The third EPR of Macedonia commended the progress in terms of environmental inspection with the detachment of the State Environmental Inspectorate (SEI) from the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning. At the same time, it urged the entities to adopt a draft law on environmental inspection (LISE). Indeed, it appears that the different laws are not harmonized, and the institutional framework is lacking human resources and capacities.
Currently, on the legal side, the organization and implementation of the inspection are regulated by different bodies of law. The Law on Environment lays down the responsibilities of the SEI, stating their different verification rights of environmental matters (such as norms, infrastructures, pollutants release) and inspection. To ensure more transparency, predictability and legal certainty, a new Law on inspection surveillance (LOIS) was adopted in 2019 to complete the existing legal framework. It introduced a planning process according to risk assessment and a unified inspection procedure which are applicable to all inspection services, both at the central and local level. Following up, a draft Law of the LISE to improve and uniformize the system of inspection, with the most recent version in August 2019, was produced, with, among others, the aim to develop an environmental inspection plan and to strengthen capacity.
On the institutional side, the main responsible bodies are the SEI at the central level and the environmental inspectors of the Local Self-Government Units at the local level. Other actors such as the Inspection Council, the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, as well as laboratories are also involved in the inspection processes.
UNECE supported the development of a programme of measures to improve the approval processes for plans for inspection supervision which can be integrated in the LISE and correspond to the 2019 LOIS. After a comprehensive analysis of the legal and institutional frameworks, interviews with inspectors and a case study, the report proposed a procedure for the development of a Risk Assessment Methodology, with key tools to manage good coordination, planning and risk assessment methods. Ultimately, these measures will not only build the capacity of the inspection process but also contribute to guarantee the protection of human health.