Purpose and Application

The purpose of the Code, set out in its first chapter, is to promote sustainable de- velopment. Its provisions relate to the management of land and water, Nature con- servation, the protection of plant and animal species, environmentally hazardous activities emitting pollutants to air/water, creating waste and noise etc., health pro- tection, water operations, genetic engineering, chemical products and waste. The Environmental Code is applicable to all citizens and economic operators who undertake operations or measures that conflict with the aim of the Code. The rules

apply to all activities potentially detrimental to human health or the environment, damage to the natural or cultural environment and the built environment and to all other places to which the public has access.

Being a framework law, the provisions of the Code do not specify limit values for various operations and do not go into detail when it comes to striking a balance between various interests. More detailed provisions are laid down in ordinances issued by the Government or in regulations issued by authorities commissioned by the Government, e.g. the Swedish EPA. Further to this, central authorities, among them the Swedish EPA, issues guidelines providing assistance on interpretation on various provisions of the Code and underlying ordinances. Much of Sweden’s transposition of the European Community legislation is done through Governmen- tal Ordinances and Authority regulations.

The 16 national long-term Environmental Quality Objectives, EQOs (See 3.1.1) and intermediate targets are non-binding, but fill a function to guide the authorities in their work and also serve as a policy instrument when applying the legislation. It is important to note that the Code did not replace all the various acts that in- volved environ-mental protection. Many of the specific laws for certain sectors and activities, which did not have environmental protection as a direct purpose, re- mained in force even after the adoption of the Code. These laws are sometimes referred to as sector legislation. The provisions of the Code apply also if these sectors are covered by other legislation. This “parallel application” means, for example, that some activities might require permits under two separate permit re- gimes or that the operator of a certain activity, which does not in it self require any permit, still might be obliged to take certain action in order to comply with the code, i.e. reduce noise along a rail road line.

4.2.3 Content

Here follows a brief description of the Code and its major provisions.37

GENERAL RULES OF CONSIDERATION, CHAPTER 2

The so called general rules of consideration constitute fundamental principles for the application of the Code to matters of e.g. permissibility, permit requirements and environmental inspection and enforcement. The general rules of consideration are always applied and, according to one of them, the Burden of Proof Principle, it is the person who pursues to undertake an activity who has to prove the compliance with the rules. According to the Proportionality Principle, requirements or judge- ments based on these rules must always be environmentally justified and finan- cially reasonable.

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A more concise description can be found in the memorandum The Swedish Environmental Code, a Résumé of the Text of the Code and Related Ordnances published by the Swedish Government (www.regeringen.se)

In a way, the general rules of consideration all relate back to the Precautionary Principle, which requires anyone who pursues an activity to take all necessary environmental precautions in order to limit the impact on human health and the environment. The mere risk of damage and detriment activates this obligation. Such precautions may involve, for example to limit the scale of operations or to apply the Best Possible Technologies, the Best Possible Technology Principle (in- terpreted together with the proportionality principle this corresponds to the re- quirement of Best Available Technologies, (BAT).

Other general rules of consideration related to the precautionary principle are: 1) The Knowledge Requirement, according to which everyone who pursue an activity must acquire the knowledge to do so in an environmentally responsible way, 2) The Appropriate Location Principle, according to which the site must be appropri- ate with respect to the objectives of the Code and the rules concerning land and water management and 3) The Product Choice Principle, requiring the operator to refrain from the use or sale of chemical products that may involve hazards to hu- man health or the environment if other less dangerous products can be used instead. Further to the principles described above, The Polluter Pays Principle requires anyone who takes a measure that might have an impact on human health or the environment to be responsible for complying with the rules and to pay any result- ing expenses, including also clean-up of polluted areas. Finally, The Resource Management and Eco-cycle Principles stipulate that an operation must be under- taken in such a way as to ensure efficient use of raw materials and minimize the use of energy and generation of waste. The use of renewable energy sources should be preferred and resource extraction from Nature should be minimized. Waste formed should be recycled, reused or recovered to the extent possible and disposal should be made without damaging the environment. The ultimate goal of this prin- ciple is to maintain closed material loops.

Even though the general rules of consideration have been applied to require propor- tionate precautionary measures for an operation or activity, this activity may still cause substantial damage to human health or the environment. To avoid such con- sequence, the general rules of consideration have been complemented by a so called “Stopping” rule. According to this rule, which applies to all activities under the Code, the relevant authority can order seizure or ban the start-up of the activity.

RESOURCE AND LAND MANAGEMENT, CHAPTERS 3 AND 4

The provisions from the Resource Management Act were included in Chapters 3 and 4 of the Code. The purpose of these provisions are to specify areas which are of a specific interest for certain land use and thus give those areas priority for this use and to, as far as reasonably possible, protect them from changes being detri- mental to such purposes. The interests of priority can be both conservation and utilisation interests. Consequently, areas of great natural value and of value for

recreation as well as forestry and mining are among the interests listed in these chapters.

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY STANDARDS, CHAPTER 5

Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) are adopted to address actual or potential environmental problems. The standards are established on the basis of scientific criteria and indicate levels of pollution or other impact that humans or the envi- ronment may be exposed to without risk of significant detriment.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS, CHAPTER 6

Provisions regulating when and how Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) shall be made are set out in the Code and in an underlying Ordinance. EIAs must be conducted before and submitted together with an application for a permit under the Code. This requirement also applies to several other activities (see below) and for new planning decisions (so called Strategic EIAs). The purpose of the require- ments is to establish and describe the direct and indirect impact of the planned activity or plan. The statement must describe the impact on people, animals, plants, land, water, air, the climate, the landscape and the cultural environment, on the management of land, water and the physical environment in general and on the management of materials, raw materials and energy.

NATURE PROTECTION AND PROTECTION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS, CHAPTERS 7-8

Chapter 7 stipulates a wide variety of protection for certain areas, animals and plants, such as: national parks, nature and culture reserves, nature 2000 areas, shore protection areas etc.

CERTAIN ACTIVITIES, CHAPTER 9-15

Chapters 9 to 15 contain provisions on certain activities, namely i) environmentally hazardous activities and health protection, ii) polluted areas and the remediation thereof, iii) water activities, iv) environmental concerns in agriculture, v) genetic engineering, vi) chemical products and vii) waste and producer responsibility. Many of these provisions are complemented by Governmental Ordinances and Authority regulations, providing for more detailed provisions regulating the con- duct of the respective activities. Many of these provisions are based on various types of EC legislation, generally providing minimum environmental requirements for many of the specific activities. Environmentally hazardous activities and water activities are subject to a specific Permit Regime which is described below. PROCEDURAL PROVISIONS, CHAPTERS 16-25

As mentioned above, the code not only sets up direct provisions on environmental protection, it also contains the rules of procedure and the legal foundation for the permitting regime and the permitting authorities and also for the Government’s consideration of permissibility for certain matters (today limited to certain major

infrastructure projects and nuclear activities. A general outline of the procedures for permit review and appeals of authority decisions is provided in section below. PROVISIONS ON INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT, CHAPTERS 26-28

A general outline of the provisions for inspection and enforcement is included in chapter4.3.

SANCTIONS, CHARGES AND PENAL PROVISIONS, CHAPTERS 29-30

A general outline of the provisions for sanctions and penalties is included in chap- ter 4.10.

PROVISIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE AND COMPENSATION, CHAPTERS 31-33

The last part of the Code contains provisions for compensation and environmental damage for example. Under these provisions, a landowner may for example be entitled to compensation for public interventions for the purpose of protecting cer- tain natural assets.

In addition, anyone who has pursued an activity and thereby caused bodily harm, material damage or pecuniary loss through pollution, noise, vibrations or similar impact is liable to be taken before an environmental court.

Activities subject to permit or notification requirements must normally pay contri- butions to both an environmental damage insurance scheme and an environmental remediation insurance scheme. Those two schemes are used for financing remedia- tion of contaminated areas and environmental damages respectively, in cases where it is not possible to obtain sufficient funds from the person liable for remediation or damages.