Waste Management Unit of the CEI is the youngest Unit together with the Nature Protection Unit. Its creation was a response to the fact that waste management has become a global civilizational problem in recent decades; with inappropriate management of hazardous waste, both the environment and human health can be endangered. The field of waste management is regulated by a number of regulations both at national and European level. The department is responsible for checking compliance with legal regulations in the area of waste management, end-of-life products and packaging.
The Czech Environmental Inspectorate performs the following main activities in the field of waste management: it carries out inspections and investigations focused on compliance with applicable legal regulations, imposes fines for violations of established obligations, sets conditions and deadlines for rectifying illegal situations, issues opinions for other state administration bodies, cooperates with regional authorities, customs authorities, the Police of the Czech Republic, hygiene stations, financial authorities and municipalities and provides them with professional assistance; it checks the fulfillment of the obligation to take back packaging and the obligation to use packaging waste and other related obligations according to the Packaging Act.
The legal basis for the activities of the Czech Environmental Inspectorate in the field of waste management is Act No. 541/2020 Coll., on waste, which came into effect on January 1, 2020. The Act sets out the obligations of legal entities and natural persons in the management of waste and the conditions for preventing the generation of waste (it sets out the conditions under which a movable object can become a by-product or when waste that has been the subject of recycling or other use ceases to be waste). Control of compliance with the provisions of the law is also carried out by the Czech Environmental Inspectorate (as well as regional authorities, municipal offices of municipalities with extended powers and municipal offices). The control is focused on legal entities, natural persons authorized to do business and on municipalities. Control of compliance with the law on waste by natural persons (citizens), management of municipal waste falls within the competence of individual municipalities. The municipal office of the municipality with extended powers is competent to deal with illegal waste storage sites – i.e. illegal dumping.
End-of-life products
Act No. 542/2020 Coll. on end-of-life products regulates the take-back of selected products (electrical equipment, batteries or accumulators and tires) and the handling of end-of-life vehicles (formerly wrecked cars). This law establishes the rights and obligations of persons who place products on the market when they are placed on the market, as well as the obligation to take back, use and recycle waste. The law also sets out the obligations of persons involved in take-back and waste processors. The CEI controls how legal entities, natural persons doing business and municipalities comply with the provisions of legal regulations and decisions of administrative authorities in all areas of scope of this Act, with the exception of areas in which the Czech Trade Inspection is responsible for control (Section 131, Paragraph 1 a) to d) of the Act on end-of-life products.
The handling of packaging is regulated by Act No. 477/2001 Coll., on packaging and on the amendment of certain laws.
This law establishes the rights and obligations of persons who place packaging on the market or in circulation in the Czech Republic when placing it on the market, as well as the obligation to take back packaging, use and recycle waste from packaging to the specified extent and related obligations.