Act No. 123 / 1998 Coll.
Law on the right to information on the environment
Valid
Effective from 01.07.1998
Zobrazeno prvních 200 z celkem 413 ustanovení tohoto předpisu.
Zobrazit celý předpis →
Pro stažení celého znění použijte tlačítko Stáhnout výše.
123
THE LAW
of 13 May 1998
on the right to environmental information
Parliament has decided on this law of the Czech Republic:
Subject matter
(1) This law implements the relevant European Union1) and provides for the safeguarding of the right of access to environmental information and to timely and complete environmental information, 1a) to create conditions for the exercise of this right and to promote the active disclosure of environmental information by mandatory bodies. Specifies
(a) the conditions for exercising the right to timely and complete environmental information held by or available to mandatory bodies under this law;
(b) public access to environmental information held by or available to mandatory bodies under this law;
(c) the basic conditions and deadlines for disclosure of information and the grounds for which obliged entities under this law may refuse disclosure of information;
(d) active disclosure of environmental information, support for the use of remote access devices and support for the disclosure of information through the application programming interface;
(e) rules on the establishment of infrastructure for spatial data for the purposes of environmental policies and policies or activities which may affect the environment (INSPIRE) and the accessibility of spatial data through network services on the INSPIRE National Geoportal (hereinafter referred to as the "Geoportal"),
(f) education, education and education in the field of environmental protection.
(2) The making available of data obtained for statistical purposes and the making available of statistical information is governed by special legislation.2)
Definition of terms
For the purposes of this Act:
(a) information on the environment (hereinafter referred to as "information") in any technically feasible form, indicating in particular:
1. the state and development of the environment, the causes and consequences of this state,
2. the activities and measures planned or implemented and the agreements concluded which have or could have an impact on the state of the environment and its components;
3. the state of the environment components, including genetically modified organisms, and the interaction between them, on substances, energy, noise, radiation, waste including radioactive waste and other emissions to the environment that affect or may affect its constituents, and the consequences of such emissions;
4. the use of natural resources and its environmental consequences, as well as the data necessary to assess the causes and consequences of such use and its effects on living organisms and society;
5. the effects of buildings, activities, technologies and products on the environment and public health and on environmental impact assessment;
6. administrative procedures in environmental matters, environmental impact assessments, petitions and complaints in these matters and their processing, as well as information contained in documents relating to specially protected nature and other environmental aspects protected under specific regulations,
7. economic and financial analyses used in decision-making and other environmental measures and procedures, provided that they have been taken in whole or in part from public funds;
8. the state of public health, safety and conditions of human life, where or may be affected by the state of the environmental components, emissions or activities, measures and agreements referred to in point 2;
9. the state of cultural and architectural monuments, if or may be affected by the state of environmental components, emissions or activities, measures and agreements referred to in point 2;
10. Reports on the implementation and implementation of environmental legislation,
11. international, national, regional and local strategies and programmes, action plans, etc., in which the Czech Republic participates and reports on their implementation,
12. international commitments relating to the environment and the fulfilment of obligations arising from the international treaties by which the Czech Republic is bound,
13. sources of information on the state of the environment and natural resources;
(b) compulsory bodies
1. administrative offices and other organisational bodies of the State and authorities of local and local authorities, 3)
2. legal or natural persons who, under specific legislation, exercise, in the field of public administration, the powers directly or indirectly relating to the environment, 4)
3. legal persons established, established, controlled or entrusted by the bodies referred to in points 1 and 2, as well as natural persons authorised by them, who, by virtue of legislation or agreement with them, provide services which affect the state of the environment and its individual components (hereinafter referred to as "the delegate");
(c) making information available in any technically feasible form to any individual legal or natural person who has requested it, hereinafter referred to as "the applicant," by direct consultation of documents or other sets of information, the making of extracts, copies or copies by the applicant at the premises or other premises of the obliged entities, and information on the methods and methods for obtaining each information;
(d) by actively making information available to an unlimited range of entities without requiring an application, under conditions which are objective, proportionate, non-discriminatory, non-exclusive and do not restrict the way and purpose of subsequent use of the information provided (hereinafter referred to as "standard conditions of use"), in particular through the application programming interface;
(e) a machine-readable format of a data file with a structure that allows software to easily find, identify and extract specific information from this data file, including individual data and its internal structure;
(f) an open format format for a data file which is not dependent on specific technical and software equipment and is made available to the public without any restriction which would prevent the use of the information contained in the data file;
(g) an application programming interface of a set of functions and processes enabling the creation of applications that accede to the functions or data of the operating system, database, application or other electronic services;
(h) spatial data, including their identifiable groups, in electronic form, which refer directly or indirectly to a specific location or geographical area in the territory of the Czech Republic and, in the case of an agreement with another Member State of the European Union, within its territory;
(i) metadata of data describing the context, content and structure of the recorded information, including information describing spatial data sets or services, including spatial data services, which enable and facilitate their search, sorting and use and which further describe their management over time;
(j) infrastructure for spatial data and spatial data services, network services and technology, metadata, technical requirements, agreements on sharing access to and use of spatial data and services, mechanisms, processes and procedures for coordination, established, operated or made available in accordance with this Act, and monitoring, use of spatial data and spatial data services;
(k) interoperability of the possibility of a combination of spatial data and of communication between spatial data services without repeated manual interference in order to achieve a coherent result and to increase the added value of spatial data and spatial data services;
(l) by making data available to access spatial data and metadata to an unlimited range of entities through:
1. the provision of spatial data and metadata to the geoportal (§ 11a) from its own Internet interface using spatial data-based services in accordance with technical requirements; or
2. transmission of spatial data and metadata in accordance with technical requirements for the geoportal (§ 11a);
(m) the technical requirements of requirements which contain minimum performance requirements for spatial data services and ensure the coherence of spatial data, as laid down in the directly applicable European Union16), governing rules for the creation and updating of metadata, monitoring and reporting, spatial data services, interoperability and harmonisation of spatial data and services, and access to spatial data and services;
(n) services based on spatial data, possible forms of processing of spatial data or related metadata through a computer application;
(o) open data information and spatial data published in a way that allows remote access in an open and machine-readable format, the manner and purpose of which is not restricted by the mandatory body which publishes them and which is registered in the national open data catalogue or in the geoportal;
(p) a national data set of spatial data set within the scope of the territory of the Czech Republic corresponding to the spatial data theme set out in the Annex to this Act and the technical requirements, created by mandatory bodies and made available on the geoportal.
Request for information
(1) In order to obtain environmental information, the applicant may request the compulsory body to make environmental information available. They need not justify their request. The request may be made orally, in writing, by telephone, electronically, by fax or by any other technically feasible form. The request shall make it clear what is to be provided. The application must show who filed it.
(2) In the event of an incomprehensible or overly general request, a call for clarification shall be sent to the applicant within 15 days of receipt of the request. The invitation shall specify the direction in which the application needs to be specified. The applicant shall specify this application without undue delay, no later than 15 days, to the extent required. If, within 15 days of receipt of the request, the applicant fails to specify the request in the requested direction, the applicant shall be deemed to have waived the request.
(3) In the case of a request made by telephone, if it cannot be dealt with immediately, the compulsory body shall be entitled to request its transmission in writing. In this case, the provisions on specifying the application shall apply mutatis mutandis.
Application to a non-competent compulsory body
Where an application is submitted to a compulsory body which does not have the information at its disposal and at the same time is not obliged to have such information under specific legislation, it shall inform the applicant without undue delay, no later than 15 days after receipt of the request, that it cannot provide the information requested for that reason. Where the question is known to the obliged entity, the obliged entity shall forward the request within the time limits set out in the first sentence and inform the applicant accordingly.
Published information
(1) Where the request is intended to provide published information, the compulsory body may, at the earliest and within 15 days at the latest, communicate to the applicant, instead of providing information, information enabling the search and retrieval of the published information. This is not the case if the applicant has indicated that it is not able to obtain the information otherwise.
(2) Where the applicant insists on providing directly published information, the compulsory body shall provide it.
Method and form of disclosure of information
(1) The applicant may propose in the application the form or manner in which the information is to be used when making it available. Where it requests disclosure on a technical data medium, it shall pay its price or attach a technically applicable data medium to the application.
(2) Where the applicant does not determine the form or method referred to in paragraph 1, or where such form or method cannot be used for serious reasons, the method and form of disclosure of the information shall be chosen to fulfil the purpose of the request for disclosure and its optimum use by the applicant. In particular, the form and manner used by the applicant to submit an application shall be used in doubt. Where a compulsory body makes the information even partially available in a form other than that required, it shall state the reasons therefor. The mandatory body shall make information available under standard conditions of use.
Time limit for disclosure
(1) The information should be made available without undue delay, not later than 30 days after receipt of the request, unless special circumstances exceptionally require an extension of that period, but not more than 60 days. Such circumstances and the extension of the period shall be notified to the applicant before the 30-day period expires.
(2) In the case referred to in Paragraph 3 (2) of this Act, the time limit for disclosure of information shall begin to run on the date of receipt of the specified request.
Restrictions on access to information
(1) Disclosure of information shall be refused where it is excluded by the provisions:
(a) on the protection of classified information, 5)
(b) on the protection of persons6) or individual allegations2) and on the protection of persons7)
(c) the protection of intellectual property, 8)
(d) the protection of business secrets. 9)
(2) The disclosure of information may also be denied if:
(a) has been transmitted to the compulsory body by a person who has not been legally obliged to do so and has not given prior written consent to make this information available;
(b) making this information available could have an adverse effect on the protection of the environment in the places where the information relates;
(c) the applicant requests information relating to criminal, criminal or disciplinary proceedings in progress if it would jeopardise or undermine the purpose of the proceedings, in particular ensuring the right to a fair trial;
(d) disclosure of information could jeopardise the equality of participants in judicial, arbitral, administrative or similar proceedings;
(e) the application was worded indistinctly or too generally and the applicant, although invited to do so, did not complete it under Paragraph 3 (2) of this Act or is an anonymous request.
(3) Furthermore, disclosure may be refused if:
(a) it relates to material at the stage of completion or elaboration of documents or data not yet processed or evaluated;
(b) the applicant already has the required information at his disposal;
(c) it relates to internal instructions of the compulsory body which relate exclusively to its internal operation.
(4) The disclosure of information classified as business secrets is not an infringement of commercial secrecy where:
(a) the information requested relates to the environmental performance of the undertaking's activities;
(b) there is an imminent threat to human health and the environment;
(c) the information required has been obtained from public budgets.
(5) An infringement of the right to protection of persons shall not constitute a breach of the provision of information on the originator of an activity which pollutes or otherwise threatens or harms the environment contained in a final decision on a criminal offence, offence or other administrative offence.
(6) Where possible, the requested information shall be made available after the exclusion of those facts which give rise to the refusal to disclose the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2. The applicant shall always be informed of such intervention and of its reason when the information is made available.
(7) The right to refuse disclosure of information shall be valid only for a period of time for which the reason for refusal persists.
(8) Where disclosure of information is refused in the cases referred to in paragraph 3 (a), the compulsory body shall inform the applicant of the estimated time needed to process or evaluate the required data and, if it does not carry out this activity itself, the identification details of the person to carry out the activity.
(9) Where an application for information on emissions emitted or emitted into the environment is made, the reasons for refusing to disclose the information referred to in points (b) and (d) of paragraph 1 and in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 2 may not be used.
(1) The compulsory body may refuse disclosure of the information or part thereof within seven days of receipt of the request if it can be concluded with respect to it that the aim of the applicant is to cause:
(a) pressure on the natural person to whom the information requested relates, unless it concerns information under Section 8a (2) of the Freedom of Information Act; or
(b) the undue burden on the obliged entity;
in response, as a general rule, to the previous procedure of the compulsory body towards the applicant or to the relationship with the natural person referred to in point (a).
(2) The extent of the information requested or the number of applications submitted is not without further grounds for refusing disclosure of the information referred to in paragraph 1.
Decisions to refuse disclosure
(1) If the obliged entity does not comply, even if only partially, with requests for disclosure, it shall, within the time limit for disclosure, issue a decision to refuse disclosure. Where the compulsory body is a person who is not entitled to take decisions under specific legislation, the decision to refuse disclosure shall be taken by the compulsory body which has set up, established, managed or entrusted the delegate, or with whom the agreement referred to in Article 2 (b) (3) has been concluded.
(2) A decision shall not be taken in the case of an anonymous application or where the applicant has not completed his application under Paragraph 3 (2) of this Law, although he has been duly and timely called upon to do so.
(3) If the obliged entity has not provided information or has not given a decision within the prescribed period, it shall be deemed to have decided to withhold the information.
(4) The same procedure as in paragraph 3 shall apply where the applicant does not agree to exclude those facts which give rise to a refusal to disclose the information referred to in Article 8 (1) and (2) before making the information available.
(5) Where the obliged entity makes the information available by means of a copy of a document from which it excluded only personal data or information which is a commercial secret and which it has obtained in accordance with administrative, tax or control procedures, it shall not be required to issue a decision refusing disclosure. If, in the application submitted or within 15 days of the date of receipt of the requested information, the applicant informs the obliged entity in the manner laid down by this law for the submission of a written request for information, that he insists on the decision to refuse disclosure of the information to the extent of the personal data or business secrets defined, the obliged entity shall issue it within the time limit for processing the application or within 15 days of the date of receipt of the communication of the applicant.
Closer conditions for disclosure
(1) The information shall be made available at the working time of the relevant mandatory bodies and, where appropriate, at specific official hours.
(2) Everyone has the right to access and obtain extracts or copies of documents. Everyone also has the right, if operationally possible, to obtain copies of documents.
(3) Compulsory entities shall be entitled, in the context of the disclosure of information, to claim a remuneration of a level which may not exceed the costs of the acquisition of copies, the measures of technical data media and the sending of information to the applicant. The compulsory body may also request payment for the exceptionally extensive search for information.
(4) Obligatory bodies shall process the publicly available remuneration schedule referred to in paragraph 3, indicating the conditions under which the remuneration is to be levied and, where appropriate, where recovery may be waived.
Active disclosure of information
(1) Obligatory bodies process information relating to their competence and create the necessary technical and additional conditions for the active disclosure of information under standard conditions of use.
(2) Obligatory bodies shall, to the extent provided for by this law, maintain and update electronic databases containing information relating to their competence. This obligation shall not apply to the delegate where the information referred to in paragraph 1 is kept in the electronic database by the obliged entity which has established, established, managed or delegated the delegate, or where appropriate has concluded an agreement pursuant to Article 2 (b) (3).
(3) The electronic databases referred to in paragraph 2 must be accessible by means of devices enabling remote access as open data, in particular through the application programming interface. Compulsory entities shall record the information required to be published as open data in the national open data catalogue or in the geoportal.
(4) Compulsory entities shall actively make information, including metadata, available under standard conditions of use in a way that allows remote access, in particular through the application programming interface, and through their own editorial and publication activities.
(5) Compulsory bodies shall in particular actively make available:
(a) concepts, policies, strategies, plans and programmes relating to the environment and reports on their implementation if they are processed;
(b) environmental status reports if they are processed;
(c) summaries of monitoring data on activities which have or might have an impact on the state of the environment and its components;
(d) an administrative decision where its issue is subject to an opinion on the impact of the implementation of the project on the environment under specific legislation, 10a)
(e) documents obtained during environmental impact assessments under special legislation, 10b)
(f) environmental risk assessment where they are processed;
(g) the service agreement referred to in Article 2 (b) (3).
(6) The Ministry of the Environment further actively makes available:
(a) a list of the information to be made available to the compulsory bodies, indicating which compulsory body the information can be obtained from;
(b) international agreements and agreements, European Union legislation, environmental law and other legislation and reports on their implementation and implementation, if they are processed.
(7) Where the information referred to in this provision is already demonstrably accessible through remote access facilities, obliged entities may refer to such published information.
Disclosure of emergency information
In the event of an emergency, the public at risk shall be warned in accordance with specific legislation. 10c)
Publication of high-value data sets
The mandatory entity shall publish in machine-readable and open format on standard conditions of use, in particular through the application programming interface, as open data information, the list of which is provided for in the directly applicable European Union Regulation issued pursuant to Article 14 (1) of Directive (EU) 2019 / 1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Access and use of high-value data files shall be free of charge, unless the regulation directly applicable according to the first sentence provides otherwise.
Obligation of other persons to make information available
A special law may provide for cases where another person is obliged to disclose information. 11) A separate law may also specify the different ways and conditions for disclosure. 12) However, the right to environmental information under this law cannot be restricted or excluded.
Geoportal
(1) The Ministry of the Environment manages a geoportal, which is a public administration information system and is accessible through a public administration portal. Compulsory entities shall, through a geoportal, make available data corresponding to at least one of the subjects listed in the Annex to this Act, which shall constitute, adopt, manage or update the mandatory entities and which fall within the scope of public administration tasks. The Ministry of the Environment shall make available on the Geoportal all information on data, codes and technical classifications necessary to ensure compliance with technical requirements. The Ministry of Environment records information and spatial data available on the geoportal in the national catalogue of open data.
(2) The Ministry of the Environment via the Geoportal provides in particular:
(a) making data available;
(b) spatial data services;
(c) electronic commerce services;
(d) sharing of spatial data in public administration;
(e) information on the state of the infrastructure for spatial data.
(3) The Ministry of the Environment will also make available on the geoportal spatial data other than those whose subjects are listed in the Annex to this Act, if the compulsory body so requests and if the technical requirements are met. The Ministry of the Environment shall also make available on the geoportal the data of a person who is not a mandatory entity (hereinafter referred to as "another spatial data provider") if another spatial data provider so requests or otherwise provides for other legislation and if the technical requirements are met.
(4) Spatial data services include network services, which are services
(a) search for spatial data and services based on the content of the corresponding metadata and enable the display of metadata content;
b) viewing that allows at least to display, browse, zoom, delay, shift or overlay visible spatial data and display explanatory notes and any other significant metadata content;
(c) downloading data enabling the download of complete spatial data or parts thereof and, where practicable, direct access to them;
(d) transformations which allow spatial data to be transformed in order to achieve interoperability;
(e) triggers which enable spatial data-based services referred to in points (a) to (d) to be launched.
(5) Transformation services shall be combined with other spatial data services and ensure interoperability.
(6) Search services shall allow search for spatial data and spatial data-based services according to at least the following search criteria or combinations thereof:
(a) keywords;
(b) the classification of spatial data and services;
(c) the quality and validity of spatial data;
(d) the degree of compliance with the technical requirements;
(e) geographical location,
(f) conditions for access to and use of spatial data and services,
(g) the compulsory body and other spatial data provider which establish, manage, update and distribute spatial data and services.
(7) Metadata include information on:
(a) compliance of spatial data with technical requirements;
(b) the conditions for access to and use of spatial data and services and the amount of remuneration referred to in Article 11c (2) and (3), if required;
(c) the quality and validity of spatial data;
(d) obliged entities and other spatial data providers which establish, manage, update and distribute spatial data and services;
(e) restrictions on access and the reasons for such restrictions.
Data disclosure rules
(1) The compulsory body makes the data available in accordance with the technical requirements under standard conditions of use without application. Similarly, the data is made available by another spatial data provider. Paragraphs 3 to 7 and 9 shall not apply to the disclosure of data from the geoportal.
(2) The municipalities only make the data available when the creation, collection or dissemination of such data is imposed by specific legislation. In the case of territorial subdivisions of the statutory cities and capital cities of Prague, the first sentence shall apply mutatis mutandis to urban districts or urban areas. The territorial subdivided statutory cities and the capital of Prague shall make available data corresponding to at least one of the subjects listed in the Annex to this Act without restriction.
(3) The obligation to make data available shall be limited to the purchaser of spatial data, not to the holder of copies thereof. Spatial data acquirer means a mandatory entity that creates or has created spatial data itself for the purposes of the exercise of public administration. Where a spatial data acquirer receives spatial data from another entity, it shall make the spatial data available in accordance with copyright, copyright-related rights or the specific rights of the subscriber of the database.
(4) The mandatory body and other provider of spatial data on spatial data acquired by them and services based on spatial data create and update the metadata they transmit to the geoportal. The mandatory body and other spatial data provider shall ensure that the spatial data made available by them to the geoportal are consistent with the metadata generated by them. The implementing legislation shall specify the time limits within which the mandatory body and other spatial data provider must establish metadata for their spatial data and services.
(5) The mandatory body shall make metadata available on the geoportal each year for the calculation of the infrastructure status indicators for spatial data. The infrastructure status indicators for spatial data shall be laid down in implementing legislation.
Access to spatial data
(1) Data made available via the geoportal are publicly available in a way that allows remote access, in particular through the application programming interface. The mandatory body or other spatial data provider shall make available the conditions for the provision of data as part of the metadata made available by it. Spatial data shall be made available by obliged entities or other providers on the basis of a non-exclusive licensing contract or sublicensing agreement, in particular concerning the use of databases consisting of spatial data (hereinafter referred to as the "licence contract ') 12b. If the compulsory body or other spatial data provider does not transfer the draft licence contract as part of the metadata, the spatial data shall be made available on the basis of a model licence agreement published by the Ministry of Environment on the geoportal. On the basis of a licence contract, the compulsory body or other spatial data provider may also make spatial data-based services available.
(2) Spatial data and services may be made available for payment, unless otherwise specified. A payment of not more than the minimum amount necessary to ensure the necessary quality and accessibility of spatial data and spatial data services may be required for making spatial data available to mandatory bodies and other spatial data providers corresponding to the themes listed in the Annex to this Act and for spatial data-based services.
(3) Search and view services based on spatial data, including data, are made available free of charge. Data made available by spatial data-based viewing services may be in a form that prevents reuse for commercial purposes. In the case of continuously updated large volume data, the payment referred to in paragraph 2 may also be required for spatial data-based viewing services, provided that such payment serves to ensure the conservation and maintenance of spatial data and the maintenance of adequate spatial data-based services; in that case, the second sentence of paragraph 2 shall apply mutatis mutandis. The range of continuously updated large volume data shall be determined by implementing legislation.
(4) Any person may use the electronic commerce service on the geoportal to pay the payments for the spatial data and services made available. e-commerce services in the geoportal can also be used to cover costs related to the acquisition of copies, the measures of technical data media and the dispatch of the applicant.
(5) For the purpose of carrying out their tasks which may affect the environment, spatial data and spatial data services provided by public authorities, which correspond to the subjects listed in the Annex to this Act and which are made available on the geoportal, public authorities have full access free of charge. Public authorities, state contribution organisations and State bodies shall exchange and use such data and services for the performance of their tasks which may affect the environment.
(6) For access to the spatial data of compulsory bodies by institutions, bodies, agencies of the European Union, public authorities of other Member States of the European Union, provided that such data serve to fulfil their reporting obligations under European Union environmental rules, paragraph 5 shall apply mutatis mutandis.
(7) Access by the bodies set up by international agreements to the spatial data of obliged entities by the European Union and the Member States to the spatial data of obliged entities is possible on the basis of reciprocity and equality, provided that such spatial data serves to carry out their tasks which could affect the environment.
Restrictions and refusal of access to spatial data
(1) Access to spatial data will be denied if the protection of third parties' rights to the subject matter of copyright or copyright related rights would be infringed.
(2) Public access to spatial data through search services may be restricted if it is in the interests of public security, state defence or protection of international relations. Access to spatial data made available through viewing services, download services, transformation services and services enabling spatial data services to be launched may be restricted to public authorities for the reasons set out in the first sentence and to public access for the reasons set out in Sections 8 (1) and 8 (2) (a) to (c). Public access can be restricted only where strictly necessary, if there is an interest in limiting access to spatial data over the public interest. For the reasons set out in Sections 8 (1) (a), (b) and (d) and 8 (2) (a) and (b), access to information on emissions to the environment cannot be restricted.
(3) Access restrictions shall be implemented by a mandatory body or other spatial data provider in the case of spatial data located on Internet interfaces made available through a geoportal. In the case of spatial data placed on the geoportal, the Ministry shall implement the access restriction. The limitation of access and its justification will be published by the Ministry of Environment in both cases on the geoportal. The mandatory body and other spatial data provider shall inform the Ministry of the need for access restrictions implemented by the Ministry and for access restrictions made by them, including disclosure of the reasons to lead or lead to access restrictions.
Sign in for notes, favorites and notifications
Regulation Information
| Citation | Act No. 123 / 1998 Coll., on the right to information on the environment |
|---|---|
| Regulation Type | - |
| Author | - |
| Collection | Code of Laws |
| Date of Promulgation | 08.06.1998 |
|---|---|
| Effective from | 01.07.1998 |
| Effective until | - |
| Status | Valid |
The regulation text is for informational purposes only.
Comments 0