The draft Environmental Fees Act that specifies the natural resources exploitation charges and pollution charges successfully passed the first reading in Riigikogu. The more specific and complex approach to the rates of the environmental fees helps to raise significantly the motivation to preserve the natural environment in the future. Environmental fees have been used in Estonia since 1991. The plurality, dissimilarity and deficiency of legal regulations have caused problems to undertakings, brought along misunderstandings and uncertainty and made the work of relevant institutions more difficult. The draft Environmental Fees Act takes a complex approach to the Estonian fees and charges related to natural resources and environmental protection. Upon implementing this act, the payer of the environmental fees has to proceed from a single fundamental document which establishes all rules related to the calculation and payment of environmental fees. ”By now, the Estonian economy has stabilized enough to discontinue developing at the expense of the environment. We are ready to join the idea of an ecological tax reform which has been fully accepted in Europe, and we find that it is high time to start valuing the environment and natural resources higher than before,” explained Villu Reiljan, the Minister of the Environment. Under the principles of the ecological tax reform approved by the Government of the Republic, the Environmental Fees Act sends a clear signal – further development of the state has to take place in a nature preserving direction.
Adviser on Environmental Economics and Control, Ministry of the Environment Phone: 626 2807
|
