The Legal Base of Marine Environmental Protection
The general norms of maritime law — ship registration, crewing, shipping contracts — sit in separate legislation and are not the basis of this page; what is documented here is the regime of marine environmental protection under the Georgian Law on Environmental Protection. Under Article 45 of the law, natural ecosystems, landscapes and territories must be protected from pollution, disturbance, damage, degradation, depletion and destruction. Subject to protection are: the sea coastal zone; swamps, spring heads, the sources of water reservoirs and rivers, glaciers, caves; subalpine and floodplain forests; valuable forest massifs; green zone forests; sanitary protection zones and territories. Any activity related to the use and management of natural ecosystems, landscapes and territories, and their management regime, is carried out taking into account environmental protection norms and requirements, while the issues related to their use and management, including land use planning and zoning, are determined by Georgian legislation. The sea coastal zone stands first in this list: it is the belt where sea and land interact, and where ecological disturbance shows itself fastest, while the protection of swamps, spring heads and river sources protects the quality of inflowing waters from the very source.
Protection of the Black Sea from Pollution
For the purpose of protecting and preserving the environment of the Black Sea, Article 54 of the law obliges every subject of activity to carry out measures ensuring the prevention, suppression, reduction and control of pollution of the sea with dangerous substances and materials from land-based sources of pollution, from ships, as a result of activity on the continental shelf, during transboundary cargo transport, from the atmosphere, by waters flowing into the sea, and by dumping. This list describes all the main pathways of marine pollution, and the organization of coastal activity begins from the classification of these sources. The legal regime of protecting the Black Sea from pollution within Georgia's jurisdiction is established by Georgian legislation.
The Special Mercury Regime
Within the frame of the same article a special legal regime is formed for the protection of human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and leaks of mercury and its compounds: the primary mining of mercury — mining in which the main substance extracted is mercury — and the use of mercury or a mercury compound in the mining and/or processing of gold are prohibited. The import, export and transit of mercury are permissible on the basis of the issuance of prior substantiated consent, in accordance with the rule approved by the Government; individual products enriched with mercury whose production, import, export and transit are restricted, and industrial processes in which the use of mercury or a mercury compound is restricted, are likewise determined by that rule. In the marine context it matters because mercury is a highly dangerous persistent pollutant with a capacity for bioaccumulation in the food chain.
Waste and State Control
Article 34 of the law contains the decisive prohibition for the sea as well: the placement of any waste in the sea and in other water bodies is prohibited. The subject of activity must ensure the prevention, collection, recovery and placement of waste in compliance with environmental, sanitary-hygienic and epidemiological norms and rules; the placement and burial of waste envisaged by legislation is permissible only in specially designated places, and radioactive and other hazardous waste — only in specially designated places. Control is regulated by Article 57 of the law: in the sphere of environmental protection and the use of natural resources, state control is exercised, within the powers conferred by legislation, by the Ministry, the Department, the Agency of Protected Areas and the Agency of Nuclear and Radiation Safety, and the state forest management organ. The Department carries out inspection through scheduled or unscheduled inspection and viewing; the basis for an inspection is an individual administrative-legal act, whose appeal does not suspend the inspection, while viewing requires no such act. Liability for an offense does not release the offender from compensating damage caused to the environment, and the limitation period for claiming environmental damage is ten years from the moment the right of claim arises. The regime of marine environmental protection thus consists of three layers: ecosystem protection, source-oriented prevention, and the prohibition-control layer banning the placement of waste in the sea outright and pursuing compensation of damage; the special mercury regime complements them with a substance-specific instrument.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about the marine environment most often concern the organs of state control, the procedure of inspection and the prohibition on placing waste in the sea.
Who exercises state control over the marine environment?
The Ministry, the Department, the Agency of Protected Areas, the Agency of Nuclear and Radiation Safety and the state forest management organ — within the powers conferred by legislation.
What is the basis of an inspection of a coastal object?
An individual administrative-legal act, whose appeal does not suspend the inspection; viewing requires no such act.
Within what period may environmental damage be claimed?
The limitation period is ten years from the moment the right of claim arises; liability does not release the offender from compensation of the damage.
May waste be placed in the sea?
No — the placement of any waste in the sea and other water bodies is prohibited; hazardous waste may be placed only in specially designated places.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The Legal.ge team works with companies of the coastal and maritime sector: we analyse the classification of pollution sources, prepare documentation of the corresponding measures and assess the risks of waste management and state control.
If you are planning coastal activity or contesting a decision of a control organ, write to us on Legal.ge — we will assess your position on the basis of the legislation.