The legal frame of the air emission permit
Requirements connected with air emissions are gathered in the norms chapter of the Law on Environmental Protection. This page explains the three central norms: the categories of environmental protection norms, the qualitative norms, and the permissible limit norms for emissions — the latter being precisely the foundation on which the emission-permit regime builds its conditions.
Categories of environmental protection norms
The purpose of establishing environmental protection norms is to determine norms for the impact of activities on the environment that ensure the ecological balance of the environment. To this end the law regulates: qualitative norms of the state of the environment; permissible limit norms for the emission of harmful substances into the environment and for pollution by microorganisms; norms for the use of chemical agents in the environment; ecological requirements for products; and norms of environmental load.
Qualitative norms
The qualitative norms establish: permissible limit norms for the concentration of substances harmful to human health and the natural environment and for the quantities of microorganisms in atmospheric air, water and soil; permissible limit norms for noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields and other kinds of physical impact; and permissible limit norms for radiation impact. These norms are determined once every 5 years by the relevant regulation, elaborated and approved, in agreement with the environmental ministry, by the ministry of displaced persons, labour, health and social protection.
Permissible limit emission norms
Emission norms are developed for each specific source of pollution, taking into account its technological features and the background pollution of its location — in such a way that the concentration of emitted substances and microorganisms on site does not exceed the permissible limit concentration level. The norms are determined once every five years by the relevant regulation elaborated and approved by the environmental ministry. The difference matters: a qualitative norm fixes the state of the environment, while an emission norm targets the specific source directly.