Comments to General Part of Environmental Code Act (GPECA), coordinated by Estonian Environmental Law Center (EELC) and written by eight authors, were recently published. The comments thoroughly explain the provisions of the GPECA, also providing an overview of background and content of the Estonian environmental law.
Read more »At the end of 2013, Justice & Environment (J&E), a European Network of Environmental Law Organizations, published a comparative study on environmental liability regulations in different EU member states. .
Read more »Last week, on 15 January, EELC became a member of the Estonian Social Enterprise Network (SEN).
Read more »An article by EELC’s lawyer Siim Vahtrus and professor of environmental law at the University of Tartu, Hannes Veinla, was published in Juridica International 2013 issue in December. The article (in English) introduces the legal background, content and nature of operators’ general environmental obligations provided in the new Environmental Code of Estonia.
Read more »In the beginning of November, advisory board of EELC approved EELC’s strategy for 2013-2030. The new strategy provides more specific and clearer focus and goals for our activities in the future.
With the help of consultants and members of the advisory board, EELC’s team determined four programs and four focus topic areas within which we aim to create significant changes in the next years. Measuring the social impacts of our activities will also be paid more attention than before.
Read more »Estonian Environmental Law Center has published guidelines on making discretionary decisions in environmental matters, aimed at helping Estonian public officials to consider and reason environmental decisions better. This gives a chance to consider different interests in a more transparent manner and helps to understand why the decision-maker considered a certain solution to be the best.
Estonian Environmental Law Center (EELC) recently published the results of a study carried out in cooperation with a research company on public awareness of environmental issues and law.
Read more »Estonian Environmental Law Center (EELC) in cooperation with Estonian Fund for Nature composed a legal analysis on the Forest Act of Estonia and its amendments in the period of 1998-2013. The analysis found that the legislature treats forest primarily as a source of timber and this approach may endanger the forests as ecosystems.
Read more »In the last few months we at EELC have started to gather thoughts on our strategic goals for the coming years. Last week, the EELC team, members of its advisory board and our consultants Toomas Roolaid and Jaan Aps gathered for a two-day meeting in the countryside of central Estonia.
The meeting was packed with discussions on how and in which direction EELC should continue. As was to be expected, several challenges were identified and addressed – for example, which topics/themes should EELC concentrate on, should we be more politically active or act as a reserved expert, how to ensure financial sustainability etc.
The one-year project “Information and counselling campaign “Know how to participate”” ended in April. The main aim of the project was to advise people involved in environmental decision-making how to present relevant statements at an appropriate stage and in correct format
Read more »EELC’s work in the last year has resulted in a comprehensive analysis on the possibilities how to renew Estonian legislation on environmental noise. The new study analyzes possible solutions to problems with the current noise regulation with the aim of better protection of different interests and rights as well as easier implementation of the rules. In cooperation with noise experts from Akukon OY Estonian branch we put together the best possible solutions in the concept (so-called “white paper”) on renewal of the regulation.
Read more »From April 2013, EELC is a partner in a project
aimed at nationwide forest policy development. The focus is set on increasing
the role of environmental NGOs in forest policy issues.
In 2013, EELC is composing another set of guidelines for public authorities. This time the aim is to help officials of municipal and state authorities in making discretionary decisions on environmental issues.
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