site.btaCourt Ruling Obliges Environment Minister to Conduct EIA for Pirin National Park

111 ENVIRONMENT - PIRIN NATIONAL PARK - IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Court Ruling Obliges
Environment Minister to
Conduct EIA for Pirin National Park


Sofia, Match 8 (BTA) - A three-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court repealed a decision of the Environment and Water Minister to not carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for Pirin National Park, the court said Friday.

The court ruling is based on the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act, the Protected Territories Act and the Biodiversity Act, which regulate the management plans for protected territories and require an EIA.

The administrative proceedings were launched in 2018 after a complaint by the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme in Bulgaria, the Association of Parks in Bulgaria, and several natural persons against a decision of Environment Minister of March 1, 2017. The decision reads that an EIA should not be carried out for a draft update of Pirin National Park Management Plan for 2014-2023.

According to the Supreme Administrative Court, the EIA is compulsory because it outlines the framework of the future development of investment proposals concerning Pirin National Park. The Environment Minister thus has to issue a new decision to this effect.

IG/DS