Environmental Protection Law (2006)

This Law provides for environmental protection. Its purpose is to ensure the preservation and recovery of the quality of the environment, as well as the sustainable utilisation of natural resources. Provisions of this Law shall also be applicable to continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Latvia. The conditions of Chapter VI1 of this Law in accordance with international law shall be applied in relation to the discharge of dangerous and other polluting substances into the internal waters of Latvia; into the territorial waters of Latvia; into the exclusive economic zone of Latvia, or equivalent zone, which is established in accordance with international law; into straits used for international navigation subject to the regime of transit passage, as laid down in Part III, section 2, of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to the extent that a Member State exercises jurisdiction over such straits; into the high seas; and from ships that navigate under the flag of the Republic of Latvia into any area in which the ship is located, except for the exception referred to in Section 35.1, Paragraphs two and three of this Law. The Law also provides for the polluter pays principle, the precautionary principle, the prevention principle, and the assessment principle. The Law further provides for rights of the public in the environmental field; duties of the state and local government authorities in relation to the provision and dissemination of environmental information and the involving of the public in the taking of decisions; environmental information system; control in the environmental field; liability for damage caused to the environment; liability for water pollution; voluntary measures for environmental management; and environmental science, environmental education and sustainable development.