Lithuania

I. The Context of Public Participation in Lithuania

Since the restoration of the independent Lithuanian state in March 1990, there has been a rapid development of legislation and regulations covering all aspects of economic activity, including environmental protection. In virtually every stage of the environmental protection process (from establishment of environmental policy to permitting to enforcement), there are broad provisions for public access to and provision of information as well as public consultation. These provisions, for the most part found in the 1992 Law on Environmental Protection, are so broad, in fact, that they are incapable of being translated into practice.

Lithuania declared its independence in March 1990 together with the other Baltic States, Latvia and Estonia, hastening the demise of the former Soviet Union. Unlike other former republics, the Baltic States had enjoyed independence between the two World Wars and had traditional and historical connections to other countries bordering the Baltic. Lithuania in particular has an extensive history as a regional power, dating back to the Middle Ages, unlike Estonia and Latvia which during the inter-war period celebrated their first periods of independence as nations.

In part because of its size and strategic position, Lithuania has had greater difficulties than its Baltic neighbors in achieving economic and political stability. Like Poland to the west, recent national elections have shown a return to power of socialists and former communists who, although not abandoning reform, tend to slow the pace to ease the burden on those displaced by the changes in society. The political unsettledness is underscored by recent local elections in which a Conservative Party-led coalition dominated.

Environmental law reform, while a high priority at the time of fresh independence, is now proceeding largely on momentum. A large number of laws are in draft form, but changes to the structure of the environmental authority have created difficult working conditions. Moreover, there is a general feeling among interested members of the public that the government is becoming increasingly isolated from public participation.

As is common throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the independence movement in Lithuania grew out of environmental protests in the 1980s. Green organizations succeeded in gathering 1.5 million signatures on a petition to halt expansion of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, and successfully halted drilling for oil in the Neringa national park and the Baltic Sea. In more recent years, the allure of public demonstrations has diminished. Moreover, many of the key figures in the early environmental protests have moved on either to become establishment figures, or to trade upon their expertise by forming private consulting firms.

While the profile of public participation has lowered, the movement towards integration into society of those who took part in the environmental protests of the 1980s has contributed towards a more subtle development. One consulting company made up of former greens undertakes public participation exercises as part of its contract work with western organizations and distributes information to the public on all its projects.

The relationship between the green movement and the government is reportedly the worst among the Baltic states. The reasons for this are unclear, although certainly geography contributes to the difficulties. The green movement is centered in Kaunas, a city comparable in size to Vilnius but with markedly different demographics. Vilnius views itself as cosmopolitan and international, whereas Kaunas considers itself to be more open and progressive.

II. Legal Structure and Legislative Process

A. Constitution

1) Basic Rights and Obligations

Lithuania adopted a new constitution by referendum on 25 October 1992.

a. Right to Healthy Environment

The Lithuanian Constitution of October 1992 does not include a specific right to a healthy environment. The Constitution (Arts. 53-54) obliges citizens to protect the environment and requires the State to concern itself with the protection of the natural environment,
its fauna and flora, separate objects of nature and particularly valuable districts, and shall supervise the moderate utilization of natural resources as well as their restoration and augmentation. The exhaustion of land and entrails of the earth, the pollution of waters and air, the production of radioactive impact, as well as the impoverishment of fauna and flora, shall be prohibited by law.

b. Right of Expression

Article 25 guarantees to individuals the right to have their own convictions and to freely express them. Furthermore,
Individuals must not be hindered from seeking, obtaining, or disseminating information or ideas.

This right may only be restricted according to law if necessary for the safeguard of the health, honor and dignity, private life, or morals of a person, or for the protection of the constitutional order.

c. Right to Information
In addition to the provisions mentioned in the previous section, Article 25 goes on to state that citizens have the right to obtain any available information which concerns them from State agencies in the manner established by law.

d. Right of Free Assembly
The right of freedom of assembly is found at Article 36 of the Constitution.

e. Right of Association
This right is guaranteed by Article 35 of the Constitution. A key piece of legislation recently enacted is the Law on Public Organizations, which instituted key reforms in the area of organization of NGOs.

f. Right of Petition

Article 33 of the Constitution states in pertinent part:
Each citizen shall be guaranteed the right to criticize the work of State institutions and their officers, and to appeal against their decisions. It shall be prohibited to persecute people for criticism. Citizens shall be guaranteed the right to petition; the procedure for implementing this right shall be established by law.

g. Government's Relationship to the Citizens

Article 2 of the Constitution establishes that the State of Lithuania is created by the People, who are sovereign. Article 3 goes on to state that no one may limit or restrict the sovereignty of the People or make claims to its sovereign power. Article 4 provides:
The People shall exercise the supreme sovereign power vested in them either directly or through their democratically elected representatives.

Article 33 repeats that citizens have the right to participate in government both directly and through their freely elected representatives.

2) Right to Petition Constitutional Court for Review

The Constitutional Court is established under Chapter 8 of the Constitution and consists of nine justices serving staggered nine-year terms, three each selected by the Seimas (Parliament), the President and the Judiciary. It rules upon the constitutionality of laws and decrees passed by the Parliament and the President, and upon the constitutionality of acts of the President and of the Government. It does not have the power to review the constitutionality of acts of governmental officials in implementing laws. Ordinary citizens may not initiate actions before the Constitutional Court. They may only act indirectly, for example through a group of Members of Parliament. Constitutional questions which arise in normal court proceedings, however, should be referred to the Constitutional Court for decision. See Art. 110. This mechanism offers perhaps the best possibility for ordinary citizens to cause the Court to consider issues of constitutionality.

3) Other Remedies

Article 73 of the Constitution establishes the institution of parliamentary controllers. These controllers, analogous to the position of ombudsman in other countries, whose powers shall be established by law:
shall examine complaints of citizens concerning the abuse of powers by, and bureaucracy of, State and local government officers (with the exception of judges). Controllers shall have the right to submit proposals to the court to dismiss guilty officers from their posts.

The law, called the Law on the Seimas Ombudsmen, was passed in 1994. It gives authority to the ombudsmen to investigate complaints concerning "abuse of official position or bureaucracy" of certain officials.
Abuse of an official position shall be the actions or lack of action of an official whereby the official position is used not in the interests of the office, or is used contrary to laws or other legal acts, or in pursuit of mercenary ends É, or in pursuit of other personal goals É, as well as the actions of the official whereby he exceeds his powers, or his arbitrary actions.
É Bureaucracy shall be the actions of officials when, rather than settling matters in essence, they systematically maintain unnecessary or made-up formalities, groundlessly refuse to settle issues that are within their jurisdiction, or delay adopting decisions or fulfilling their duties. The style of work of officials characterized by failure to perform the duties established by laws or other legal acts as well as unsatisfactory performance of such duties shall also be considered bureaucracy.

Arts 12,13.

Exempt from investigation are the President, members of parliament, all judges, procedural actions of prosecutors, investigators or interrogators, the Prime Minister, the State Controller, the Government (as a "collective institution"), and local government Councils and their Boards (as "collective institutions"). Ministers and lower authorities would be among those potentially subject to the powers of the ombudsmen.

Further provisions of the law specify the ombudsmen's powers, procedures for filing complaints, grounds for decision not to investigate, and form of decisions. The initial group of five parliamentary controllers, selected by the Seimas, were to begin serving their four-year terms March 1, 1995.

B. Legislation and Rule-Making

1) Constitutional Provisions

The Constitution was adopted by referendum of the voters in the Fall of 1992.

Article 147, concerning amendments to the Constitution, provides that a petition for amendment may be submitted to the Parliament by at least 300,000 voters.

2) Right of Legislative Initiative

Citizens have the right of initiative under Article 68 of the Constitution. That article states:
Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania shall also have the right of legislative initiative. A draft law may be submitted to the Seimas by 50,000 citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who have the right to vote. The Seimas must consider this draft law.

3) Right of Referendum

Referendum is an integral part of the system of government and legislation established by the Constitution. Article 9 provides:
The most significant issues concerning the life of the State and the People shall be decided by referendum. In the cases established by law, referendums shall be announced by the Seimas [Parliament]. Referendums shall also be announced if no less than 300,000 of the electorate so request. The procedure for the announcement and execution of a referendum shall be established by law.

Article 69 also states that provisions of the laws of the Republic may be adopted by referendum.

In the first reported attempt to use the referendum law, the parliamentary opposition unsuccessfully sought consideration of a package of economic laws.

4) Public Participation Provisions in Laws

No law or rule requires any form of public participation procedure in the drafting of laws or deliberations concerning them, either at the Parliamentary or Governmental level.

5) Public Participation in Parliamentary Practice

The Parliament does not routinely involve the public in its deliberations. Indirect public participation may take place on occasion, but only through personal contacts. Whereas most laws are drafted on the governmental level, following the European norm, some law drafting by the Parliament also takes place.

6) Public Participation in Governmental Practice

Environmental legislation and policy are prepared by the Ministry of Environmental Protection which submits legislation to the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian Council of Ministers. The Supreme Council approves all environmental legislation, standards and policies, and supervises the creation of state bodies responsible for implementing environmental protection policies. The Ministry of Environmental Protection is said to rank somewhere "in the middle" of the ministries in terms of power within the Council. Citizens can participate in the legislative process through public organizations which may submit draft legislation to the Supreme Council for consideration.

In practice, NGOs generally are not invited to take part in legislative drafting. One high-ranking NGO leader said he has access to draft laws only through a member of the green movement who works for one of the ministries (not the Ministry of Environmental Protection). Some non-governmental organizations in the strict sense - consultancies and internationally-supported technical assistance organizations such as Pollution Prevention Center, Association of Ecological Engineers, and Baltic Consulting Group - are invited to serve on working groups. Grassroots-type organizations, however, are generally excluded. Among environmental organizations, the Lithuanian Fund for Nature is most involved in law drafting and other government initiatives.

C. Right-to-Know and Freedom of Information

1) Constitutional Provisions

Article 25 of the Constitution states that citizens have the right to obtain any available information which concerns them from State agencies in the manner established by law.

Members of the Parliament have the right to submit questions and demand information from the Government, pursuant to Article 61 of the Constitution.

2) Laws

Article 7 of the Law on Environmental Protection grants, inter alia, the right to receive accurate and up-to-date ecological information.

3) Procedures

Procedures to carry out the requirements mentioned above have not been elaborated thus far. Responsiveness of officials in individual cases reportedly depends on personal contacts.

4) Reporting Requirements

The most significant reporting provision in the Law on Environmental Protection is Article 19.3 which requires operators of facilities which pollute to guarantee that information concerning the pollution be available to the public. The information disclosed to officials pursuant to the normal regulatory scheme may in some cases be made available to the public, if the requirements of Articles 7 and 8 of the law so demand.

Moreover, facility operators are required to inform the public in the event of an emergency situation. Article 24 of the Law on Environmental Protection covers "emergency situations" defined as "a hazardous environmental state which, as the result of nature, accidents, economic activity, or other events, exceeds standards of environmental quality." In the case of environmental emergencies, facility operators must eradicate both the causes and the consequences of the emergency and inform the public, Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the hazards. The 1992 Law requires that activities of facilities in ecological danger or disaster zones be suspended, restricted or prohibited. Local authorities are responsible for responses in ecological danger zones, and the central government and the national Ministry of Environmental Protection are responsible for responses in ecological disaster zones. Detailed provisions for public consultation (as exist for permitting, EIA's, etc.) do not appear to apply to emergency situations.

5) Remedies

No specific legal remedies are provided under the Constitution or the public participation or information provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection, other than the general right of access to courts to vindicate rights, provided under Article 110 of the Constitution.

III. Legal Process

A. Administrative Law and Procedure

The Administrative Code governs the procedures to be followed by governmental authorities in decision-making. It follows the conventional European practice, allowing rights of appeal, first to a higher administrative authority and then to a civil court, for interested parties dissatisfied with governmental decisions. Article 2(9) states specifically that if citizens make a private complaint to an authority (such as the Environmental Protection Department) which is not handled satisfactorily, citizens may appeal to the appropriate regional court and ultimately the Lithuanian Supreme Court.

Ordinarily, citizen complaints must be investigated by the local Inspectorates. The first right of appeal is to the regional Inspectorates, then to the Central Agency, then to the Director-General of the Environmental Protection Committee.

Article 7 of the Administrative Code provides an extensive list of potential administrative proceedings in the area of environmental protection, many of which could potentially involve members of the public as intervening interested parties.

1) Standing in Administrative Actions (Legal Interest)

a. Initiating Administrative Actions
As is true throughout the region, notions of standing in administrative actions are thoroughly undeveloped. As inclusion of parties begins to be more strongly challenged by private parties seeking to reduce their legal and administrative costs, rules can be expected to be developed.

b. Intervening in Ongoing Case
According to standard notions of state administration, a party who proves a legal interest in a given case is considered to be an indispensable party to the case, and therefore can enter at any time.

2) Challenging Inaction of Officials (Failure of Duty)

Under Article 7 of the Law on Environmental Protection, citizens have the right to "insist upon the punishment" of officers who have improperly carried out the duties of environmental protection ascribed to them. Potentially this could be used to leverage officials to comply with their duties under Article 8 (9) to encourage public participation.

The Law on Ombudsmen, discussed above, includes specific provisions relating to the failure of an official to carry out a duty. In a proper case, the ombudsman has the power:
1. to refer the material to investigative bodies if elements of crime are found;
2. to bring a court action recommending that the court dismiss from office officials guilty of abuse of official position or bureaucracy [with certain exceptions], and to suggest that moral and material damage which the person suffered by reason of the violations committed by officials be compensated;
3. to recommend that the departmental collective institution or head of the institution wherein the investigation was conducted or a superior institution impose disciplinary penalties on the officials guilty of violation;
4. to bring the fact of negligence in work, noncompliance with laws, or violation of professional ethics or bureaucracy to attention of the officials concerned;
5. to reject the complaint if the violations specified therein are not confirmed; or
6. to notify the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania or the President of the Republic of the violations committed by Ministers or other officials accountable to the Seimas or the President [with certain exceptions].

Article 23. Complaints are initiated by a request to the ombudsman. The ombudsman is under a duty to investigate all proper complaints and must give reasons for rejecting a given complaint.

3) Recource for Aggrieved Parties

As in other recently socialist countries, ordinarily citizens make demands, requests and complaints through administrative channels. Complaints about environmental matters brought to the attention of the environmental inspectorates must be investigated. Usually those dissatisfied with the inspectorates' decisions write letters to the regional authorities, and then to the Director-General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Article 34.1 of the Law on Environmental Protection provides:
Local governments, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Supreme Council, Arbitration, and the Court shall, within their jurisdiction settle disputes on issues concerning environmental protection in the manner established by law.

It should be noted that the Arbitration contemplated under the quoted provision is an organ of state administration, not an independent board.

a. Reconcideration
Letters asking for reconsideration of decisions are a little-used option in administrative procedure. More commonly, parties seek review at a higher administrative level.

b. Administrative Appeal
According to traditional notions of state administration, parties dissatisfied with the results of an administrative proceeding create a file by writing letters of complaint to higher governmental authorities. Such authorities may include a local or regional director, a minister, or the Government. In such cases, the usual procedure is for documentation to be collected and for the file to pass from office to office, accumulating opinion letters from various authorities until a final consensus is reached.

c. Judicial Review of Final Administrative Decisions
As a general rule, parties to an administrative action may challenge the final decision in a court of law. In the past such review has been uncommon. A recent reorganization of the court system, creating a four-tier structure and increasing the number of judges, in part anticipates a greater need for courts to resolve civil disputes as society becomes more pluralistic. Whether there will a corresponding increase in resort to the courts for appeals from administrative decisions remains to be seen.

B. Public Participation in Environmental Protection Laws

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1) Principle of Public Participation

Comprehensive provisions for environmental protection are set down in the Law on Environmental Protection, adopted in January 1992. The law determines the structure of environmental governance, establishes standards and licensing requirements for emissions, and outlines responsibilities of government agencies for such areas as hazardous waste management. Among other things, the law calls for the creation of an effective environmental impact assessment program to prevent the development of new sources of pollution, a review of environmental standards with a goal of upgrading national standards to EC standards level, improved monitoring systems for environmental protection, as well as economic incentives for industries to reduce pollution.

Chapter 2 of the Law on Environmental Protection lists specific rights and duties of citizens and public organizations in Lithuania for environmental protection. Such rights and duties include, under Article 7, the right:
1. to receive accurate and up-to-date ecological information;
2. to take part in the discussion and implementation of programmes and projects of economic activities;
3. to demand that economic activities which are hazardous to the environment be terminated;
4. to request state ecological examinations;
5. to carry out public ecological examinations;
6. to organize public inspections of environmental protection;
7. to demand that state authorities and institutions organize ecological education and instruction, and to freely advocate concepts of environmental protection; and
8. to insist upon the punishment of persons guilty of endangering the environment, and officers, who have improperly carried out the duties of environmental protection ascribed to them.

Chapter 2 goes on to list duties of state authorities in guaranteeing citizen rights including establishing sound environmental standards, announcing to the public plans for economic activity which may have an adverse environmental effect, and encouraging "the participation of citizens and public organizations in environmental protection". State authorities, under Article 8 (2) must
either comply with or justifiably decline the proposals of citizens or public organizations concerning environmental issues.

A 1992 report by the then Lithuanian Environmental Protection Department to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development stated the Lithuanian government goal of improving environmental protection and cited several priority areas. Included on this list was the establishment of an environmental education system to inform the public and relevant non-governmental organizations on the development of new environmental policies thus "securing broad public participation in a national discussion of possible measures to continuously improve upon and enhance existing environmental policies."

2) Environmental Impact Assessment

Environmental impact assessments are triggered by proposals related to a list of activities, including construction of greenfield facilities as well as modifications to existing facilities. EIA requirements are presently contained in the Law on Environmental Protection, at Chapter 4, Articles 15 through 18. Under Article 16 of the Law on Environmental Protection, investors must first register any proposed economic activity with the relevant local authority. Subsequently, the regional Environmental Protection Department reviews the registration documents and decides whether an EIA is required. If permits are necessary, the investor applies concurrently for both an environmental permit and a construction permit.

The Ministry has issued an interim order on EIA pending passage of an EIA law which has been under preparation for more than two years. Under the order, regional environmental authorities approve environmental impact assessments having a local impact, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection approves EIAs with national significance or involving an environmentally sensitive area. State authorities have a duty to publicly announce plans for economic activities which may have a detrimental impact on the environment. In addition to initiating EIA as a result of triggering activities, state authorities must carry out environmental impact assessments, or justifiably decline, at the public's request. Documents submitted by the investor to the environmental authorities with a detailed description of the project and studies concerning its potential environmental impacts must be made available to the public. First, the relevant authority considers the documentation with the assistance of state experts who issue an opinion, after which public input on the project will be taken into account. Following the taking of input from the public and government experts, consultations with the investor/developer will take place. Local authorities organize the public hearings, written comments, etc. required under the law, and transmit the collected file to the decisionmaker.

One would expect the new EIA law to be more specific than the current interim order, but some indications are that public participation provisions will be weakened, in part due to a perception that the public will not demand strong public participation provisions.

3) Environmental Permitting

It should be kept in mind that the same broad provisions granting extensive rights to citizens and the public apply to the full range of environmental control mechanisms. Pursuant to permitting requirements, information will be gathered by the authorities which could trigger obligations and form the basis of citizen demands under the general provisions of Article 7 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

Article 19 of the law requires the obtaining of a permit for the use of natural resources and the discharge of a pollutant into the environment. Article 19.3 provides:
Legal and natural persons, while operating units of economic activities which are potentially hazardous to the environment, must, at their own expense, monitor the degree of environmental pollution and its impact on the environment, guarantee that information concerning the pollution be available to the public, and provide conditions for pollution control.

Permits are required for all activities contributing to pollution of the atmosphere as well as for certain prescribed activities. Permits are issued by the regional environmental authorities generally within 30 days, upon approval of emission standards and all other necessary requirements of the permit application process. Compliance checking and monitoring are carried out by regional environmental authorities, and sanctions (fines, permit revocation) can be applied on all noncomplying facilities. Initially draft permits and subsequently final permits are issued following an inspection of the facility by the regional environmental authorities.

Permits for water use and discharge of pollutants are required for facilities which consume or transfer more than a specified amount of water and which discharge more than a set amount of polluted sewage. Water permits are issued by the regional environmental authorities, and are generally issued within 30 days.

All commercial and industrial activities must meet noise standards. No separate permit for noise is required, as regional environmental authorities approve noise standards in conjunction with the EIA and issuance of permits.

A declaration of hazardous waste production and permit are required for all enterprises involved with waste storage, landfilling or treatment. Legislation on waste management (covering waste production, processing and disposal) is being drafted and will control the accounting, collection, transport, treatment and disposal of wastes.

None of the abovementioned permitting procedures contains specific public participation provisions, although EIA will often be conducted in conjunction with the permit issuance process.

4) Citizen Enforcement, Monitoring and Inspection Rights

Environmental protection is administered by the Ministry of Environmental Protection based in Vilnius with eight regional inspectorates. The Ministry was created in 1990 as the primary state authority regulating the environment. It was initially organized as an independent agency called the Environmental Protection Department, but was brought under the Government in a reorganization in 1994. Ministry responsibilities include determining emission standards, issuing permits and licenses for resource usage, and preparing a national environmental policy for submission to the Supreme Council.

Enforcement of environmental legislation, regulations and standards is the responsibility of inspectors from the eight regional agencies of the Ministry of Environmental Protection as well as municipal environmental departments. The enforcement process is based largely on a system of self-monitoring, with environmental inspectors making periodic checks of emission levels to verify accuracy of operators' reports. Economic sanctions (taxes, fines) are imposed for pollution beyond permissible limits. Additional violations include failure to report (or fraudulently reporting) environmental information and releasing pollutants without a permit.

There are no directly stated provisions for public participation in the enforcement area, although broad citizen rights to information and public consultation apply to enforcement as well.

5) Liability

Although civil liability for harm is a basic legal norm, it is reportedly rarely used in Lithuania. No cases where plaintiffs attempted to establish liability due to pollution were found. In 1994 the first medical malpractice lawsuit in memory was brought in a case where a doctor administered veterinary drugs to humans.

C. Public Participation Through Other Laws

1) Land Use Laws

A law on territorial planning was at the level of the Supreme Council in early 1995. This law would replace current regulations issued by the Ministry of Urbanistics in 1994. These regulations provide for public discussion of proposed territorial plans, including a period for inspection of documentation and the possibility to submit written comments. These rules apply both to local territorial plans, which must be subject to public discussion in the first stage, and also to specific project areas such as park management and waste disposal. The period for public discussion, including analysis by the authorities and final decision, is typically two to three months. Persons who disagree with the final decision may appeal first through the local government's administrative channels, and then in a court of law. According to a source in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, these regulations have not been in force long enough for real implementation to have taken place.

The Law on the Fundamentals of Local Government of February 12, 1990 (amended November 25, 1992) is another important law governing local land use planning, and determining competence of municipal authorities for environmental protection. It grants to municipalities the right to permit economic activity in accordance with environmental protection principles, and gives power to the municipalities to order that activities inconsistent with environmental protection be stopped. In practice, the local authorities refer the Environmental Impact Assessment (see above) to the regional Environmental Protection Department for evaluation and approval.

2) Construction Permitting

Construction permits are required for all forms of economic activity and for most registered enterprises. Local authorities on the district and town level generally issue such permits for proposed facilities and modification to existing facilities, although certain national authorities (the State Institute of Land Use Planning for modifications to existing facilities, the State Construction Committee for new projects, and the central Environmental Protection Committee for environmental impact assessment) may be involved for facilities under national review or when the activity involves an environmentally sensitive area. An initial review process is undertaken by the regional environmental authorities to determine whether a given project is of national significance.

3) Other Laws

a. Criminal Code
Article 31 of the Law on Environmental Protection contains a general statement that persons who violate the regulations of the law on environmental protection may be subject to criminal liability. Potential criminal liability for intentional or grossly negligent conduct resulting in environmental harm exists under the Criminal Code, but legal experts in Lithuania state that no criminal cases have been brought against such actions.

b. Civil Code (Environmental Liability)

The Civil Code, adopted in June 1992, is a substantial revision of the civil code of the former Lithuanian SSR. It is possible to use standard provisions of the Civil Code dealing with compensation of damages by one whose wrongful actions cause harm to remedy environmental harm. However, the Law on Environmental Protection, Articles 32 through 34 provide more specific civil and other remedies. According to Article 32:
Legal and natural persons who, by way of unlawful activities, cause damage to the environment, to the life or health of a given person(s), or to the property or interests of other legal and natural persons, must compensate all losses, and, if possible, must restore the environmental state of the object in question.

Under Article 33, legal and natural persons whose health, property, or interests have been damaged have the right to make claims for damages. Article 34 provides avenues for settlement of disputes, which include administrative remedies, arbitration, and the civil court system.

IV. Priorities for Development of Law and Practice

The greatest need for the development of public participation in Lithuania is a greater spirit of cooperation between the government and the citizens. The alarming characterization of the public as creating "problems" for the government has been a recurring theme in discussions with officials, including those working in the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The Ministry appears to view the public as being of one mind - not to build anything. It is not surprising, therefore, that NGOs and ordinary citizens are normally excluded from policy-making bodies such as the advisory board on environmental expertise. Where non-governmental participation occurs in Ministry working groups, such as in the case of the development of the National Environmental Action Plan, membership is offered to specialized experts. The Ministry cited the following non-governmental organizations as members of working groups - Pollution Prevention Center, Association of Ecological Engineers, Baltic Consulting Group, Vilnius University Law Faculty, and the Lithuanian Fund for Nature. According to an NGO roundtable, among environmental NGOs the Ministry works only with the Lithuanian Fund for Nature and the Lithuanian Green Movement. Besides the organizations mentioned above, other environmental NGOs in Lithuania include the Healthy Cities Project and the Association of Organic Biological Agriculture. Grassroots NGOs have not been asked to comment on draft laws.

Meanwhile, public interest in environmental protection is at a low ebb. Lithuania has had its share of economic problems - for example, per capita income still lags significantly behind its Baltic neighbors. These issues have preoccupied the populace. Those still actively involved in environmental protection, moreover, are discouraged by their perception that the government is relatively unresponsive to public input.

One important piece of legislation currently being drafted is the anxiously-awaited law on Environmental Impact Assessment. This law is expected to elucidate the general requirements of the Law on Environmental Protection and to establish an independent authority for EIAs. It is expected to be the first Lithuanian law to provide an exact procedure for public participation, although some sources in the Ministry indicate that the law will include little more than a repetition of the public participation requirements in the framework law, leaving further specificity to implementing regulations. As the pace of economic development is rather slow in Lithuania at present, however, the material impact of the new EIA law on the environment itself will be rather small. It should be noted that this law was also anxiously-awaited as early as 1993. In early 1995 it was reported to be on the verge of presentation by the Ministry to the Government.

According to at least one source, this law is critically needed, since the vagueness of the current law allows government officials to rebuff all requests for information on the grounds that the information is not public. This same source is of the opinion that appealing to courts is useless since the courts would always side with the government. But according to sources within the Ministry, no one in Lithuania has attempted to enforce the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection relating to public participation in a court of law. The Ministry further characterized the number of requests for information under the freedom of information provisions of the law as "almost nothing."

Also currently under discussion is a proposed amendment to the general Law on Environmental Protection, made necessary in part by the reorganization which transformed the Environmental Protection Department to the Ministry of Environmental Protection. It is unclear at present whether the amendments will have an impact on public participation provisions. A Law on Nature Protected Areas was passed in 1993. Other laws being drafted include legislation on territorial planning, forests, waste management, biodiversity, soil protection, coastal areas and the continental shelf, water, air, and special measures to control pollution to the Baltic Sea. With the exception of the territorial planning law, which includes public participation in accordance with existing regulations, these laws are expected to have minimal public participation provisions, the opinion of lawmakers being that public participation should be governed by the framework law and the laws on EIA and planning and that these provisions will be sufficient to apply to activities governed by the new laws where appropriate.

Although a Law on Public Organizations was passed in 1994, a law on Foundations and Associations was still in draft at the beginning of 1995. A provisional registration system was being operated by the Ministry of Justice to replace the repealed Soviet system. This raises the question of effective legal assistance to environmental NGOs and the public. No person interviewed in Lithuania could name any lawyer whose practice includes environmental law in the public interest.

V. Case Studies on Public Participation
(including Public Actions)

During the time of Soviet domination, public protests successfully stopped the construction of the third block of the Ignalina nuclear power plant. Green organizations together with the Lithuanian independence movement (Sajudis) gathered 1.5 million signatures in opposition to construction of the reactor. In 1989, the Lithuanian Green Movement convinced the then-soviet government to review plans for construction of a hydrostorage pumping plant at Kaisiadoris. A deal was struck in which only four turbines would be built instead of eight, and constant monitoring and informing of the public would take place. Ironically, now that the proposal is Lithuanian, rather than Soviet, construction has been restarted according to the original plan and the agreements concerning monitoring have been neglected.

Green organizations successfully halted drilling for oil in the Neringa national park and the Baltic Sea. The Curronian Lagoon (Neringa) is also a place of high public activism, due to plans for extensive development of Neringa National Park. The public, with the support of the Inspection of Cultural Heritage and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, successfully opposed plans to develop a local airport. Plans to build a presidential villa and a church in the area were also abandoned after public protests, although discussions about church construction were resuming at the time of writing.

Elsewhere, environmentalists negotiated an agreement with the government on monitoring pollution from an electric turbine plant, and citizens have resisted attempts to cut trees in apartment block courtyards for the purpose of building garages. In Kaunas, the public criticized the city council for spending money on large projects, but nothing on cleaning the streets. Also in Kaunas, public involvement in planning a new scheme for bicycle paths was encouraged through the local newspaper.

In 1990, the USSR imposed an economic blockade on Lithuania, and Lithuania decided to build an oil terminal in the northwest of the country (near Klaipeda) as an alternate source of oil supply. The first proposed site was rejected because the EIA revealed serious environmental drawbacks. A second site at Klaipeda was rejected due to pressure from local residents. Two additional sites were proposed, and one of them was finally selected for construction in early 1995. The Klaipeda oil terminal case demonstrates how citizen groups can participate in the environmental impact and permitting process and have their views taken into account. Sources within the green movement say, however, that the success of public actions has been sharply curtailed by resistance in the government.

REC * PUBLICATIONS * MANUAL ON PUBLIC PARTICIPATION * BALTIC SUPPLEMENT * COUNTRY REPORTS * LITHUANIA

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