By the end of 2024, an Environmental Audit Section is established with responsibility for audits in waste management units and units operating in areas of competence of the Department of Environment.
The Department will be staffed with 15 inspectors and in this way the long-standing request of the staff of the Department of Environment for a radical change and revision of the framework governing environmental inspections / controls and enforcement of the provisions of environmental legislation is partially met.
This is one of the most important innovations of the Nikos Christodoulides administration to fill a major gap that has existed for decades. A start was made with the approval by the Council of Ministers, in November 2023, of the proposal for the establishment of an Environmental Audit Sector. This Sector, which falls under the Department of Environment, will be responsible for audits and inspections in waste management units and units operating in areas of competence of the Department of Environment. It will be staffed in 2024 with the recruitment of 10 environmental officers and five technicians, while in the coming years it is expected to expand even further.
Nikos Christodoulides' governance program notes the commitment to "create and staff a special Environmental Audit Service, which will monitor the implementation of the entire spectrum of environmental legislation, ensuring the protection of citizens from risks to their health and well-being arising from environmental degradation".
The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, in the context of the creation of a new Directorate-General for the Environment and its transformation into a Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, assigned the responsibility for the creation of a special Environmental Audit Service to the new Directorate-General for the Environment. In fact, he submitted a request to the Ministry of Finance for the creation of 55 new inspector positions.
The Director of the Service will also be appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment as the Chief Inspector who is legally responsible for the implementation of legislation. It includes 5 people for Management Support (IT/ Databases, Communication, Compliance Campaigns and Legal Support) and 5 people for Archive and Accounting.
In fact, three thematic branches of operation of the special Environmental Audit Service were proposed:
● The Air and Industry Sector (14 persons) covering industrial emissions, large combustion plants, gaseous emissions, medium combustion plant and regulations for unlicensed installations).
● The Waste and Resources Sector (16 persons) covering waste management facilities, waste collectors/transporters, waste disposal, livestock farming, wastewater treatment plants and water and soil protection.
● The Environmental Impact, Allocation of Pollutant Rights and Collective Systems Section (15 persons) covering opinions, reasoned findings, collective schemes, allocation of emission rights.
According to a study carried out in 2017-18 with technical assistance from the EU and carried out by experts with more than 30 years of experience of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), the situation regarding the regulatory control system was described as "critical". The staff struggles to carry out their work with far fewer human units than the workload requires, with multiple tasks and constant changes of priorities, resulting in inadequate audits / inspections, problems in the full implementation of the European environmental acquis and national legislation, but also inability to adequately protect the environment.
The experts sounded the alarm that the continuation of the current system may result in the imposition by the EU of high financial penalties on the Republic of Cyprus, as there is an increased risk of failure to comply with the requirements of the European environmental acquis.
Applying the polluter pays principle
The objectives of the Environmental Audit Service should be to protect the environment, comply with national environmental legislation and the environmental acquis, combat environmental crime, deal with emergencies and respond to society's demands for a good quality of life. The need also arises from the implementation of the zero pollution strategy that is a pillar of the Green Deal.
The creation of the new Agency must ensure principles such as independence, impartiality, proportionality, fairness, etc. The Agency will have a compliance branch that will undertake information campaigns, training of all stakeholders, consultation with businesses to achieve compliance with legislation. The necessary resources, framework, legal tools and institutionalised cooperation with police, legal service, customs, fire brigade and environmental licensing (IT) should also be provided.
Personnel Service plans should ensure that inspectors all possess the necessary knowledge to conduct audits and inspections and most importantly there is no possibility for 24/7 response (on call) and overtime in cases of emergencies and violations that usually occur outside normal working hours. Also, qualifications, experience, good character, honesty, etc. should be taken seriously into account in the selection of inspectors.
Based on the risk and the increase in cases of environmental crime in the Service, it is required to have an institutionalized procedure and cooperation with the Police, which helps in enforcement (service of extrajudicial documents, substantiation of indictments), as well as the safety of inspectors, conducting campaigns, conducting investigations for environmental crimes. The Legal Service should also appoint a legal officer to assist the Office in collecting evidence, preparing indictments and properly implementing and enforcing the law.
Applying the polluter pays principle, the costs for the vast majority of inspections will be covered by fees levied on installations and activities. Also, a large part of the costs for services such as training, compliance, sector-specific audits, complaint handling, pollution investigation and emergency fees are balanced by revenues from out-of-court arrangements, administrative fines and fines following conviction.
What is happening today?
Audits for compliance with environmental legislation (for 8-10 laws and dozens of regulations and decrees) and ensuring environmental protection are carried out by officers and technicians of the Department of Environment located in the 4 district offices. The inspectors appointed by the Minister perform multiple duties such as licensing, project impact assessment, handling other issues (meetings, Parliament, etc.). There is not a single person whose duties are only inspections. As a result, inspectors cannot be properly trained and trained, and they do not have the opportunity to specialize and acquire the skills to handle such a difficult task with increased powers by law.
Also, there is no stability, consistency and continuity in cases of violations, since cases can be handled by another inspector or a long time may elapse due to other priorities resulting in infringements continuing. There is no security for inspectors and support from a legal officer in the difficult task of fighting offenses and the necessary tools are not provided legally. In addition, inspectors face threats, insults and pressures in the exercise of their duties, resulting in the staff of the Department being afraid to conduct on-site inspections and serve extrajudicial notices.
Policy review necessary
Based on all the above, plus the fact that Cyprus is the only one in the EU that does not have organized control bodies, it is considered necessary in the environmental and social context for the government to review the policy announced before the elections.
Furthermore, due to the inability to control, there is also the issue of unfair competition between businesses that comply, resulting in higher costs, than businesses that violate the laws.
