Administrative-legal protection of environment in the Republic of Serbia
Administrative-legal protection of environment in the Republic of Serbia

Summary/Abstract: Administrative-legal protection of environment in the Republic of Serbia is exercised within administrative procedure and administrative dispute. The framework of this protection is created by the Law on General Administrative Procedure as well as separate laws such as the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Interest, Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, Law on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment and Law on Integrated Prevention and Control of Environment Pollution. Within the administrative procedure, the right to legal protection can be exercised by filing a complaint against a decision which a party considers unsatisfactory. Within the procedure of exercising right to access to ecology-related information, as information of public interest, a dissatisfied party may file a complaint to the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance if they consider that their right to the access to these pieces of information was violated. In addition, administrative-legal protection of environment is exercised within the procedure of inspection and monitoring of implementation of provisions of the laws regulating the environmental field. An extraordinary importance of administrative-legal protection is reflected in its preventive nature which is mirrored in the issuance of relevant permits, inspection monitoring, taking certain preventive activities and other measures because if such kind of protection is missing, there is no possibility to have further civil-legal protection within the judicial procedure which would address the issue of damage compensation. Taking into account all of the above as the starting point, this paper analyses administrative procedures where environment protection can be exercised bearing in mind that a great number of ecological law norms belong to administrative law. For example, within the environmental impact assessment procedure, the right to a complaint can be exercised within the second phase of the procedure – the phase related to the establishment of the scope and content of the environmental impact study against a decision of a competent body adopted upon a filed request while, against a decision of a competent body adopted within the third phase of this procedure – the procedure related to the decision-making on the approval of the impact assessment study, an administrative dispute can be initiated. In addition, the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters which established the right to environmental protection within administrative and judicial procedure is especially important.

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