LawonEnvironmentalProtection2010-European.docVIP

REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA LAW ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 21 January 1992 No I-2223 (As last amended on 28 May 2010 – No XI-858) Vilnius CHAPTER I. GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1. Definitions In this Law: 1) environment shall mean the totality of interconnected elements (land surface and underground, air, water, soil, flora, fauna, organic and inorganic matter, anthropogenic components) as functioning in nature and the natural and anthropogenic systems uniting them; 2) environmental protection shall mean protection of the environment against physical, chemical, biological and another adverse effect or the consequences arising from the implementation of plans and programmes, pursuit of economic activities or utilisation of natural resources; 3) natural resources shall mean the elements of animate or inanimate nature (flora, fauna, including habitats, water, earth (land surface and underground)) which are used or may be used by man for his needs; 4) ecosystem shall mean a functional system of animate and inanimate elements of the environment united by their interrelations and the processes of metabolism and energy exchange; 5) normative standard of environmental protection shall mean a digital or logical expression of the effect of economic or other activities on the environment as legalised in accordance with the established procedure; 6) standard of environmental protection shall mean a regulatory document drafted and approved in accordance with the established procedure and stipulating the general and multiple-use rules, general principles or characteristics of environmental protection; 7) limitation of natural resources shall mean the establishment of norms of utilisation of natural resources taking into consideration the data available on the amount of the natural resources, their renewal, and preservation for the future; 8) harmful (adverse) effect on the environment shall mean deterioration or loss of the natural functions of an ecosystem or elements thereof;