation of procedural issues of environmental protection admi-
nistration. (In this respect, however, improvement can be expected in the
new law on environmental protection.) Even if there are some implications,
these are included in the system of a given branch or field with dominant
branch-centredness, without paying enough attention to the complexity of
environmental protection issues and the complicated inter-relationship bet-
ween environmental elements and the negative effects on them. Briefly, effi-
ciency is prevented by the fact that there is no synthesising system co-ordi-
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
nating minor details, and that both the organisation and its functioning are
too disparate.
The main courses of the necessary changes are:
• in every aspect, the jurisdiction should consider from an environ-
mental protection point of view (instead of the former practice of
pollution neutralisation);
• as a consequence of the principle of the legal state, the regulation
should be normative: instead of the „wishful” declaration of environ-
mental protection principles, the executive government and the
whole public administration should be given concrete tasks which
are defined and surrounded with guarantees;
• the regulations should help to assert the principle of the causer’s re-
sponsibility: the polluter should pay;
• regulated and fair procedures open to the public should be introduced
for cases which cannot be treated within the framework of nor-
mative regulations;
• the environmental protection information system should be further
developed: it should serve simultaneously the work of the authorities
and the evaluation of the state of environment (as a consequence of
the latter function, the environmental data of a given region should
be accessible for anyone anywhere, in a systemic form);
• a new law on environmental protection should be framed (the draft
has already been made);
• the publicity of environmental protection should be stated in this
law;
• special rules of the assertion of environmental protection rights, both
individual and collective, should be laid down in law;
• state participation in environmental protection cannot be reduced ra-
dically; the tasks of the state should be defined and a normative task-
financing system should be worked out;
• concerning the fulfilment of environmental protection tasks, the par-
ticipation of the state and of the persons and institutions involved in
the economy, and the financial burden of the population should be
regulated by law;
• it is essential that the public administration should be both professi-
onal and independent; therefore management and production in-
terests should be separated from each other, the work of the autho-
rities and the government should rely on independent expertise, and
the activities of the authorities should be rendered independent
from the dominance of local economic interest;
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
• the multi-level central legislation (law, cabinet decree, ministerial de-
cree) should be limited to a minimum decree as a result of which
local governments could gain more opportunities to exercise regulat-
ing activities over environmental protection;
• the fundamental elements of the public administrational system of
environmental protection, especially the carrying out of local tasks,
should be defined in law.
The legal regulation of environmental protection is characterised by
creating requirements for different activities. As a consequence, this regula-
tion is essentially a collection of requirements containing the prescriptions of
duties. It is public administration law which has a determining role in the re-
gulation, although environmental protection aspects and provisions can be
found in other branches of law as well (constitutional, civil and criminal).
I believe, that the question of how to set up and operate a public admi-
nistration system whose responsibility is to solve the environmental pro-
tection problems of pressing necessity cannot be neglected. What I find
especially important to consider in connection with the environmental pro-
tection legislation and the location of the related tasks and competencies is
the aspect of regionality. That is, different problems in different regions,
settlement groups and types. Several problems have been induced by the
new local governments replacing the former Council system; by the way
they have taken responsibility, their opportunities to influence the environ-
mental state of settlements and their regions, and their integration in the
administration work of environmental protection.
Therefore, in this paper, I have decided to emphasise the organisation-
legal aspects of environmental protection administration. I will show the
Hungarian state control of environmental protection, the different types of
territorial (local) organisations dealing with environmental protection admi-
nistration. I will also describe the system of task and competence division in
the context of local governments and among deconcentrated state administ-
ration organs and last I will analyse the environmental protection activity of
local governments on the basis of the legal background and practice.
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
1 THE STATE CONTROL OF ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
Environmental protection as an aim and task set by the state presupposes an
overall and general political control broken down into different units. The
more concrete handling of this issue, specified by distinct activities and or-
ganised by tasks and competence is the state control. The state control of
environmental protection can be divided into two subsystems:
overall and general control over environmental protection as a whole,
including the following: the legislative work of the parliament; the
controlling, organising, co-ordinating and supervising activities of the
government; the control of the minister and Ministry of Environmental
Protection and Regional Development, and the decisions of municipal
governments with respect to the whole of the settlement environment
(e.g. environmental protection conception and planning);
control over the special fields of environmental protection, i.e. the con-
trol of activities dealing with both the objects of the environment pro-
tected by law (earth, water, air, flora and fauna, landscape and settle-
ment environments) and with detrimental phenomena endangering the
environment (e.g. noise, waste). The underlying principle of the con-
trol of these special fields of environmental protection is that environ-
mental protection as such is not regarded as a distinct branch activity.
Consequently, control is still dispersed to a certain extent. There are
other reasons, however, rooting in the past; the state administrational
tasks of environmental protection had been integrated into the activi-
ties of different state administration organs much earlier than the com-
plexity of the environmental protection issue were recognised; state
administration was gradually shaped in accordance with the unfa-
vourable changes in the quality of certain environmental elements. The
ministers who exercise control over special fields are as follows: the
minister of environmental protection and regional development; of ag-
riculture; of social welfare; of industry and commerce; of transport, te-
lecommunications and water management. Figure 1 and 2 show the
state control system of environmental protection and the division of
tasks and competence.
In addition to the unified management of the environmental protection
issue, state control requires the simultaneous use of differentiated attitudes if
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
we concentrate on the real chances of implementation. Even in the former
system, plans were made to solve the fundamental problems of environment-
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
Figure 1
Central administration of environmental protection
Parliament
→ Committee of Envi-
ronmental Protection
↓
Government
general direction, co-ordina-
tion, development, control
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
Ministry of Trans-
Ministry of Environ-
portation,
mental Protection
Ministry of
Ministry of Industry
Communication and
Ministry of Welfare
and Regional
Agriculture
and Commerce
Water Economy
Development
• tasks from the international
in the duties of health policy
see Figure 2
• soil quality and humus re-
• direction of the activities of
cooperation in the environ-
• specifying health protection
serve protection
of discovering and complex
mental protection (water e-
tasks in the prevention or
• regulated agricultural land
utilisation of mineral
conomy issues of the envi-
reduction of health damaging
use and protection
resources
ronmental protection)
effects of the environment
• realisation of the require-
• definition of the criteria for
• definition of the criteria for
ments of agricultural envi-
the use of vehicles (air qua-
the production, storage and
ronment economy
lity protection)
•
distribution of health damag-
control of recultivation, me-
ing (toxic) materials
lioration and irrigation
•
• realisation of competent
specifying public health
forestry
conditions of the planning
• permission of commerce,
and operation of establish-
quality and right use cont-
ments
rol of plant protective ma-
terials, fertilisers, and me-
liorative and soil protective
materials
Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
Figure 2
Administration activities of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development
Participation in the go-
Direction of environmental protection
Direction of
Direction of
vernment administration
construction
organisations
⎜
⎜
General direction
Special direction
Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
•
national programme, budget-
• environmental policy: a
legislation (decrees), lawfulness,
• harmonisation of the built
• subordinate institutes, o-
ary resources – recommenda-
definition of the strategy
supervision, control, organis-
and natural environment
ther budgetary organisa-
tion
purposes
ing, co-ordination
• architectural protection
tions (Institute of the En-
• foreign relations (assertion of the
• environmental quality: e-
of the settlement’s envi-
vironmental Policy)
environmental protection inte-
valuation of the environ-
Air quality protection
ronment
• organisations of the re-
rests)
mental conditions
•
gional public administra-
technical, ecological and
• development of regulation of
• monitoring: system of the
tion and other regional
General landscape
aesthetic respects in the
the economy (assertion of the
statistical information
budgetary institutions
protection
spatial structure of the
environmental protection inte-
(harmonisation and func-
built and natural environ-
rests)
tioning)
ment (in the land use ma-
•
Water protection
creation of the system
nagement)
and methodology of en-
vironment analyses
Nature protection
• means, methods & know
how of the environmental
Protection against
protection: environment-
radioactivity
friendly, energy-saving
and waste-less techno-
Protection against noise
logies (incentives, deve-
and vibration
lopment)
• public relations (with ci-
Neutralisation of waste
vil organisations and mo-
vements)
Protection of mineral re-
sources, soil, flora, fauna
and forest (participation)
Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
al protection – but without considering the reality of realisation. In the field
of legal regulation, the troubles stemmed from the implementability of
provisions (obligations and prohibitions) and assertability of environmental
protection interests; while they contributed to – or at least did not prevent –
the serious environmental problems arising parallel with the economic prob-
lems of the country. In this respect, the present task is to achieve the simul-
taneous consideration of economy and environmental protection in the deve-
lopment programs of depressed areas, since these regions are struggling not
only with an economic but also with an ecological crisis.
The state of the Hungarian environment is declining continuously.
This tendency, however, varies by degrees in the given fields of environ-
mental protection and in the different areas suffering from environmental
pollution problems. 65% of the drinking water supply does not enjoy natural
protection against pollution of aboveground origin. Drinking water in one
third of the villages is detrimental to health and the long-term postponing of
sewage-building further endangers the drinking water supply usable at pre-
sent. 44.3% of the population living in settlements on 11.2% of the whole
territory of the country, mainly along the Northeast–Southwest industrial
axis, must inhale highly polluted air. The majority of municipal dumps in the
settlement networks do not meet the present environmental protection and
public health regulations. About 52–55% of the population must suffer from
traffic noise pollution, and the list of problems of pressing necessity could be
continued.
The government program mentioned in the introduction ranks the tasks
to be solved assigning priorities to them. These objectives concentrate
mainly on the special fields of environmental protection but, at the same
time, their being related to the endangered areas and regions is obvious. As a
part of the determination of task-groups in detail, the goals of the air pro-
tection strategy can be mentioned as an example for the management of en-
vironmental problems differentiated by territories: the improvement of the air
quality of highly polluted areas, including the capital and bigger cities; the
conservation of the air quality in non-polluted areas; the protection of sen-
sitive ecosystems; the fulfilment of tasks of international obligations pri-
marily and naturally focusing on highly polluted and border areas. The task
of supplying healthy drinking water is referred to the competence of local
governments by legislation (with the provision of available target-supports
from central sources), and this problem is acute in certain areas only. In
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
the body of law on environmental protection, the question of regionality is
raised in connection with almost every element of the environment under
protection, although to different degrees depending on the special features of
specific branches. To name a few examples: the protection of air and water
quality is based on the division of the territory of the country into qualitative
categories; nature conservation is related to, inter alia, protected regional ca-
tegories (national park, area of outstanding natural beauty, and protected na-
ture conservation area of national or local importance). The presence of this
aspect is obvious in the case of settlement environment protection connected
with limited areas determined by public administration boundaries. In this re-
spect, regionality enjoys general legal protection in terms of environmental
protection as a multi-compound object of environmental protection; an envi-
ronmental unit representing a special independent quality. I would like to
emphasise here that, because of the complexity of environmental problems,
the expertise-, means- and financial resource-intensity of environmental
protection, and also the „disrespectful” nature of pollution to public admi-
nistration boundaries, make it necessary for municipal governments, strug-
gling with similar problems to think in terms of regionality and to co-operate
with each other.
In most cases, the solution of regional environmental problems is
realised either on the level of central state administration or by being broken
down to the level of individual settlements, usually in decisions aimed at im-
proving the quality of environments isolated from one another. In practice,
the implementation of tasks is embodied in the activities of the deconcentrat-
ed organs of the ministry responsible for environmental protection through
administrational means of authorities. As will be discussed later in the chap-
ter on the environmental protection activities of local governments, there is a
missing link in the chain between the centre and settlements. The umbrella
management of the environmental problems of settlements would require
the substantial involvement of county governments, but this is not pos-
sible within the present framework of legal regulations.
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
2 TERRITORIAL DIVISION OF LABOUR IN THE
ADMINISTRATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
In spite of the establishment of environmental protection organs with a gene-
ral scope of authority, and the continuous expansion of their competence, the
territorial (local) administrational, organisational system and its operation, in
charge of implementing the state tasks of environmental protection, is still
characterised by disunity. What are the characteristic features of the territo-
rial organisational structure of environmental protection administration?
At present, there are three different types of organs endowed with a
general scope of authority concerning environmental protection: the en-
vironmental protection inspectorate, the national park (nation conserva-
tion) directorate and the county and municipal organs of the State Public
Health and Medical Officer Service. Nevertheless, the word „general” has
slightly different meanings in these cases. Environmental protection inspec-
torates play a determining role in their regions. A few examples of their tasks
from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development’s
(KTM’s) 1/1990 (XI. 13.) decree, article 6, paragraph (2) are: in its opera-
tional area, the inspectorate is responsible for the following tasks affecting
environmental protection as a whole:
• the observation and evaluation of the state of the environment and
environmental protection; the forecast of significant predictable
effects on the environment and data service concerning these;
• the territorial and professional co-ordination of environmental pro-
tection tasks which require the synchronised participation of many
different organs; and
• laboratory activities in connection with professional administration.
The inspectorate’s functioning as an environmental protection authori-
ty with a general scope of competence is strengthened by the recent 86/1993
(VI. 4.) government decree on the temporary regulation of inspecting the en-
vironmental effects of certain activities. According to this, the inspectorate is
the authority endowed with the right to authorise environment impact inspec-
tion; compulsory activities and facilities required for their implementation.
In addition to the above-mentioned functions, the inspectorate carries
out tasks of professional administration (professional authority), in connec-
tion with the protection of air quality, qualitative and quantitative protection
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
of waters, protection against the detrimental effects of waste, radioactivity,
noise and vibration although with not a full scope of competence since other
deconcentrated organs and municipal governments also have tasks and
scopes of competence in these fields. (This division will be discussed later.)
National park (nation conservation) directorates are competent not
only to carry out the territorial tasks of professional administration and (pro-
fessional) authority in connection with nature conservation, but they also
enjoy tasks and competence regarding other fields of environmental pro-
tection. Therefore, on the basis of the 3/1990 (XI. 27.) KTM decree, article
2, paragraph (1), they are entitled to exercise authority and professional
authority in the first instance concerning the following issues: general pro-
tection of landscape, forest and mineral resources; and protection of flora
and fauna. Their expanded scope of tasks can be illustrated well by the
content of paragraph (2) of the same decree; although a little „blemished”,
their practical implementability – because of the naming of tasks without
specifying their content – seems to be doubtful. I would like to mention only
a few examples to support the above facts. In its operational area (nature
conservation region), the directorate performs the following in accordance
with territory development:
• tasks in connection with areas of nature not enjoying protection;
• participation in the management of mineral resource protection and
in the performance of environmental protection supervision of mine-
ral resource exploration, production and utilisation, etc.
All these are beyond its environmental protection scope of compe-
tence.
In the field of environmental protection, there is also a certain division
of tasks and competence between the territorial organs of ministries (directo-
rates) and local governments.
All of the tasks which fall outside the scope of environmental pro-
tection (e.g. the protection of landscape, forest, mineral resources, flora and
fauna) cover only participatory (partial) competence. The authorities of these
fields, which should represent, among others, the interests of environmental
protection, are different deconcentrated organs subordinated to the ministries
of agriculture, and of industry and commerce. The administrational activi-
ties performed by the territory-level public administrational organs of the mi-
nistry responsible for environmental protection, complement one another, co-
vering more or less all fields of environmental protection. The only element
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
which falls outside their competence is soil protection. This is especially true
in the case of the qualitative and quantitative protection of agricultural lands,
and more or less in the case of the protection and rational utilisation of min-
eral resources. The former is referred to the competence of plant and soil
protection agencies; the latter, according to the new law on mining, pri-
marily to the competence of the district inspectorates of mines and also, in
specific cases, to the public geological service.
The following conclusion can be drawn regarding the management of
the environmental issue: in one group of fields, it is connected with econo-
mic activities (e.g. agriculture, mining) which potentially imply the endan-
gering and damaging of the given environmental element or, as a conse-
quence of a chain-reaction, of the whole environment. In the other (e.g.
water management and the qualitative and quantitative protection of waters),
the separation of economic activity and environmental protection was one of
the reasons behind the reorganisation of ministerial and territorial organs
(e.g. formerly the Ministry of Transport, Telecommunications and Water
Management, presently the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Re-
gional Development; formerly the water management directorate, presently
the environmental protection inspectorate; in the former system, water mana-
gement and environmental protection belonged to the same ministry, that of
Environmental Protection and Water Management; territorial tasks, as a con-
sequence of the centralised management, were referred to the environmental
protection and water management directorate, including nature conservation
which did not have a separate territorial apparatus.)
These facts are partly responsible for the disparate state of environ-
mental protection administration, especially as far as the ministry of agricul-
ture is concerned. Each of the different types of deconcentrated organs, such
as the land office, the office of agriculture, the plant and soil protection agen-
cy, the animal and food inspection agency, forest inspectorate, perform the
professional administration of environmental protection, in certain cases as
each other’s professional authorities.
In order to promote the efficiency of administration, considering the
deconcentrated organs of this ministry, I would find it more useful to in-
crease the concentration of the tasks and task-groups, and to link the different
activity fields, which are strongly connected to one another, in fewer types of
organs.
On the basis of similar considerations, since our environment is a uni-
fied whole and cannot be protected separately, and also because of the fact
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
that nature conservation – despite its specific features – is an integral part of
environment protection, I think it would be worth considering the amalgama-
tion of nature conservation directorates and environmental protection inspec-
torates. In my opinion, it is hardly justifiable to operate two independent or-
ganisations for one and the same purpose. It would save much time and ener-
gy not to mention the advantages provided by the concentration of physical
resources, technical means and the possibility of quick decision-making
which could contribute to the management of problems on a more complex
level.
Although not being an organ of environmental protection, the third
type in the list, the State Public Health and Medical Officer Service, is to
perform a fundamental role in this issue. Its special importance is given
by the activity it performs: while overseeing public health, it examines and
evaluates the current state of all the elements of the environment and their
effect on the population; it lays the scientific foundation of public health re-
quirements whose observance and assertion make it possible to prevent the
development of environmental damage and consequent health problems (see
the 1991 Act XI on the State Public Health and Medical Officer Service).
Besides being empowered with general tasks to protect the health of the po-
pulation, it has concrete duties in each field of environmental protection:
e.g. the regular check of the air-pollution levels of settlements; the inspec-
tion of drinking water, mineral and medicinal water and aboveground waters
from the point of view of public health in places of human use; the exami-
nation of the detrimental effects of dangerous (toxic) waste and its virulence;
the set-up and assertion of hygienic limit values of noise, vibration and par-
ticulate pollution of mineral and plant origin.
Last but not least, the official authority of the service must be men-
tioned which covers, with the exception of the armed forces, all natural and
legal entities and partnerships which have not legal entities. It has almost un-
limited rights of supervision; and in its decisions, if the presence of condi-
tions defined in the legal regulation is given, it may go as far as to constrain
or suspend the complete functioning of an institution or facility, or to stop its
activity detrimental to and jeopardising health. In cases of the danger of se-
rious or large-scale health damage, it is entitled to perform all measures
which are necessary to avert danger.
The scope of tasks and competence of further organs dealing with,
among others, environmental protection administration, covers certain fields
of environmental protection and, within these, certain specific groups of
tasks. Besides those mentioned earlier, the following organs belong here: the
county transport inspectorate (the check and control of motor vehicles from
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The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
the environmental protection point of view), the quite recent chief architect
and his office (21/1992 (XII. 4.) KTM decree on chief architects); the Public
Administration Offices of the capital and the counties in the threefold role:
• sees to legal supervision (over the decisions of local governments
concerning environmental protection),
• judges the possibility of legal remedies submitted against the official
decisions affecting environmental protection made by the mayors or
the clerk; participates in the performance of tasks and competence of
environmental protection or in close relation to it (e.g. atomic ener-
gy, flood-prevention and inland waters, local water-damage preven-
tion),
• performs territorial co-ordinating activities.
In my opinion, this latter type of activity, which is to provide the syn-
chronised operation of environmental protection activities, is a cardinal
question, since the development and operation of a synchronised system of
activities, which depend on one another, is the essential condition to achieve
efficiency in the fields of planning, development, decision-making and
checking in terms of environmental protection. The question of how to assert
the interests of environmental protection in state and local government and
national and local relationships („local” including not only settlements but
settlement-groups, regions, counties, if the legislation acknowledges the exis-
tence of independent county-interest; regions); furthermore, among the spe-
cific fields of environmental protection (e.g. protections of plant, soil, water
supply, air-cleanliness); and also during the procedures of special authorities
are all issues which require both co-ordination and its legal and financial
guarantees. The question of territorial co-ordination in environmental pro-
tection has not been solved so far. Even though several types of organs per-
form co-ordination (the environmental protection inspectorate; in principle
the county government whose detailed discussion comes in the next section;
the municipal government and the Public Administration Office empowered
with general territorial competence of co-ordination by the 1990 Act LXV,
article 98, paragraph (2) modified by 1994 Act LXIII, article 52), the regula-
tion does not cover the whole scope of this activity. Consequently, the envi-
ronmental protection administration activity is not free from troubles.
From the point of the division of the scope of tasks and competencies it
is important to mention the method of how to develop their operational areas;
a question which is one of the fundamental conditions of co-operation a-
mongst the organs of environmental protection administration and those
which carry out this sort of tasks as part of their activities. In the thinking of
the ministry responsible, there are two types of territorial units: settlement
and region. The regions of environmental protection and those of nature con-
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
servation do not overlap each other and even their centres do not always co-
incide. The regions limiting the operational areas of inspectorates do not
have full scope in their performing of tasks and competence, since several
fields of environmental protection activities are assigned to other deconcent-
rated types of organs, organised quite often within the framework of the
county.
It can be mentioned as a further characteristic feature that regions do
not respect public administration boundaries, which applies to both county
and settlement boundaries. The picture is further coloured by the fact that
several deconcentrated organs with environmental protection activities (fo-
rest inspectorate, district inspectorate of mines, geologic service, territorial
chief architect) are organised on a regional basis; occasionally with the inter-
nal units of county offices. These regions do not overlap either each other, or
the regions covering the competence area of the territorial organs of the
KTM. (The degree of deviation varies from one county to another; it will not
be discussed in detail.) At the same time the State Public Health and Medical
Officer Service, as I have already mentioned, functions by focusing on the
totality of the environment and the interrelationships of the specific elements
of the environment; in the organisational arrangement based on the county
(town). The result of this situation suggests that the expertise of the specific
ministries did not agree as to how to prevent, eliminate or reduce detrimental
environmental effects: in the case of the environmental protection inspecto-
rate, for instance, air quality protection activities are determined by catch-
ment basins, because these are what the set-up of regional boundaries of en-
vironmental protection are based on; in the case of the State Public Health et.
al Service, by the town or county; in the case of municipal governments, by
the public administration boundaries of settlements. (In my opinion, one of
the reasons behind this is the multiple reorganisation of the central state
control and organisational system of environmental protection, which can be
traced back to the early 70s.) Obviously, this does not make any difference as
far as the facts are concerned; certain professional tasks of environmental
protection of a similar nature enjoy a double moral: they can be carried out
within the framework of public administration boundaries or by neglecting
them.
The crucial problem, I think, is that the maintenance of a healthy hu-
man environment should be done on settlement-level, treating the environ-
ment as a whole; and it is the duty of local government, to carry out this
task, as will be mentioned later. Nevertheless, the decisions of authorities
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
which are able to support the achievement of this aim are unique and di-
vided by the special fields, or even within them. Another preventative
factor is the lack of a unified territorial strata to handle the environmental
protection issue: it is based on the county, for example, in the case of certain
particular and partial tasks and concerning the activity of the State Public
Health et. al. Service, motivated by the sanitary protection of people and co-
vering the totality of the human environment; with regard to the inspecto-
rates, which carry out the general tasks of environmental protection as well,
it is fundamentally regional, without respect to public administration boun-
daries. And a third factor, concerning the division of the scope of tasks and
competencies, the legislation does not know about anything else between the
sphere of state and local government but settlements; if it is a task to be per-
formed by either local governments or public administration.
In my opinion, in order to support the productive environmental pro-
tection activity of local governments and to increase the efficiency of envi-
ronmental protection administration, it would be necessary to manoeuvre the
operational areas of organs, empowered to carry out the tasks of environ-
mental protection administration on the spot, closer to each other. One of the
possible options is to set up multi-county regions. The different organs could
exercise their environmental protection activities in operational areas based
on a common agreement among themselves; their management would be
provided from one and the same central settlement; and, if necessary, they
could function broken down into county- or local-level organisational units.
In the following section I will discuss the environmental protection
activity of local governments which has already been referred to quite fre-
quently so far.
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
3 THE ROLE OF MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS
IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACCORDING TO THE
LEGAL BACKGROUND AND PRACTICE
Environmental protection activity means the simultaneous performance of
several groups of tasks in order to contribute to the development, mainte-
nance and continuous improvement of a healthy and aesthetic environment.
The protection itself is carried out on several levels, whose main types
are as follows:
• the elimination of existing detrimental environmental effects, such as
polluters;
• measures affecting environmental protection to improve the environ-
mental state of particular settlements, settlement-groups, counties
and special regions;
• the solution of specific problems emerging from the certain fields of
environmental protection (e.g. management of toxic waste, supply of
healthy drinking water);
• the assertion of environmental protection requirements during the
procedures which affect or utilise the environment.
As a general rule, protection against detrimental effects is realised in
the activity of authorities. The establishment of these official measures for
environmental protection requires a high-quality professional background
and knowledge, and special material conditions (e.g. a laboratory network).
All of these can be found either at the environmental protection inspectorates
or the different deconcentrated organs. The central jurisdiction, however, has
assigned some concrete scope of authority to the mayor and the clerk of mu-
nicipal governments while ignoring the complete set up of required condi-
tions.
During the shaping and protection of the environment, every citizen
must be provided with an acceptable environmental quality by the state (see
the relevant constitutional provision on the right to a healthy environment).
Without the meaningful participation of the population, however, this aim
cannot be achieved; the mere external intervention of the entitled authorities
cannot serve the purpose. The activity of local governments is essential.
Realising the importance of this fact, the local government act – unlike the
former Council Act – declares the protection of the man-made and natural
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The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
environment as one of the local public services of municipal governments.
The intention behind this is, that, in terms of environmental protection, local
governments should assert the will of the community within their own scope
of tasks and competence, in accordance with the local characteristics and
claims. As a result of these types of considerations, the tasks of environ-
mental protection of local interest and importance are assigned to municipal
governments. Their activities in environmental protection administration are
of different origin: one part of the tasks and competence is inherited from the
former Council system (local or county), either unchanged or passed down to
settlement level; another part derives from the reorganisation of the scope of
tasks and competence of environmental protection and water management
directorates (the legal predecessor of environmental protection inspecto-
rates); and there are some new types of competence as well, which are in-
tended to create the conditions for the active participation of local govern-
ments in environmental protection activities (e.g. regulation, planning and
co-ordination on local government level, the establishment and independent
management of environmental protection funds of local governments).
When analysing their scope of tasks, the general provisions of the local
government act provide a useful starting point. In connection with local
government rights, the law declares the following:
• local government proceeds autonomously in public affairs of local
concern that fall within its scope of tasks and competencies;
• local affairs involve supplying the population with public services,
exercising public power locally, and creating the organisational,
personal and financial conditions for all the forgoing;
• within the framework of this law, local government may indepen-
dently regulate, or in individual cases freely administer, local affairs
in accordance with its duties and competence. Its decisions may be
superseded by the courts, and by the Constitutional Court, but only
in the case of a provision of the law being violated;
• the law may set the compulsory tasks and competence of the local
government. Simultaneously, the Parliament ensures the financial
conditions necessary for implementing them and decides on the
measure and manner of budget allocations.
On the basis of the above mentioned provisions, the following con-
clusions can be drawn concerning the scope of tasks of local governments in
the case of environmental protection. According to the local government act,
the main idea is that, depending on the needs of the community and the avail-
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
able financial resources, local governments are free to decide as to which
tasks to perform and to what extent.
Among the other compulsory tasks, the provision of healthy drinking
water is one of the most important. Since it belongs to the group of compul-
sory tasks, in this case the parliament takes the responsibility of ensuring the
necessary financial conditions as well (see above). Depending solely on the
financial capabilities of local governments, fulfilment of this requirement
would be rather doubtful. In practice, the solution requires the set up and
maintenance of a target-support system.
As a result of the division of competence among the territorial organs
of the KTM and local governments, which was carried out on the basis of
environmental effects and the importance of natural areas, the scope of com-
petence of typically environmental protection administration assigned to lo-
cal governments by different laws1, covers three different fields, i.e. the pro-
tection of air quality, noise and vibration, and nature conservation. Concern-
ing the official affairs in these fields, the division of competence is based on
the importance of activities violating the protection of environment. Local
governments are assigned to perform tasks of local concern; to be more
exact, to judge the illegal activities of plants performing public service, and
to determine their related rights and duties.
In terms of nature conservation, local governments are assigned to
attend to protected areas of local concern. That is those which were not qua-
lified earlier as having national importance, but which were declared as
being protected, therefore their maintenance and protection justified.
In addition to the duties described above, they are to perform the fol-
lowing tasks either of environmental protection or related to it:
• within the framework of local water management: drainage, sewage
treatment, rainwater drainage, flood and inland waters prevention,
local water-damage prevention;
• within the framework of community management: the management
of liquid and solid settlement wastage, ensuring the cleanliness of
communal areas, and the maintenance of green areas;
• within the framework of agricultural administration: animal car-
casses, certain partial tasks of animal sanitary matters and plant pro-
tection;
1 1990 Act LXV on local governments; 1991Act XX on the scope of the tasks and compe-
tence of local governments and their organs, Commissioners of the Republic and other
centrally subordinated organs (law on competence), etc.
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
• within the framework of industrial and commercial administration:
some specific tasks related to mining and recycling;
• within the framework of environmental protection and territorial de-
velopment administration: the co-ordination of tasks concerning en-
vironmental protection, the regulation of social affairs on local level,
the working out of management plans and programs, etc.
During the implementation of these tasks, as I have already mentioned,
they may exercise their right to independent regulation, by framing decrees
in order to handle the social affairs on a local level not regulated by law and,
on the basis of empowerment by law, to ensure their implementation. It must
be further emphasised that, empowered by law, local governments have the
right to freedom of speech and initiative concerning the questions of local
concern but outside the scope of tasks and competencies of local govern-
ments; and, as a guarantee, those who are concerned are obliged to be ac-
countable in turn. This competence has a significant role in matters of envi-
ronmental protection, since the overwhelming majority of official measures
belong to state administration organs of environmental protection. In order
to ensure the implementability of their voluntarily undertaken tasks, munici-
pal governments must take up other opportunities given by the local govern-
ment act: especially with the right to establish different types of associations
(water supply, sewage management, wastage collection and neutralisation,
etc. not completely without tradition); to set up companies and institutes to
provide public services together with the self-organising communities of the
inhabitants. I would like to stress here an urgent need, awaiting legislation,
for the lawful declaration of the special regulations of environmental protec-
tion publicity and the individual and collective assertion of civic rights re-
garding environmental protection (e.g. by the institutionalisation of actio po-
pulis, which has been urged for quite a long time in the professional litera-
ture2).
Simultaneously, the information system of environmental protection
should be further developed in order to provide both a foundation for official
activities and also data required for the evaluation of the state of the environ-
ment. This goal must be achieved as soon as possible. The environmental
data of each region must become available for anyone in a unified and sys-
temic form. To outline our duties to be done, I would like to refer to the No 1
decree of the XVIII general assembly of the Council of European Settle-
2 See Tarr, Gy. 1991.
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
ments and Regions entitled „The quality of life and the environment of the
peoples of Europe”. This document specifies several tasks which are worth
considering in our country: settlements and regions must play a fundamental
role in the realisation of the environmental policy; they must endeavour to
involve citizens and to form a dialogue with all the different forces of socie-
ty, especially with companies; the competence and intervention ability of ter-
ritorial governments must be expanded according to the needs and require-
ments of the local community; the data list on environment must be made
compulsory and the citizens’ right to inquiry in this respect must be gua-
ranteed.
Municipal governments possess the following rights in environmental
protection matters:
regulation (framing of decrees) belongs to the competence of the bo-
dy of representatives, e.g. declaration of protected natural areas of
local concern, determination of local noise- and vibration-pro-
tection requirements; the regulation of air-pollution caused by
household activities;
the tasks and competencies of functionaries, the mayor and the clerk
of local government are also regulated by the central legislation.
The following tasks are referred to the competencies of the mayor,
with the restriction mentioned earlier: protection of air quality, noise
and vibration which are defined to be dangerous to the settlement,
judgement of activities violating nature conservation (service
activity in the first two cases and in connection with natural areas of
local concern). Other environmental protection affairs of local inte-
rest are performed by the clerk.
The scope of authority of the mayor:
• restriction or suspension of the operation of industrial facilities pol-
luting the environment e.g. noise-pollution to a dangerous level;
• in favour of the protection of air quality, obligation to use e.g. other
energy resources or operational modes; the restriction of water con-
sumption;
The scope of authority of the clerk:
• giving permission concerning e.g. vineyard and fruit plantation, tree-
and vine-surgery, stubble-burning;
• prohibition e.g. regarding nature conservation;
• determination of discharge emission limit values e.g. in the field of
protection of air quality, noise;
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
• imposing fines, e.g. regarding nature conservation, air-pollution;
• supervision, e.g. protection against damaging agents in the field of
plant protection, etc.
In practice, the assigned tasks of environmental protection to munici-
pal governments raises several problems. To examine a couple of them set-
tlements have been given one of the most difficult tasks in the field of envi-
ronmental protection (air, noise). To be able to make decisions they need
measurements, a professional standpoint and expertise. Since they are not
able to provide these on their own, they cannot do anything else but turn to
the inspectorate, and pay for their services should they have the financial re-
sources to cover the expense.
„Settlements are many, inspectorates are few” – the projects are lag-
ging behind, and the decisions of settlements are often made without con-
sidering the regulations on environmental protection.
Even in general, they have been given too many tasks without having
the essential conditions for them; no professionals, no financial resources, no
technical apparatus. Ignorance is quite typical; the environmental protection
issue is often ranked at the bottom of priorities of the settlements. The
natural areas are not always considered to be important and the lack of
money hinders their restoration and conservation. Solid waste disposal is still
uncontrollable at present and municipal dumps are of extremely low techni-
cal quality. The practice of „one settlement, one well, one dump” is becom-
ing more frequent, which, besides the small financial means, might expose
the underground waters to further dangers.
Although the conditions of instrumental measurements are missing,
the mayor – as we have already seen – may, for instance, stop the function-
ing of a plant. (The measure should be immediate, the reality of this com-
petence is questionable.) The measurements made by the inspectorates at
the request of local governments keep stalling, since they also struggle with
the lack of professionals (staff numbers), not to mention the often long dis-
tance between the headquarters of the inspectorates and the given settle-
ments. The inspectorate is not compelled by law to provide a professional
foundation for the official decisions of local governments. The practical
solution is realised by the entrepreneurial form of operation in market
conditions. Occasionally, on the request of local governments, the in-
spectorates provide their services on the basis of administrative co-opera-
tional agreements (called entrepreneurial contracts).
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
The increasing independence of settlements within the framework of
the local government system brings about more important administrative
tasks in the case of environmental protection as well. To meet these require-
ments, however, neither local governments nor their administrative apparatus
are prepared. At the same time, the environmental conflict situations and the
increasing presence of economic and market interests increasingly must be
taken into account. Essentially, what is needed is the gradual reduction of the
central role and the effective assertion of civic freedom and self-governing.
It would be desirable, especially in the case of villages, to assign realistic,
implementable and controllable rights and obligations to local governments.
First of all, some education and attitude-shaping would be required, since the
ignorance of the population, and in some cases even of the local government
is so deep that it prevents the efficiency of environmental protection activi-
ties. Municipal governments could be supported to undertake environmental
protection roles by the involvement of independent professional organs,
which could be employed when needed. As far as the efficiency of their acti-
vity is concerned, it is not without importance how the other type of local go-
vernment, that is the county governments, takes part in the performance of
environmental protection tasks. In the rest of my paper, I will elaborate on
this question.
The starting point of an evaluation concerning the environmental pro-
tection activities of counties is provided by the legal provisions regulating
the scope of tasks and competencies of county governments.3
As a matter of fact, the laws regulating the scope of tasks and compe-
tencies of local governments did not take the counties into account in terms
of environmental protection affairs, before the modification of these laws in
1994. The problem I find most crucial here is that the legislature seems to
have completely ignored the special nature of environmental pollution in that
it does not respect settlement boundaries, and also the impossibility of pro-
tection and development when isolated by settlements and centrally com-
manded. The county government task in connection with environmental pro-
tection is named in paragraphs (1) and (2) of article 80 in the law on com-
petencies:
The synchronisation of tasks in connection with settlement deve-
lopment and landscaping, and the protection of the built and natural
environment – except for the tasks of conservation of monument
3 Related legal norms: 1990 Act LXV on local governments modified 1994 Act LXIII.
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buildings which either belong to authorities or are defined in other
separate legal provisions – is assigned to municipal governments in
their operational area; furthermore, if they cover the majority or the
whole of the county, to the county government.
The preparation and implementation of local decisions and opinions
in regard to the local government tasks cited under the paragraph a-
bove, are referred to the competence of the representative body of
the settlement or the chief architect in the office of county govern-
ment.
This legal provision is open to criticism from several points of view:
• the location of tasks and competence under the chapter title of envi-
ronmental protection and territorial development is regulated within
the framework of construction affairs. Consequently, territorial de-
velopment administration as a county-level task is equal with con-
struction administration; involving settlement development, land-
scaping and environmental protection;
• the declaration of environmental protection as construction affairs
implies the unreasonable limitation of this task’s scope;
• the wording of the regulation is too general, involving interpretation
problems.
It is not quite clear what is meant by the task in connection with the
protection of the built and natural environment covering the majority or the
whole of the country. It is essentially the same as the environment regulated
by the law and its protection. Although this protection is realised in the tasks
of several authorities and local governments, the concrete scope of tasks and
competencies of county governments is still missing in the legal regulations.
It is also ambiguous what the legislator has meant; protection and synchroni-
sation, or the synchronising of the performance of protective activities. The
question of synchronising itself is not without problems either. As I have al-
ready pointed out, the inspectorate, functioning as a professional administra-
tive organ of environmental protection on a territorial level, is responsible for
the territorial and professional co-ordination of environmental protection
tasks which require the synchronised function of many organs.4 The Public
Administration Offices of the capital and the counties also have certain co-
4 1/1990 (XI. 13.) KTM. decree, article 6 paragraph (2) c.
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ordinating tasks and concrete competencies.5 When considering these facts,
it seems to be obvious that the synchronising activity of county governments
is „up in the air”. It’s a task without the minimum guarantees of conditions
regarding its implementability, in contrast to the concrete tasks and compe-
tencies of the above mentioned deconcentrated organs.
Neither the law on environmental protection in force at present – nor
the draft of the new one – takes county governments into consideration when
discussing the allocation of tasks and competencies. They are not mentioned
more than once: municipal governments must co-operate with county go-
vernments, among others.
In spite of these facts, in practice the counties have declared they will
deal with the environmental problems on their territories as voluntarily un-
dertaken tasks. In their organisational rules, regulating both the establishment
of committees and the division of the general assembly’s office, the issue of
environmental protection is also present as a result of their independence, in
quite different forms.
The following common and generalised features can be summarised.
• The establishment of a committee with exclusively environmental
protection tasks is exceptionally rare, there are none among the offi-
cial organisational units.
• In the case of several counties, the term „environmental protection”
does not even appear in committee names (e.g. the committee of in-
frastructure and tourism).
• In most cases, the title of the unit of the office empowered to perform
environmental protection tasks does not contain any hint as to
environmental protection (e.g. the department of territorial develop-
ment and communal affairs).
• In some cases, it is rather difficult to derive the environmental pro-
tection task from the title (e.g. financial and economic secretariat).
• The most frequently connected tasks, reflected in the naming as well,
are the following: territorial development, communal affairs, econo-
my; other examples: agriculture, enterprise organisation, tourism,
monument conservation, architecture.
• The fact that environmental protection has been pushed into the
background is obvious when examining the tasks declared; the
„connected tasks” mentioned earlier mean the complementing other,
5 See the points d) and p) of the (2) paragraph of article 98 of the 1990 Act LXV modified by
1994 Act LXIII.
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
often quite detailed, branch-activities with the tasks of environment-
al protection.
• In some counties, the county-level co-ordination of environmental
protection tasks is entitled to function and position (e.g. in Baranya
county the councillor in charge of construction, water management
and environmental protection exercises supervision over the imple-
mentation of the tasks of this field, as defined by the general assemb-
ly; in the counties of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Vas, environ-
mental protection falls under the competence of the chief architect of
the county). The lack of professionals in the area of environmental
protection in counties has already led to problems. Only a few coun-
ties employ special engineers qualified in environmental protection.
(Formerly, these professionals carried out tasks related to environ-
mental protection and nature conservation.) If the function of county
governments does not change essentially (if they are not assigned to
perform a concrete scope of tasks and competencies), it would seem
to be a real danger that the enthusiastic professionals who are both
able and willing to act will leave the administrative apparatus.
• In some cases, this task has been located in the so-called background
organs, probably as a result of the prioritisation of tasks and the
significant limitation of meaningful activities (minimal scope). The
organisational structure and the consequent division of tasks provide
only the framework for particular actions. Still, I do believe that the
level of the actual activity can be negatively affected by the fact that
the office tasks of environmental protection are connected to the
activity of the assembly through a series of linked transmissions.
Following the brief summary of structure, I would like to deal with the
tasks and competencies named in the regulations applying to counties. A-
mong the tasks and competencies of the assembly, article 80 paragraph (1)
of the law on competence is reiterated in the regulations of each county, al-
though differently worded.
The naming of these tasks usually takes place within the scope of eco-
nomic and territorial development tasks. The main types of tasks defined as
environmental protection and which are voluntarily undertaken by county
governments are as follows:
• working out of plans and conceptions;
• analyses of the environmental state of the county and the related pro-
tection activities;
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
• tasks aimed at the improvement of environment quality;
• activities concerning nature conservation;
• support of the environmental protection activities of municipal go-
vernments;
• performance of territorial tasks in connection with environmental
protection.
The way these environmental protection tasks are undertaken is well
reflected by the assembly agendas and decisions. The tasks which the coun-
ties dealt with and the subject matters they declared as scheduled tasks in
1991 and 1992 are as follows:
• the situation of county-level environmental protection and nature
conservation;
• the tasks of county governments related to the protection and deve-
lopment of built and natural environments;
• the working out of an environmental protection concept and an
action plan on a county level;
• concepts and study plans with environmental protection considera-
tions and effects;
• concept for sewage treatment and drainage;
• a complex waste disposal study plan, a municipal dump system;
• county government tasks of infrastructure development;
• the launching of the working out of a territorial development strategy
(concept), involving the tasks of environmental protection;
• the program of work of county governments in 1992–94 (although
with different wording and content, each program deals with coun-
ty-level tasks favouring environmental protection);
• agendas affecting particular small areas (e.g. the protection and utili-
sation of the river Tisza in Csongrád county).
On the whole it can be concluded that county governments have un-
dertaken the improvement of environmental quality in their areas, and they
are ready to act. The practical implementability of this task, however, seems
to be rather doubtful in most cases.
Returning to the different forms of practical activity of counties, I
would like to draw attention to the positive instances of regional inquiries in
certain counties, launched on the basis of empowerment by the assembly.
The project was based on the undertaking of co-ordination tasks of regional
concern by the assembly. The office staff travelled all over their counties;
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
giving out questionnaires, inquiring about the problems and plans of munici-
pal governments. The final aim is to work out the territorial development
concept of county, including the definition of tasks of environmental pro-
tection on a county-level.
The following group of activities contains the different forms of
support given to municipal governments to help with the implementation of
their tasks and to enable them to cope with their problems in environmental
protection affairs:
information service in various forms, for example the organisation
of public meetings by districts (water management, sewage, the fu-
ture of public utilities etc.); an information service for the publica-
tion of tenders in the official paper of the local government and also
for the legal regulations of environmental protection tasks in the
competencies of municipal governments;
training, refresher courses, and attitude-shaping among the popula-
tion, e.g. organisation of lecture-series given by the local profes-
sionals on environmental protection; publication of notices in the lo-
cal paper; organisation of environmental protection days, and pub-
lic relations action;
professional and technical consulting and support in environmental
protection affairs, e.g. participation in the economic and technical
preparation of decisions on development issues; in smaller settle-
ments, the project management of water supply public utilities;
tasks of organisation: co-ordination, e.g. in the case of nature con-
servation, sewage and waste disposal affecting multiple settlements;
nature conservation: the special duty of county governments in this
field stems from the fact that formerly the protection of natural areas
of local concern was referred to their competence; they kept giving
support to settlements, especially in the period of transition, but
also since then, e.g. proposal declaring particular natural areas to be
protected; professional help related to the management of protected
areas, the identification of endangering phenomena, and pro-
posals to take the necessary measures;
the set-up and organisation of associations with tasks concerning re-
gional-level environmental protection, or issues related to it; e.g.
forest and game management, water and communal waste manage-
ment. One of the biggest hindrances to the problem-management of
environmental protection is the isolation of settlements. The associ-
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
ations, set up on the basis of county initiatives, and functioning
often with the participation of the county, are aimed at improving
this situation. I find this form of co-operation extremely effective;
its increased spread and extension with environmental protection
tasks is worth considering;
the development of the county’s environmental situation with finan-
cial means. The subsidies are designed to provide financial sup-
port and orientation for the implementation of regional-level tasks.
The budget and target-support conceptions of some counties even
express this aim concretely.
Both the definition of concrete tasks and the forms of support show ex-
treme variety; e.g. the establishment of an Environmental Protection Fund to
help the environment management activities of counties on settlement level;
county funds to set up municipal dumps and to support the implementation
of community tasks in settlements and regions.
On the basis of practical experience, it can be said that, in spite of their
difficult financial situation, counties are endeavouring to influence environ-
mental protection activity and to relieve the environmental problems of spe-
cific settlements and settlement-groups.
Within the framework of the Hungarian public administration system,
the county can be generally said to have lost its basis, and to lack the oppor-
tunity of playing an integrative role for political reasons. Nevertheless, the
country must be run and this is a professional (public administrational, legal,
technical) matter, not a political one. This general statement is also true for
environmental protection.
Although co-ordination, professional consultation and organisation are
all essential elements of environmental protection activity, they are not regu-
lated appropriately by legal regulations. One chain is missing in this field:
the county. The „interdependence” characteristic in environmental protection
is not realised on the legislative level. When a specific issue affects more
settlements, its management cannot be left to chance. The different interest
relations and the conflicts of interests within and among settlements make it
necessary to have an intermediate level for the sake of co-ordination and the
optimal management of environmental problems. State power asserts a cent-
ral will, while the settlements are incapable of co-operating. Spontaneous co-
operative connections are organised, but not for the systematic development
of a best possible solution.
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
It is inevitable that the intermediate-level co-ordinating organ is miss-
ing at present; what exists is disorder, and no one is ready to undertake the
territorial co-ordination of environmental protection.
As far as environmental protection is concerned, the opportunities of
the county are limited, because:
• it is allowed to exercise a consultative sort of activity only, but the
problems require intervention; cities of county rank, for example,
function in isolation, polluting the neighbouring settlements; to set
up so many „islands” is not a solution in regional affairs;
• it is hopeless to co-ordinate and organise without the necessary
means; from the legal point of view, a county does not co-ordinate;
it might perform the co-ordination of regional-level solutions, but
presently it does not have the means.
Co-ordination with settlements is unaccomplishable. Conceptions and
plans are made (e.g. waste management) but their being accepted by every
settlement is just impossible. It is a fact that no one is responsible for general
and branch plans on a territorial level.
Seeking a way for the future, the following aspects should be consi-
dered.
Environmental protection, as an organic part of the complex scope of
territory development, cannot be solved by mere central control. This is be-
cause each county has to face its own special problems, and each has diffe-
rent potentials and opportunities. When managing their problems, settle-
ments are not able to think in terms of regionality. Consequently, territory
development should be dealt with by county governments.
Environmental protection and environment shaping requires decisions
prepared by professionals and legitimised by elected organs. They cannot be
solved by exclusively official means. When regulating the environmental
protection functions of county governments, it is their self-government as-
pect which should be strengthened – or better to say, established – instead of
their being empowered with official tasks of authority.
It is desirable to concentrate further the official tasks of environmental
protection at the inspectorates. The breaking down of regional organs of en-
vironmental protection and nature conservation to county-level units could
provide a possible alternative, which could upgrade the role of county go-
vernments and contribute to a more efficient co-operation on a regional
level.
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
The Legal-Administrative Questions of Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
To support the implementation of developments which go beyond the
interests of particular settlements, but at the same time benefit the given
region, are both required and needed. On the basis of experience, it can be
concluded that infrastructure development and updating can be one of the
most effective means of environmental protection.
After these preliminary remarks, I would like to deal with the desirable
tasks of county governments which serve environmental protection.
Analyses of the environmental situation of the county; the ranking of
tasks and assigning of priorities; the schedule of implementation. To
achieve implementability, it would be required to set up a county-cent-
red information base on the state of the environment (specified by dif-
ferent fields as well) relying on the computer database of inspectorates.
Simultaneously, all the authorities concerned should be compelled to
provide information on environmental protection by the law.
Development of decision-making competencies, development of and
agreement to concepts (e.g. the issue of setting up of dumps cannot be
left within the competence of local governments). The development of
the water supply, solution to the problem of waste water: settlements
and settlement groups can be connected efficiently to a purifying plant
system with suitable technical procedures and, on the basis of this, the
orientation of settlements to co-operate with one another on small
area solutions concerning dumps and waste transport.
Co-ordination. Legal and financial guarantees are required to synchro-
nise the environmental protection concerns settlements, settlement
groups and the state. As I have stressed several times so far, these
problems do not respect settlement boundaries and cannot be solved
without the state undertaking tasks; regional co-ordination is essential.
The co-ordinating activity of counties may cover the co-ordination of
developments (on condition of an information base), the implementa-
tion of legal provisions and the environmental protection activities of
settlements. Concrete fields of co-ordination might be as follows:
• dumps providing district-based solid waste disposal,
• the placement of sewage treatment plants,
• development of sewage system, water supply and gas network,
• water management of surface waters (planning, project manage-
ment),
• reconstruction, afforestation, etc.,
• settlement interests, organisation.
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
To launch and support associations would require the survey of needs
and concrete organising activity. For example, a small area of a certain
size would provide enough tasks for an environmental protection ad-
ministration association. The organisation, developed on the basis of
mutual agreement and with respect to the official competence of the
clerk, would function with professional responsibility and perform dif-
ferent tasks, e.g. surveys, investigations and proposal-making, etc.
Another possible alternative would be the county’s support concerning
the involvement of external experts to help the environmental protec-
tion activities of municipal governments (e.g. with an information ser-
vice, and organising activity). This form might be made continuous as
well, should more settlements require and utilise collectively the use-
ful potentials hidden in it.
Giving opinions, making proposals. County governments might be
given an opinion-giving and proposal-making competence in the case
of assessing tenders with the (partial or complete) objectives of envi-
ronmental protection concern. This could contribute to a better asser-
tion of regional viewpoints (economical, technical) when making deci-
sions, since it is not always considered at the central level, who is go-
ing to receive the given subsidy (e.g. two neighbouring settlements
when it is not reasonable).
Education, attitude-shaping and refresher-courses.
Financial means for environmental protection purposes, and perhaps a
share of fines to eliminate county and small area environmental prob-
lems; as a support for meaningful co-ordinating activities, but without
the function of distributing money.
As a result of my experience, based on inquiries to the counties, I do
believe that their work is needed, and despite their extremely constrained op-
portunities, they want to make efforts for the sake of the protection of the en-
vironment.
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Benkőné, Lodner Dorottya:
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
4 CONCLUSIONS
We must be aware of the fact that it is simply impossible immediately to
solve all the problems accumulated during the past decades and to carry out
the radical changes required by both the social-economic changes and the
advance towards Europe. We must, however, set the goal and pursue it con-
sistently by all means to prevent the making of decisions affecting and utilis-
ing the environment without imposing prevention and the production of new
crisis centres. To achieve these goals, the framing of the new law on environ-
mental protection based on new principles cannot be postponed any longer.
This law is responsible, among many other things, for the establishment of a
clear-cut system of division of tasks, responsibility and burdens among the
population, local governments, the state and the participants in the economy.
This constitutes the framework within which the reformed regulation of the
structural and operational system of environmental protection administration
could be carried out. To consider the complex interrelationship of environ-
mental elements and effects, to set up realistic objectives and tasks, to estab-
lish suitable (legal, economic, technical) conditions and, last but not least – in
terms of my special field of research – to establish an effective and pro-
ductive, reliable and accountable administration are all principles which must
be fundamental for the legislation. The environmental protection function of
local governments must be re-considered, and the role of county govern-
ments cannot be neglected.
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 1995. 44. p. Discussion Papers, No. 20.
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