The Czech Environmental Inspectorate (CEI) is an expert executive body within the state administration charged primarily with supervision in the area of environmental legislation enforcement. Additionally, CEI also supervises over the legal compliance of administrative decisions taken by the public administration bodies in the area of the environment. CEI was set up in 1991 by the Act. No. 282/1991 Coll., on the Czech Environmental Inspectorate and its competencies in forestry protection. The other environmentals sectors - air and nature protection as well as waste management - were gradually, in 1991-1992, incorporated. CEI is an independent organization subordinate to the Ministry of the Environment adn funded from the state budget.
The activities of CEI can be divided into five core areas air protection, waste management, nature, water and forests management supervision. CEI was gradually assigned also additional responsibilities in other areas: protection of the Earth's ozone layer, supervision over the handling of chemical substances, industrial accident prevention, packaging management and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).