ОРГАНИЗАЦИЈА УПРАВЕ У ОБЛАСТИ ЗАШТИТЕ ЖИВОТНЕ СРЕДИНЕ
The Organization of Administration in the field of Environmental Protection

Summary/Abstract: Environmental protection is one of the new areas of administrative law. The need to institute special public authorities specializing in resolving various environment protection issues has emerged as a result of the need of the contemporary states to respond to the environmental consequences of the modern lifestyle. In the modern world, it is almost impossible to find a state that does not have a special public authority in field of environmental protection. In order to effectively meet its international obligations in terms of environment protection, the Republic of Serbia has exerted considerable efforts to adjust the organization of its administrative authorities to these requirements. Over the past decade, Serbia has established a number of state authorities and administrative bodies at the level of provincial and local governments which have jurisdiction in different environmental issues. Comparatively frequent changes in the organization of the state have often been accompanied by changes in the organization of the administration and, in particular, the bodies in charge of environmental protection. For this reason, one of the major issues in assessing the legal regulations on environmental protection today is the adequate organization of the administrative authorities in this field. Upon a detailed analysis of the current organization of the state, provincial and local governments, we may conclude that there is a number of improper solutions that can have a negative impact on the proper implementation of regulations pertaining to the preservation and improvement of environmental quality. The most significant among these drawbacks is the presence of a number of different authorities at the state level (the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Environment Protection Agency, the Department of Environment Protection, the Environment Protection Fund) which have rather similar competences. The overlapping of their responsibilities and jurisdictions may result in a duplication of activities, inefficient use of funds, an excessive number of employees, management difficulties, lack of operative efficiency, etc. This phenomenon is especially prominent in relations between the state (republic) administrative authorities and the provincial administrative authorities in Vojvodina. The proper application of the legal regime in the field of environmental protection which is performed by a provincial administrative authority is important not only as an opportunity to exercise control of the central authority but also because of the funding of these activities. These and all other specified deficiencies in the organization of the administration may also make it impossible to adequately implement the uniform state policy in the field of environmental protection. Therefore, we believe that with a minor reform of organizational legislation could eliminate all legal obstacles and create conditions for an effective and rational implementation of numerous legislative and statutory acts in the field of environment protection.

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