IN list of government legislative works showed up draft act amending the Act on packaging and packaging waste management prepared by Ministry of Climate and Environment.
The amendment is intended to improve supervision over the implementation of systems
As explained, the draft amendment to the Act has a purpose clarification of regulations regarding issuing, withdrawing and changing operating permits deposit system, which is issued by the minister responsible for climate matters, at the request of the representing entity, i.e. the entity that will run the deposit system. “Work on the project was planned due to emerging doubts as to whether the current regulations are sufficient to ensure that the deposit systems will be launched as planned and whether they will be conducted reliably,” it was reported.
The following is indicated risk if work on the bill is not commenced: insufficient supervision at the stage preceding the launch of the deposit system; limited grounds for withdrawing permits for entities that do not take action to launch the system on time or do not plan activities on a large enough scale to cover the entire country with the system; risk of irregularities in the planning of the operation of deposit systems; due to general guidelines regarding the content of applications – there is a risk of issuing many permits, including to entities that do not actually launch the system or do not intend to do so.
“In order to minimize the potential occurrence of the above-mentioned risks and the subsequent need to confront their potential effects, plans have been made changes to the act increasing the role of the minister competent for climate matters as an authority not only issuing decisions based on detailed data provided by representative entities, but also supervising the implementation of individual stages leading to the launch of the system,” it was emphasized.
It will be more difficult to obtain permission to operate deposit deposit systems
As reported, provisions will be introduced into the Act specifying the provisions currently in force conditions for granting a permit. For this purpose, it is planned to: clarify the content of the permit application by specifying what type of documents are required, detailed information enabling the supervision of the work leading to the launch of the system, and specifying the required attachments. This will enable the minister responsible for climate to control the process of preparing for the launch of the system after issuing the permit, as well as to indicate the deadline launching the deposit system in the permit, which cannot be longer than 24 months from the date of issue of the permit.
“The time limit and the required schedule are intended to ensure that the representing entity designs the work in such a way that the planned activities are implemented at a specific pace and the progress of the work is possible to verify,” it was noted.
Greater flexibility and supervision of deposit systems
The new regulations would also introduce the possibility of providing information about changes to the conditions specified in the permit and the possibility of requesting a change to the permit. “This mechanism is intended to enable supervision of changes introduced in the system at the stage before and after the launch of the deposit system,” it was explained.
The planned amendment indicates that decisions issued by the minister responsible for climate may be subject to rigor of immediate enforceability. It was specified that proceedings regarding the deposit system would be single-instance. The procedure will be shortened and accelerated.
Also added that this Provincial Inspector of Environmental Protection would inspect the representing entity before and after launching the system. “Conducting inspections by the Inspection will help ensure that the systems have been prepared correctly and operate in accordance with the permit granted,” it added.
The planned date of adoption of the project by the Council of Ministers is set for the second/third quarter of 2024.
author: Anna Bytniewska
