6.4 Reporting, Monitoring and Inspecting
To ensure implementation of and compliance with environmental legislation, it is
also necessary to build confidence among stakeholders and in the public through
establishing robust and effective reporting, monitoring and verification systems.
Hence, there is also a need for transparent and publicly available information
which should be provided by stakeholders with minimum administrative burden.
Under Turkish Environmental Law, everyone has the right to access to information related to the environment in the scope of the Act on the Right of Access to
Information No. 4982 (Art. 30(2), Environment Act).
The stakeholders should give the information and documents that the Ministry
and the other respective competent authorities ask for, pay for the costs of analysis
and measurements made by authorities, and ease the workload of the authorities
during the inspection (Art. 12(3), Environment Act). When required by the Ministry
or other concerned authorities, they should also share all other related information
and documents about any element of their activity which could cause environmental
pollution (Art. 12(4), Environment Act).
The Ministry is entitled to ask public institutions and agencies and natural and
legal entities for every type of data and information related to the environment
which it deems necessary; and those asked for data and information are obliged to
supply them promptly and without charge (Supplementary Item 7, Environment
Act).
Within the scope of monitoring activities, not only the facilities themselves but
also the related authorities monitor the activities of those facilities. In other words,
based on their own internal monitoring mechanisms, facilities submit relevant
information and data to national authorities. The competent national authorities then
assess these reports and submit the findings through predetermined indicators.
The Ministry is charged with establishing the necessary institutional infrastructure regarding the measurement, monitoring and inspection activities and others
related to the resolution of environmental problems (Supplementary Item 5,
Environment Act). On examining the current system, it can be seen that the system
is already designed to prevent fragmentation and aims to be better coordinated,
more coherent and to work in close collaboration with all related units in conformity with the requirements of the EU acquis.
Through its Directorate on Laboratory, Measurement and Monitoring under the
General Directorate of EIA, Permission and Inspection, the Ministry of
Environment and Urbanization is responsible for monitoring air, soil, water and
industrial pollution. It also monitors the regulation of EIAs. In fact, following an
“EIA Positive” decision, the project owners are obliged to obtain monitoring reports
on the initiation and construction periods of the investment from the authorized
institutions and agencies, which are obliged to submit them to the Ministry (Art. 18,
By-Law on EIA). After receiving the “EIA Positive” decision the project owners
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Z. Savaşan
To ensure implementation of and compliance with environmental legislation, it is
also necessary to build confidence among stakeholders and in the public through
establishing robust and effective reporting, monitoring and verification systems.
Hence, there is also a need for transparent and publicly available information
which should be provided by stakeholders with minimum administrative burden.
Under Turkish Environmental Law, everyone has the right to access to information related to the environment in the scope of the Act on the Right of Access to
Information No. 4982 (Art. 30(2), Environment Act).
The stakeholders should give the information and documents that the Ministry
and the other respective competent authorities ask for, pay for the costs of analysis
and measurements made by authorities, and ease the workload of the authorities
during the inspection (Art. 12(3), Environment Act). When required by the Ministry
or other concerned authorities, they should also share all other related information
and documents about any element of their activity which could cause environmental
pollution (Art. 12(4), Environment Act).
The Ministry is entitled to ask public institutions and agencies and natural and
legal entities for every type of data and information related to the environment
which it deems necessary; and those asked for data and information are obliged to
supply them promptly and without charge (Supplementary Item 7, Environment
Act).
Within the scope of monitoring activities, not only the facilities themselves but
also the related authorities monitor the activities of those facilities. In other words,
based on their own internal monitoring mechanisms, facilities submit relevant
information and data to national authorities. The competent national authorities then
assess these reports and submit the findings through predetermined indicators.
The Ministry is charged with establishing the necessary institutional infrastructure regarding the measurement, monitoring and inspection activities and others
related to the resolution of environmental problems (Supplementary Item 5,
Environment Act). On examining the current system, it can be seen that the system
is already designed to prevent fragmentation and aims to be better coordinated,
more coherent and to work in close collaboration with all related units in conformity with the requirements of the EU acquis.
Through its Directorate on Laboratory, Measurement and Monitoring under the
General Directorate of EIA, Permission and Inspection, the Ministry of
Environment and Urbanization is responsible for monitoring air, soil, water and
industrial pollution. It also monitors the regulation of EIAs. In fact, following an
“EIA Positive” decision, the project owners are obliged to obtain monitoring reports
on the initiation and construction periods of the investment from the authorized
institutions and agencies, which are obliged to submit them to the Ministry (Art. 18,
By-Law on EIA). After receiving the “EIA Positive” decision the project owners
104
Z. Savaşan