The officials recommended, among other things, amending the Law on Environmental Protection and the Rules of Procedure for the Environmental Impact Assessment, as well as procedures which are part of environmental impact assessment.
The purpose of the project, which the EU financed with EUR700,000, was to assist the Croatian government on the road to the EU by improving the environmental sustainability of development projects in line with EU standards, improving the procedure of environmental impact assessment and accumulating the knowledge of environmental impact assessment in line with EU standards and international practice. Adjusting the implementation of environmental impact assessment to the relevant EU directive is one of the conditions for the co-financing of infrastructure projects.
The coordinator of the EC Delegation's environmental protection projects, Mojca Starc, said that Croatia had announced amendments to the Law on Environmental Protection and that it would prepare implementing regulations in 2007. She commended the inclusion of civil society in the process, and recalled that the tradition of making assessments in Croatia was very long and that this fact and the high level of professionalism had reflected on the project.
The EC has established that Croatia has achieved a high degree of adjustment of its legislation and taken concrete steps to continue with adjustment, that implementing institutions had been generally determined, but that it was necessary to improve efficiency and ensure application of legislation and appropriate procedures, Starc said.
A state secretary at the Ministry for Environmental Protection, Nikola Ruzinski, said the project had introduced new standards into the system of environmental impact assessment.
He said that Croatia's legislation in the field was highly adjusted to that of the EU, but that the Rules of Procedure for environmental impact assessment was based on the Law on Environmental Protection that was being amended.
Europe has amended its laws and regulations too and Croatia now has to adjust to the latest changes, Ruzinski said.
He added that the system should include the public and NGOs in the process of environmental impact assessment.
Ruzinski voiced satisfaction with the CARDS project, stating that it would facilitate the adoption of new rules of procedure because the system was fully prepared for the new, modified way of environmental impact assessment.
The CARDS project was implemented by Environmental Resources Management Ltd. from Great Britain and OIKON d.o.o. from Croatia.