Danish Law on Controlling Emissions of Nutrients in the Baltic Sea Region
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Lasse Baaner & Helle Tegner Anker Danish Law on Controlling Emissions of Nutrients in the Baltic Sea Region Country study report of the research project ‘Legal Approaches to Control- ling Emissions of Nutrients in the Baltic Sea Region – a Comparative Study of National Laws’. The research project is conducted for the Faculty of Law, Stockholm University 2012-2013. Abstract The Danish legal system for regulation of nutrients leaching from agriculture and wastewater facilities establishes a comprehensive set of measures in accordance with a number of national political agreements and action plans elaborated since the mid-80’ies. Although significant reduction of nutrient pollution has been achieved, the expected improvement of in particular the marine aquatic environment has not yet been achieved. New reduction tar- gets have been established and additional measures are now being imple- mented as part of the river basin management process according to the Water Framework Directive. Keywords Denmark; Nitrates Directive; Water Framework Directive; eutrophication; agriculture; marine waters; environmental law; River Basin Management Planning; marine strategy; HELCOM; wastewater. The author’s affiliation and address: Department of Food and Resource Economics Faculty of SCIENCE University of Copenhagen www.ifro.ku.dk The manuscript has been finalized by February 2013. Contents Introducing the Research Project .......................................................... 6 Legal Approaches to Controlling Emissions of Nutrients in the Baltic Sea Region ............................................................................. 6 The research project ......................................................................... 6 Analysing ecosystem adaptive management .................................... 6 Comparative study of national laws ................................................. 7 1 Introduction ................................................................................ 10 1.1 Introduction ....................................................................... 10 1.2 Nutrient Pollution in Denmark .......................................... 10 1.3 International Law ............................................................... 15 1.4 The National Legal Order .................................................. 16 1.5 Environmental Law ........................................................... 17 1.6 Concluding and Summarising Remarks ............................ 19 2 International and EU Law on the Control of Nutrient Emissions in Danish Law ..................................................................................... 20 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................... 20 2.2 HELCOM .......................................................................... 20 2.2.1 1992 Helsinki Convention ............................................. 20 2.2.2 Recommendation 24/3; Measures Aimed at the Reduction of Agricultural Emissions and Discharges ............... 22 2.2.3 Recommendation 28E/6; On Site Wastewater Treatment of Single Homes and Rural Dwellings ....................................... 23 2.2.4 Recommendation 28E/5; Municipal Wastewater Treatment ................................................................................... 23 2.2.5 Recommendation 18/4; Managing Wetlands and Freshwater Ecosystems for Retention of Nutrients .................... 24 2.2.6 Baltic Sea Action Plan ................................................... 24 2.3 EU Law .............................................................................. 26 2.3.1 Nitrate Directive ............................................................ 27 2.3.2 Wastewater Directive .................................................... 31 2.3.3 Water Framework Directive .......................................... 32 2.3.4 Marine Strategy Directive ............................................. 35 2.4 Concluding and Summarising Remarks ............................ 38 3 Regulation on Sewerage ............................................................. 40 4 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................... 40 3.2 Sewage Treatment Plants – Agglomerations ..................... 44 3.3 Treatment of Individual Sewage Water Emissions/Private Sewerage ........................................................................................ 47 3.4 Ecosystems Approach and Regulation of Sewerage? ........ 50 3.5 Concluding and Summarising Remarks ............................ 52 4 Regulation on Nutrient Pollution from Agriculture ................... 53 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................... 53 4.2 Regulation of Farms .......................................................... 56 4.2.1 Permits for livestock installations ................................. 57 4.3 Substantive Rules of Nutrient Pollution from Agriculture 59 4.3.1 General overview .......................................................... 59 4.3.2 Fertilizer accounting and nitrogen quotas ..................... 61 4.3.3 Nitrogen norms, nitrogen equivalents and the nitrogen forecast 61 4.3.4 Prohibition of tillage and ploughing in certain periods of the year and in buffer zones along watercourses and lakes ....... 64 4.3.5 Catch crops .................................................................... 65 4.3.6 Regulation of storage, handling and application of manure 66 4.3.7 Nitrogen requirements in environmental permits for livestock farms ........................................................................... 67 4.3.8 Compliance and enforcement ........................................ 68 4.4 Ecosystems Approach and Regulation of Agriculture ...... 70 4.5 Concluding and Summarising Remarks ............................ 72 5 Water Quality – Planning and Management .............................. 73 5.1 Introduction ....................................................................... 73 5.2 The Water Management System ........................................ 74 5.3 Ecosystems Approach and Water Management ................ 77 5.4 Concluding and Summarising Remarks ............................ 78 6 Conclusion ................................................................................. 81 Bibliography ....................................................................................... 83 Danish Legislation .............................................................................. 91 Plans, programmes and political agreements ..................................... 95 Translations and acronyms ................................................................. 96 5 Introducing the Research Project Legal Approaches to Controlling Emissions of Nutrients in the Baltic Sea Region In January 2012 a research project about legal approaches to control- ling nutrient emissions to the Baltic was launched at the Faculty of Law of Stockholm University. The project was financed within the multidisciplinary programme BEAM (Baltic Eco-system Adaptive Management) at Stockholm University, headed by professor Jonas Ebbesson, and carried out by the post doc. researcher Annika K. Nils- son. This report is one of four country reports produced within this research project. The research project The research comprises investigation of Swedish, Danish, Estonian, and Polish law, and comparative study of approaches and regulatory means for controlling nutrient emissions – specifically from agricul- ture and sewerage – in order to avoid eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. In the search for effective marine ecosystem management approaches that are sensitive and adaptive to relevant ecological functions and changes, it is important to learn from the collected experiences from eutrophication control. The aim is that comparative study of differ- ences and similarities in national legal approaches will enrich our un- derstanding of the legal system and provide new insights and ideas of how to improve the quality of relevant regulation. Analysing ecosystem adaptive management The project takes its departure in ecosystem adaptive management theory. The legal order as a social structure for governance, realizing and supporting ecosystem management, should be sensitive and con- tinuously adaptive to relevant ecological functions and change of sta- 6 tus. This perspective is also reflected in more recent international and regional law and policy, centrally under HELCOM and EU-law on water and marine environment. Under these legal strategies, environ- mental standards and levels of nutrient pollution input, and their re- duction, have been or shall be formulated. The different countries im- plement national programmes, and specific measures to control the inputs from important sources of pollution. The management strate- gies and regulatory control of the actual input of nutrients vary in the different legal orders, thus taking different approaches to managing the same resources and abating a common problem. These different regulatory approaches are compared in the research project, and their ecosystem approach analysed. The study relates to the countries’ duties under international and EU law as well as the common regional strategies. The study has been limited to the regulation of water pollution, and focus on two main sources of nutrient pollution input: sewerage and agriculture. Comparative study of national laws Early on in the project, cooperation was initiated with Danish, Estoni- an and Polish researchers based