The Socialist Response: Environmental Protection Law in the German Democratic Republic

Home , Bezirk Halle, Environmental protection

Ecology Law Quarterly

VOL. 3 SUMMER 1973 No. 3

Peter H. Sand*

As problems of environmental pollution and resource allocation become increasingly internationalin scope, those concerned with these issues must become more aware of the efforts of other nations to protect their environments. This study of environmental law in the German Democratic Republic may prove useful both in facilitating understanding of the East German administrative structure and in providing a comparative model for criticism of American environmental protection efforts. The Article also offers detailed references to specialized works concerning various aspects of environmental and naturalresource administrationin the GDR.

By electing both the West German Federal Republic and the East German Democratic Republic to membership on the United Na- tions New Governing Council for Environmental Programs (UNEP),' the United Nations General Assembly put an end to a bitter diplomatic controversy which nearly jeopardized the U.N. Conference on the Hu- man Environment at Stockholm in June, 1972, and which virtually overshadowed a key point of substance: the actual and potential contri- bution of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to environmental protection generally and to environmental law in particular. With pro-

* Legal Officer (Environment Law), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy; formerly Associate Professor of Law, McGill Univer- sity, Montreal. Views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to any organization or institution with which he is associated. 1. U.N. Doc. A/RES/2997 (XXVII)/7 (1973); see U.N. Monthly Chronicle, Jan. 1973, at 76. The first session of the UNEP Governing Council took place in June 1973. See generally Hardy, The United Nations Environment Programme, 13 NATURAL REsouRCEs J.235 (1973). ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 tocol now out of the way, the time has come to include the GDR in the ongoing worldwide process of critical comparison and law reform in this field, in search of alternative solutions to common problems. It is no secret that modem socialist states are beset by the same environmental problems as are other countries at a comparable level of economic development. While Western attention has begun to focus on the Soviet Union, especially since the 1972 Soviet-American Agree- ment on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection,2 very little seems generally to be known about the environmental law of the other socialist countries.3 Among them, the German Democratic Re- public today probably has the most advanced and the most comprehensive system of environment protection and administration. This is due in part to the country's high level of industrialization and urbanization, with the highest per capita income in Eastern Europe, and a proportionately high incidence of pollution and resource depletion problems, as set out in detail in the GDR National Report submitted in 1971 to the Secretariat of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. 4 Along with these infrastructural challenges and constraints, the GDR also has a longstanding national tradition of law for the conservation of nature. This tradition, in combination with recent economic reforms under the country's socialist system of government, has produced innovative measures for environmental protection well deserving comparative study.

2. Signed at Moscow, May 23, 1972, 11 INT'L LEGAL MATS. 761 (1972). The last paragraph of Article 2 refers to "legal and administrative measures for protecting environmental quality." See also the Memorandum of Implementation signed at Mos- cow, Sept. 21, 1972; 62 DEP'T STATE BULL. 451 (1972). Cf. text accompanying notes 227-46 infra; Lanning, Book Review, 3 ECOLOGY L.Q. 425 (1973). 3. For an excellent comparative survey see A. SuM, ENVIRONMENTAL CARE IN MEMBER COUNTRIES OF THE COUNCIL OF MUTUAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE 31-88 (Prague 1973) (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, GDR, Hungary, Poland, Romania). Some useful background information is contained in the country monographs and discussion papers submitted at the 1971 Prague Symposium of the U.N. Economic Commission for Eur- ope. See U.N. Doc. ST/ECE/ENV/1 (1971), which includes three papers submitted by the GDR, at 378-86. For a study of environmental law in Poland, see Lammich, Das Recht des Umweltschutzes in Polen, 16 REc-r IN OST UND WEST 123 (1972); cf. Jaroszynski and Rybicki, Les problemes juridiques de la protection du milieu bio- logique en Pologne, 18 REVUE DE DROIT CONTEMPORAIN 57 (1971). 4. Committee on Socialist Natural Environment of the Council of Ministers of the GDR, Problems Relating to Environment: German Democratic Republic, Feb. 1971 (filed with U.N. Registry Oct. 20, 1971) [hereinafter cited as National Report]; see also Titel, Problems of Environmental Conservation in the GDR, in ENVIRONMEN- TAL CONSERVATION IN THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC 2-19 (GDR Comm. for Hu- man Rights ed., Berlin 1971). For general background see P. LUDz, THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC FROM THE SIXTIES TO THE SEVENTIES (Cambridge, Mass. 1970); D. CHILDS, EAST GERMANY (London 1970); A. HANHARDT, THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (Baltimore 1968). 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

BASIC LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS The Constitution of the German Democratic Republic, adopted April 6, 1968, provides in Article 15: (1) Land is one of the most precious natural resources of the German Democratic Republic. It must be protected and efficiently used. Land used for agriculture and forestry may only be withdrawn from such use upon authorization by the competent government authorities. (2) The State and society provide for nature conservation in the interest of the well-being of all citizens. The conservation of water and air quality, and the protection of flora, fauna, and the natural beauty of the landscape shall be ensured by the competent authorities and are also the responsibility of every citizen.8 In 1969 the Council of Ministers established a Standing Commis- sion on the Socialist National Environment (sozialistische Landeskul- tur) for policy planning and coordination.' The Commission was headed by a deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers, and composed of high-ranking representatives of ministries and other government agencies concerned, scientific-professional institutions and social organizations. The initial task of the Commission was the preparation of basic legislation, a first draft of which was submitted to public discussion on November 20, 1969, and substantially revised on the basis of approximately 1600 amendment proposals received from organiza- 7 tions, enterprises, and individuals. The National Environment Act (Landeskulturgesetz) of May 14, 1970,8 enunciated general principles of environmental planning and

5. [1968] Gesetzblatt der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik I 199, 208 [official legislative gazette, hereinafter cited as G.BI. [translation by Author]; see S. MAMPEL, DIE SOzIALISTISCHE VERFASSUNG DER DEUTSCIHEN DEMOKRATISCHEN RE- PUBLIK: TEXT UND KOMMENTAR (Frankfurt/Main 1972); cf. Weinitschke, Landeskul. turgesetz der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik: Verwirklichung eines Verfassungs- auftrages, 20 DIE SOZIALISTISCHE FORSTWIRTSCHAFT 226 (1970). Note that the Weimar Constitution of pre-war Germany (of July 31, 1919) already contained a provision on landscape conservation. WEIMARER RECHSVERFASSUNG, art. 150 (1919, superseded 1947). See generally H. FRANZKY, LANDESKULTUR UND UMWELTSCHUTZ IN DER DDR (Hamburg 1971). 6. National Report, supra note 4, at 16; A. SUM, supra note 3, at 63. The peculiar German term Landeskultur (homeland ecology, natural heritage of the country) has an 18th century tradition in conservation terminology. See Bohte, Landeskul- tur im Wandel der Zeit, 49 BERlCHTE 0BER LANDWIRTSCIAFT 393 (1971); Bohte, Landeskultur zwischen Elbe und Oder, 12 INNERE KOLONISATION 285 (1963). 7. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION IN THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, supra note 4, at 1. 8. Act of May 14, 1970, on the Systematic Arrangement of the Socialist Na- tional Environment in the German Democratic Republic (National Environment Act), [1970] G.Bl. I 67; for English translation see appendix infra. The report by Titel, 454 ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 management as allocated between central and local government authorities, and detailed the responsibilities of enterprises and individuals. The Act also set forth policies for the regulation of five main sectors: landscape development and nature protection; management and conservation of land, forest, and water resources; air-quality conservation; waste disposal and re-utilization; and noise abatement. Imple- menting decrees have since been enacted for these sectors, followed by more specific regulations, technical standards, 9 and administrative measures.' ° Applying the socialist system of central economic planning (usually referred to as "democratic centralism"") to environmental conservation,12 the National Planning Commission inserted policy objectives in the five-year "perspective plan" for 1971-75.11 The annual plan for 1972 further specified these policy objectives.'4 Only the annual plan for 1973, however, provides detailed budgetary instructions to implement these objectives. 15 Among the economic mea- note 4 supra, is an excerpt from the official parliamentary presentation of the Act, also reprinted in 19 STAAT UND REcHT 102 (1970). See the comprehensive (544 page) commentary on the Act, LANDESKULTURGESETZ: KOMMENTAR (S. Supranowitz ed., Berlin 1973); Kachelmaier, About the Legal Safeguards Governing the Protection of Environment in the GDR, 1971 LAw AND LEGISLATION IN T-rt GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (No. 2) 24; Christoph, Zur Bedeutung des Landeskulturgesetzes, 19 STAA UND RECfrr 1453 (1970); ci. note 247 infra. 9. Based on the decree of Sept. 21, 1967, on Standardization in the GDR (Standardization Regulation), [1967] G.B1. II 665, which gives statutory rank to certain technical standards (usually abbreviated as "TGL") promulgated in the Gesetz- blatt. On the procedure of elaboration and entry into force see Pahl, Rechtliche Prob- leme der Standardisierung,12 STANDARDISIERUNG LANDWiRTSCIAFT UND NAHRUNGSGOTER- wTsCHAFr 1 (1973). 10. See text accompanying notes 37-62 infra. Regarding routine administrative implementation of the Act see, e.g., Erster Sofortmassnahmeplan zur Verwirklichung des Landeskulturgesetzes im Bereich der V.V.B. Binnenfischerei, 18 DEUTscHE FISCH- EREIZEITUNG 30 (1971) (inland fisheries administration); Lembcke & Haselein, Pflanzenschutzmassnahmen mit Winterraps unter besonderer Bericksichtigung des Umweltschutzes, 26 NACHRICHTENBLAT-r FUJR DEN PFLANZENSCHUTZDIENST IN DER DDR 97 (1972) (instructions on pesticide use issued pursuant to a county plan). 11. See Schiissler, Der demokratische Zentralismus als Grundprinzip der staatlichen Leitung and Planung, 22 STAAT UND RECHT 35 (1973); ci. K. PLEYER & J. LIESER, ZENTRALPLANUNG UND REcir (Stuttgart 1969). 12. See Titel, Zum System der staatlichen Planung und Leitung der sozialistischen Landeskultur in der DDR, 4 INTERNATIONALE ZEITSCHRIFT FUR LANDWIRTSCHAFT 373 (1971); ci. E. Oehler, Probleme der Planung und Leitung der rationellsten Nut- zung der Naturressourcen in der DDR (habilitation thesis, Potsdam-Babelsberg 1968). 13. See Art. II, § 13 of the Five Year Plan for the Development of the National Economy of the GDR 1971-75, adopted Dec. 20, 1971, [1971] G.B1. I 175, 185-86; cf. Regulations of Feb. 19, 1969, on the Application of Economic Directives for the Conservation of Water and Air Quality and for Efficient Water Use in the Elaboration of the Perspective Plan 1971-75, [19691 G.B1. I1 17; see also note 153 infra. 14. Act of Dec. 20, 1971, [1971] G.B1. I 191; for 1971 see Resolution of Dec. 1, 1970, on the Implementation of the Economic System of Socialism in 1971, [1970] G.B1. II 731. 15. [1972] G.B1. I 283. Classification criteria for "environmental protection 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW sures now operative for this purpose are exemptions from production fund payment (East Germany's equivalent of a tax on productive property) for specified anti-pollution investments,'6 authorization to in- include specified environmental costs in price calculation,17 preferen- tial price-setting for products manufactured by waste recycling techniques,1 8 environmental impact controls, 19 and incentive-disincentive "economic levers" for enterprises.20 While the original 1970 Act did not provide for new central in- stitutions2 and merely resulted in the creation of a small secretariat servicing the Standing Commission within the office of the Council of Ministers, the creation of a new Ministry of Environmental Protec- tion and Water Management (Ministerium flir Umweltschutz und Was- serwirtschaft) was announced on November 30, 1971. After some delay due to the sudden death of the designated minister," the new administrative structure became operational on January 1, 1972.23 investments" were first enunciated in Article 11(4) (a) of the Decree of Dec. 1, 1972, on Planning Regulations to Implement the 1973 National Economic Plan, [1972] G. BI. II 821. This would explain why the GDR's Minister of Environmental Protection and Water Management, in a meeting with water management experts, stated that "in 1973, for the first time, environmental protection became part of the national economic plan;" Neues Deutschland, Feb. 10, 1973, at 2 (emphasis supplied). 16. First Implementing Regulations of Dec. 16, 1970, Pursuant to the Decree on Production Fund Payment, [1971] G.B1. II 34. Section 3(1) (a) of this regulation grants exemptions for sewage and air pollution abatement facilities (though expressly not for noise protection facilities). Id. See generally Such, Main Lines in the De- velopment of Economic Law in the German Democratic Republic, in LAW AND Eco- NOMIC REFORM IN SOCIAIST COUNTRIES 167 (G. E6rsi and A. Harmathy eds., Budapest 1971). 17. Decree of Nov. 1, 1972, on Central Government Directives for the Calcula- tion of Industry Prices, [19721 G.BI. II 1741 [hereinafter cited as Price Calculation Decree]. Appendix I of this decree lists "calculable costs," including costs of environmental protection. Appendix II lists "non-calculable costs" (among which are specifically enumerated land use charges and effluent charges for water and air pollution). Concerning these charges see text accompanying notes 161-62 infra. 18. National Report, supra note 4, at 33. For a general consideration of the GDR's system of cost pricing see M. HENTZSCHEL, H. RIcHTER, K. STINGL, GRUND- FRAGEN DER KONSUMGtJTERPREISBILDUNG UND -ENTWICKLUNG (Berlin 1971); Baum, Aulgaben und Erfahrungen der Preisplanung bei der Entwicklung des sozialistischen Planungssystems in der DDR, 19 WIrTscHAFTs-WIssENSCHAFT 39 (1971); cf. Bbhme, Gebrauchswert und Preispolitik im sozialistischen Wirtschaftssystem: untersucht am Beispiel der DDR, 106 WELTWIRTSCHAFTLIcHES ARcHIv 78 (1971); Bohme, East Ger- man Price Formation Under the New Economic System, 19 SOVIET STUDIES 340 (1968). 19. See text accompanying notes 117-19 infra. 20. See text accompanying notes 110-11 and 148-65 infra. 21. Such institutions then were considerd "premature" by Christoph, supra note 8, at 1459. See also H. FRANZKY, supra note 5, at 13. 22. Dr. Werner Titel, former chairman of the Standing Commission. Obituary, Intern. Herald Tribune, Dec. 27, 1971, at 3. 23. Public Notice of Jan. 3, 1972, on the Creation of Ministries, [1972] G.BI. 11 18. The present minister is Dr. Hans Reichelt, 48, formerly Minister of Agriculture (1953-63) and chairman of the National Land Improvement Committee. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

The Ministry absorbed the national Water Management Agency created in 1969,24 including its Water Management Institute and the regional water management authorities established in 1958 in the country's sev- en major water basin areas.25 Since 1972, research has been coordinated by the Commission for Environmental Research in the Academy of Sciences of the GDR." Central research and training institutions are the Municipal Manage- ment Institute at Dresden (for such matters as waste disposal technology) and the Institute for National Environmental Research and Nature Conservation at Halle (with branch institutions at Dresden, Jena, Potsdam and Greifswald, and a Training Center for Nature Conservation at MUritzhof). At present, the Halle Institute formally is attached to the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences.27 The Academy of State and Law in Potsdam-Babelsberg established a permanent "Working Group on Land Law and Legal Problems of the Socialist National Environment" on April 6, 1972.28 Expert com-

24. Statute of Feb. 5, 1969, Concerning the Agency for Water Management, [1969] G.B1. II 129. Regarding the functions of the agency (Amt fir Wasserwirt- schaft) see Water Resources Agency, Council of Ministers, Measures Taken by the State to Ensure Water Pollution Control and an Optimum Utilization of Ground and Surface Water in the German Democratic Republic, in U.N. Doc. ST/ECE/ENV/l, at 383 (1971). The Agency's former director (J. Rochlitzer) now is one of the deputy ministers in the new ministry. The other deputy is G. Thorns. Cf. Thorns, Der Beitrag der Wasserwirtschaft zur sozialistischen Landeskultur, 20 WASSERWIRTSCHAFT- WASSERTECHNIK 289 (1970). 25. The catchment areas (and their administrative centers) are as follows: Up- per Elbe-Mulde (Dresden), Central Elbe-Sude-Elde (Magdeburg), Werra-Gera-Unstrut (Erfurt), Saale-White Elster (Halle), Havel (Potsdam), Spree-Oder-Neisse (Cottbus), Baltic Coast-Warnow-Peene (Stralsund). On the historical development of public water administration in the GDR since 1952 see Richter, Vor 20 Jahren: Verordnung fiber die Organisation der Wasserwirtschaft vorn 28. August 1952, 22 WASSERWIRT- SCHAFT-WASSERTECHNIK 325 (1972). See generally Schaake, Komplere wasserwirt- schaftliche Planung und i6konomisches System des Sozialismus in der DDR, 17 WAs- SERWMRTSCHAFT-WAssERTECHNIK 407 (1967). For large-scale land and water development projects, the basin authorities (Wasserwirtschaftsdirektionen) have established "land-improvement associations" (Meliorationsgenossenschaften) with agricultural cooperatives and other bodies at the district level. See Reichelt, Be- und Entwiisserung ein wichtiger Beitrag zur sozialistischen Intensivierung und hohen Ackerbaukultur, 5 KoOPERATMON (No. 4) 6 (1971); cf. note 147 infra. 26. Interview with the commission's chairman, Professor H. Mottek, Neues Deutschland, Feb. 6, 1973, at 4 (reprinted in Aussenpolitische Korrespondenz, Feb. 15, 1973, at 48). Cf. Mottek, Zu einigen Grundiragen der Mensch-Umwelt-Proble- matik, 20 WIRTSCHAFTS-WISSENSCHAFT 36 (1972); Gruhn, Umnweltschutz in der DDR, 5 DEUTSCHLAND-ARCHIV 1038,1045 (1972). 27. Institut fur Landesforschung und Naturschutz. See the annual reports of the Institute to the Academy's Standing Commission on Landscape Cultivation and Nature Conservation, in JAHRBUCH DER DEUTSCHEN AKADEMIE DER LANDWIRTSCHAFTS- WISSENSCHAFTEN (Berlin); ci. H. FRANZKY, supra note 5, at 20, 91. 28. See the report by Oehler & Woiczyk, Bildung des Arbeitskreises "Bodenrecht und Rechtsfragen der sozialistischen Landeskultur" des Rates filr staats- und rechtswis- 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW mittees for environmental matters also exist in such scientific and professional organizations as the Chamber of Technology and the National Federation of Architects, as well as in the National Cultural League, which is the principal popular association for nature protection.29 At the regional level, environmental policy objectives are included in the regional master plans drawn up by the urban planning offices of the 15 counties (Bezirke) of the GDR,3" and in trans-regional planning for areas of concentration or economic "focal points" such as, for example, the Berlin Metropolitan Region. In accordance with a gradual expansion of local self-government initiated in 196731 and specifically applied to environmental functions since 1969,82 the National Environ- ment Act broadened the powers of county and municipal authorities, especially with regard to zoning of areas devoted, for example, to recreation, water conservation, landscape conservation, and noise abatement.83 In accordance with a resolution of the Council of Ministers adopted with the Act on May 14, 1970, permanent working groups, senschaftiche Forschung der DDR, 21 STAAT UND RECHT 1758 (1972). Professor Elle- nor Oehler was elected chairperson of the Working Group. 29. The National Cultural League also is organizer of an annual "Socialist En- vironment Week." National Report, supra note 4, at 30-31. 30. In the course of post-war territorial reorganization in the GDR, the original five states (_inder) were abolished and replaced by 15 counties (Bezirke), subdivided into 216 districts (Kreise) with a total of 8860 town and village communities. On regional environmental planning see Wagner, The Systematic Organization of Environ- ment in the German Democratic Republic on the Basis of the County Master Plans, U.N. Doc. ST/ECE/ENV/I, at 380 (1971); see generally Bdwisch & Ostwald, Grund- sditze, Ziele und Aufgaben der Territorialplanung im sozialistischen Planungssystem der DDR, 18 WMTSCHAFTS-WISSENSCHAFT 1853 (1970); and Barm, Raumordunung und Gebietsplanung in der DDR, 3 DEUTSCHLAND-ARCHIV 461 (1970). 31. State Council Resolution of Sept. 15, 1967, on the Further Development of Municipal Budgetary and Financial Management, [1967] G.Bl. I 111; cf. Mampel, Die Stellung der Stiidte und Gemeinden in der sozialistischen Staats- und Gesell- schaftsordnung der DDR, 16 RECHT IN OST UND WEST 1 (1972); Schulze, Die verfas- sungsrechtliche Stellung der 6rtlichen Volksvertretungen und ihrer Organe, 17 STAAT UND RECHT 554 (1968). The reforms are now being finalized in new legislation on local governmental bodies. See Schulze & Witteck, Zum Entwurf des Gesetzes iibe, die drtlichen Volksvertretungen und hre Organe in der DDR, 22 STAAT UND RECHI 174 (1973). The responsible central agency is the ministerial Department for Local Government Affairs. 32. Decree of Feb. 19, 1969, on Increasing the Responsibility of Municipal Coun- cils for Order, Cleanliness, and Hygiene, [1969] G.B1. II 149 [hereinafter cited as Municipal Cleanliness Decree]; see also the State Council Resolution of Apr. 16, 1970, on the Development of Socialist Local Government Policies, [1970] G.BI. I 39; see notes 83, 123-24 infra; cf. Fleck, Die wachsende Verantwortung der drtlichen Volks- vertretungen und ihrer Organe, 21 STAAT UND RECHT 550 (1972). 33. For a comparison with the previous situation see Christoph, supra note 8, at 1462; cf. Oehler, Zur Verantwortung der Stadtverordnetenversammlung fir die Sicherung rationellster Nutzung der Naturreichtiimer, 1 GESELLSCHAFTLICHE FUNKTION DER STADT UND AUFGABEN DER STADTVERORDNETENVERSAMMLUNG 270 (Berlin 1969); see also notes 115, 216 in ra. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 including legal experts, were set up as advisory bodies to the county councils, 4 and in some cases at the district level.3 5 The 1973 Air Quality Decree conferred further responsibilities on local authorities, and established a system of compulsory "self-control" for enterprises, supervised by the Public Health Service."6

SECTORAL REGULATION The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Water Manage- ment now is the focal point for environmental decisionmaking in the GDR. Other ministries and administrative agencies, however, have re- tained important regulatory responsibilities within their respective sectors. The Council of Agricultural Production and Food Economy, for example, regulates nature conservation and pesticide use through the Central Office of Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine.8 7 The Ministry of Public Health is responsible for air pollution control in cooperation with the Meteorological Service,38 and for radiation con-

34. From the two informative reports by Brock, Problemberatung zu Leitungs- fragen der sozialistischen Landeskultur, 21 STAAT UND REcHT 480, 818 (1972), it appears that further proposals to establish permanent "environment committees" in the county assemblies met with opposition from county officials and were abandoned. The existing consultative working groups are usually chaired by a member of the county council and report periodically to the county assembly. They follow their own working rules (Arbeitsordnungen). Cf. Oehler, et al., Leitung und Planung der sozialistischen Landeskultur in den Territorien, Sozialistische Demokratie, May 19, 1972 (Supp.). 35. E.g., the Emissions-KoIlektiv (composed of medical doctors, biologists, lawyers, economists, and chemical analysts) established by the chemical industry in the district of Bitterfeld. Neues Deutschland, Jan. 2, 1973, at 2. 36. Fifth Implementing Decree of Jan. 17, 1973, Pursuant to the National Envi- ronment Act (Air Quality Conservation), [1973] G.B1. 1 157 [hereinafter cited as Air Quality Decree]. Section 16(3), id. at 160, provides for the appointment of pollution "emission officers" in enterprises, with functions defined in the Implementing Regula- tions of Apr. 13, 1973, [19731 G.BI. I at 162. Enterprises are obliged to carry out specified air pollution measurements of their emissions at their own expense, and to submit semi-annual reports; in case of non-compliance, the measurements are carried out by the Public Health Inspectorates and charged to the polluting enterprise with a 100% surcharge. Implementing Regulations, § 6, id. at 163. See Christoph, Hbhere Verantwortlichkeit der Betriebe ffir die Reinhaltung der Luft, 4 WiRTSCHAFTS-RFCHT 132 (1973). 37. Statute of Mar. 19, 1969, of the Council of Agricultural Production and Food Economy of the DDR [1969] G.Bl. II 245. Concerning the Plant Protection Service, established in July 1970, see Becker, Aufgaben und Au!bau des Zentralen Staatlichen Amtes fir Pflanzenschutz und Pflanzenquarantane beim Rat fir landwirtschaftliche Produktion und Nahrungsgiiterwirtschaftder Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 26 NACHIUCHTENBLATr FtjR DEN PFLANZENSCHUTZDIENST IN DER DDR 21 (1972). 38. See Statute of Feb. 19, 1969, of the Ministry of Public Health, [1969] G.B1. 1I 171. Regarding the organization of air pollution control by the Public Health In- spectorates (Hygiene-Inspektionen) see K. HoRN, KOMm-uNALHYGIENE (Berlin 1969); 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW trol through the Central Office of Radiation Protection, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour."' The Ministry of Science and Tech- nology promulgates technical standards through the Office of Stand- ardization, Metrology, and Products Testing.40 The Ministry of Basic Resource Industries delineates energy policy through the Central En- ergy Inspection Agency; 41 the Ministry of Material Management regulates waste reutilization through the Board of Publicly Owned Enter- prises for Reused Commodities;4 and the Ministry of Cultural Af- fairs oversees site protection through the Monuments Conservation 4 Institute. 1 Reflecting this proliferation of regulatory authority, current environmental law in the GDR includes a wide range of "sectoral" sources," which may be grouped under three main headings: (1) maintenance of water and air quality and noise control; (2) conservation of natural and cultural assets; and (3) sanitation and disposal of wastes and envoromnentally hazardous substances. The water pollution controls pursuant to the 1963 Water Act, as implemented in 1970,*5 are part of a series of water laws and regu-

Hammje & Horn, Die Aufgaben der Hygieneinspektionen der DDR auf dem Gebiet der Lufthygiene, 19 WISSENSCHAFTLICHE ZEITSCHRIFT DER HUMBOLDT-UNVERSIrAT BER- LIN: MATHEMATSClH-NATuRWISSENSCHAFrLICHE REIHE 553 (1970). 39. Statute of May 25, 1967, of the National Center for Radiation Protection of the DDR, [1967] G.B8. II 305; see Titel, supra note 4, at 11. 40. See note 9 supra; see also Decree of Dec. 18, 1969, on Governmental Qual- ity Control, [1970] G.B1. II 110; Decree of Dec. 18, 1969, on Safeguarding and In- creasing the Quality of the Products of Combines and Enterprises (Quality Safeguards Decree), [1970] G.Bl. II 118. Besides the central standardization office, there are coordinating offices in the various ministries. Thus sectoral control over pesticide standards is carried out jointly by the Ministries of Public Health, Agriculture, and Environmental Protection. See Beitz, Der Beitrag der Standardisierung zur Lbsung der Au!gaben des Umweltschutzes bei der Intensivierung der Pflanzenproduktion, 12 STANDARDISIERUNG LANDWIRTSCHAFT uND NAHRUNGSGUTERWIRTSCHAFT 42 (1973). 41. Zentrale Energie-Inspektion beim Ministerium fir Grundstoffindustrie, established Oct. 1, 1971. See Decree of Sept. 10, 1969, on the Planning and Direction of Energy Resources as well as Rational Energy Use and Conversion (Energy Decree), [19691 G.Bl. II 495; Sixth Implementing Regulation [thereto] of Oct. 18, 1971 (Energy Inspection), [1971] G.BI. II 613. 42. See Decree of Jan. 5, 1972, Creating the V.V.B. Altrohstoffe under the Min- isterium ffir Materialwirtschaft, [1972] G.B1. II 38 (replacing the former Govern- ment Board for Non-Metallic Resource Reserves); cf. Directive No. 10 of Dec. 1, 1971, on the Management of Reused Commodities, [1971] G.B1. II 722. For a list of earlier regulations see LANDESKULTURGESETZ: KOMMENTAR, supra note 8, at 285. 43. Statute of Sept. 28, 1961; [1961] G.B1. II 477. 44. A list of enactments appears as an appendix to the GDR National Report, supra note 4. For a collection of legislative texts see GESETZLICIE BESTIMMUNGEN ZuR LANDESKULTUR ZUM UMWELTSCHUTZ IN DER DDR 1951-1970 (H. Harmsen ed., Hamburg 1971). 45. Act of Apr. 17, 1963, on the Protection, Use, and Maintenance of Waters and Protection from the Danger of Floods (Water Act), [1963] G.Bl. I 77 [hereinafter cited as Water Act], as amended by the National Environment Act of May 14, 1970, § 41(3), [1970] G.B1. I 67, 74 [see Appendix infra]; First Implementing Decree ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 lations enacted since 1951. 40 Corresponding provisions on noise and air pollution control are to be found in two decrees implementing the National Environment Act: the Fourth Implementing Decree of May 14, 1970 (Protection from Noise), 47 and the 1973 Air Quality De- cree.48 Together they constitute the equivalent of what West German legal terminology usually categorizes as "protection against emissions" (Immissionsschutz). The classical subjects of conservation law-wildlife and scenic amenities-are covered by the First Implementing Decree of May 14, 1970, Pursuant to the National Environment Act-Protection and Care of Flora, Fauna, and Scenic Beauty (Nature Protection Decree)49 and the Second Implementing Decree of May 14, 1970, (Care and Develop- ment of the Landscape for Recreation)."' These decrees operate in conjunction with other enactments dealing with historical preservation"1 and with the use of "cultivated" resources, including agricultural and

[thereto] of Apr. 17, 1963, [1963] G.11. 11 281; Second Implementing Decree [thereto] of Dec. 16, 1970, [1971] G.B1. II 25. See Schaake, Unser Wassergesetz und ein was. serwirtschaftlicher Gesamtplan, 13 WASSERWIRTSCHAFr-WASSERTECHNIK 152 (1963); Nahring, Erliuterungen zum Wassergesetz und zur 1. DVO zum Wassergesetz, 10 DEuTSCHa FISCHEREIZEITUNG 368 (1963); see also notes 153-58 and accompanying text infra. 46. Decrees of Aug. 23, 1951, on the Hygienic Supervision of Central Water- works, and of Wells, [1951] G.BI. 794, 797; Implementing Regulation [thereto] of Nov. 30, 1970, [1970] G.B1. II, 659; Decree of July 23, 1953, on the Hygienic Super- vision of water and Sewage [1953] G.B1. 913 Statute of May 13, 1963, on Publicly- Owned Enterprises for Water Supply and Sewage Treatment, [1963] G.B1. II 290, 291; Decree of Jan. 10, 1972, on Standards for Water Protection Zones, TGL 24348 (1970) (General Conditions for Public Water Supply) [1972] G.B1. II 77. See Kolb, Die Reform des Wasserrechis in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 1968 WASSER UND ABWASSER 151, 179, 210, 235, 270 (1968). Regarding the interaction of water law and mining law see Weineck, Der Schadenersatzanspruch bei rechtswidrgen Ein- wirkurgen des Braunkohlenbetriebs auf die Gewlisser, 19 BERGBAU-TECHNIX 92 (1969); Weineck, Der Nachteilsausgleich bei rechtmiissigen Einwirkungen des Braunkohlen. betriebs auf die Gewdsser, 18 BERGiAu-TECHMNK 553 (1968). Concerning water pollution by oil, see notes 59 and 202 infra. 47. [1970] 2 G.BI. 11 343. See also First and Second Implementing Decrees [thereto] of Oct. 26, 1970, [1970] G.B1. II 595, 604. Cf. note 216 infra. 48. [1973] G.BI. 1 157. The 1973 decree superseded the Air Quality Resolution of the GDR Council of Ministers of Sept. 8, 1966, and the Directive of June 28, 1968, on the Limitation and Monitoring of Air Pollution Emissions, [1968] G.BI. H 640. 49. [1970] G.B. II 331 [hereinafter cited as Nature Protection Decree]. 50. [1970] G.BI. 11 336 [hereinafter cited as Landscape Decree]. See also Hunt- ing Act of Nov. 25, 1953, [1953] G.BI. 1175, as revised June 11, 1968, [1968] G.BI. I 242; Directive of July 6, 1970, on the Protection of Wild Plants and Undomesticated Animals Unsuitable for Hunting, [1970] G.BI. II 479; Directive of Apr. 8, 1971, on the Identifica- tion of Landscape Protection Areas in the GDR, [1971] G.BI. II 446. 51. Decree of May 28, 1954, on the Protection and Preservation of Primeval and Early Historical Landmarks, [1954] G.BI. 547; Decree of Sept. 28, 1961, on the Care and Protection of Monuments, [1961] G.BI. 1I 475; cf. National Environment Act, § 13(4), [1970] G.BI. I 67, 69. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW horticultural products, "2 forests, 8 and fisheries." The most comprehensive regulation of cultivated resources is accomplished by controls over land use,55 including the reclamation and recultivation of mining lands." In most cases the promotion of "municipal hygiene" (Kommun- aihygiene) is a function of local government.57 The National Environ- ment Act has been applied in this field in accordance with an implementing decree on municipal sanitation and waste utilization. 8 Spec- ial legislation exists for safe disposal and economic recovery of certain substances such as oil,5" and for the control of such specific envi-

52. Act of Nov. 25, 1953, on the Protection of Cultivated and Useful Plants, [1953] G.Bl. 1179. Protections specifically for domestic animals are to be found at section 168 of the 1968 Penal Code (StGB), [1968] G.BI. I 1, 33. On criminal sanctions for cruelty to animals generally see id., § 250, [1968] G.BI. I at 44. 53. Decree of May 21, 1965, on the Production of Wood Outside Forests, [1965) G.Bi. II 420; Directive of Oct. 8, 1965, on the Management of Forests . . . for the Recreation of Workers, [1965] G.BI. H1 773; Directive of Mar. 11, 1969, on the Pro- tection and Sanitation of Forests, [1969] G.Bl. II 203; Directive of Mar. 21, 1973, on the Promotion of Landscape Measures, Especially Commercial Forestry and Erosion Protection, [1973] G.BI. I 147. 54. Fisheries Act of Dec. 2, 1959, [1959] G.BI. I 864; Fourth Implementing Regulation [thereto] of Mar. 26, 1963 (Declaration of Fishery Rights), [1963] G.B1. II 226; Statute of May 31, 1965, on Publicly Owned Inland Fisheries and their Opera- tion, [1965] G.BI. II 425; Directive of Nov. 1, 1971, . . . on the Catching of Fish near the Coast (Coastal Fisheries Regulations), [1971] G.BI. II 641. See also text accompanying note 194 infra. 55. Land Use Decree of Dec. 17, 1964, on the Protection of Agricultural and Forest Lands and for the Guaranty of Socialistic Land Use (Land Use Decree), 11965] G.BI. II 233 [hereinafter cited as Land Use Decree]; First Implementing Regulation [thereto] of May 28, 1968, [1968] G.BI. II 295; Decree of June 15, 1967, on the Intro- duction of a Land-Use Charge for the Protection of Agricultural and Forest Lands... v [1967] G.B1. II 487 (see text accompanying notes 176-78 infra); Land Improvement Regulations of June 29, 1967, [1967] G.BI. II 411. See also Statute of July 11, 1966, Establishing a National Committee for Land Improvement, [1966] G.BI. II 556. The committee has since been dissolved, its functions transferred to the Ministry of Agri- culture, Forestry, and Food Production. [1972] G.BI. II 149. 56. Decree of Apr. 2, 1968, for the Guaranty of Public Safety and the Protection of the Economic System of Mining Dumps and Abandoned Mines, [1968] G.BI. II 225; Mining Act of the GDR, of May 12, 1969, [1969] G.BI. I 29 [hereinafter cited as Mining Act]; First Implementing Decree [thereto] of May 12, 1969, [1969] G.Bl. II 257, with explanatory parliamentary presentation of the Act by Titel, 18 STAAT AND RECNT 244 (1969); Directive of Apr. 10, 1970, on Reclamation of Land Use for Mining (Reclamation Directive), [1970] G.B1. II 279; Directive of Feb. 23, 1971, on Re- cultivation of Land Used for Mining (Recultivation Directive), [1971] G.Bl. II 245; cf. note 46 supra, and notes 151, 214, and accompanying text infra. 57. See notes 31-33 and accompanying text supra; see also Decree of Aug. 3, 1967, on Resorts, Health Resorts, and Nature Remedies (Resort Decree), [1967] G.Bl. II 653; First, Second, and Third Implementing Regulations [thereto] of Mar. 6, 1968, [1968] G.B1. 11 115, 121, 123. 58. Third Implementing Decree of May 14, 1970, Pursuant to the National En- vironment Act (Municipal Sanitation and Recycling of Trash), [1970] G.B1. II 339. 59. Decree of Jan. 7, 1954, on the Collection, Delivery, and Recycling of Waste Motor and Industrial Oil, [1954] G.B1. 41; Decree of Feb. 19, 1969, on the Prevention ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 ronment hazards as poisons,60 pesticides, 61 and radiation."2

rrr METHODS OF IMPLEMENTATION Environmental regulation in the German Democratic Republic must be seen in the context of the legal system as a whole, which par- takes both of the German legal tradition as one of the major "civil law" systems in continental Europe, and of the contemporary East European models of "socialist law." 3 East German commentators have stressed the influence of Soviet law on the GDR National Environment Act, referring in particular to the Act of October 27, 1960, on Nature Conservation in the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.64 The preamble and the general principles of the Russian act are indeed similar to provisions of the German statute. 65 Furthermore, the Na- tional Environment Act obliges East German authorities and enterprises to make use of the experience "of the Soviet Union and the other

and Control of Oil Spills, [1969] G.Bl. I 145, as amended Feb. 7, 1973, [1973] G.Bl. I 101. See note 202 infra. 60. Act of Sept. 6, 1950, on Trade in Poisons (Poison Act), [1950] G.B1. 977. 61. Bee Protection Decree of Nov. 15, 1951, [1951] G.BI. 1060; Implementing Regulation [thereto] of Nov. 22, 1951, id. at 1071; Work Protection and Fire Protection Directive 108 of June 5, 1969, (Pesticides and Rodenticides), [1969] G.BI. II 345; Standards for Agricultural Spraying from Aircraft, TGL 80-21650 (1970), and for Insecticide Use, TGL 80-21651 (1971); Directive of June 28, 1971, on Pesticide and Rodenticide Residues in Foodstuffs, [1971] G.Bl. II 526; cf. text accompanying notes 185-98 infra. The Schwerin County Court, in a judgment rendered on May 18, 1972, and reported in 27 NEUE JusTz 523 (1973), awarded damages pursuant to Civil Code Art. 823 for negligence in a case involving aerial spraying of insecticides harmful to bees. 62. Act of Mar. 28, 1962, on the Use of Nuclear Energy in the GDR (Nuclear Energy Act), [1962] G.B1. I 47, as amended Sept. 1, 1966, [1966] G.Bl. I 75; Decree of Mar. 28, 1962, Pursuant to the Nuclear Energy Act (Liability for Radiation Dam- age), [1962] G.BI. 11 152; Decree of Nov. 26, 1969, on Protection from Damaging Effects of Ionizing Radiation (Radiation Protection Decree), [1969] G.BI. 11 627; First Implementing Regulation [thereto], id. at 635. 63. See I. MARKOVtrS, SozuAmsscHs UND BUiRGEDLICims ZIvILRECHTSDENKEN IN DER DDR (Cologne 1969); Markovits, Civil Law in East Germany: Its Development and Relation to Soviet Legal History and Ideology, 78 YALE L.J. 1 (1968); Rogge- mann, Entwicklungstendenzen in der Zivilrechtspflege der DDR und der Einfluss des sowjetischen Rechts, 1966 JusSTiscrE RuNnscHAu 201, 444, 1967 JLusrIscHE Rurm- SCHAU 9, 241 (four installments); compare Arlt & Lungwitz, Die Entwicklung des sozialistischen Rechts und die biirgerlichen Traditionen, 12 STAAT UND RECHT 800 (1963); Biichner-Uhder & Hieblinger, Die Bedeutung des Staatsrechts der UdSSR fir die Lehre und Forschung an den juristischen Ausbildungsstitten der DDR, 22 STAAT UNd RECHT 203 (1973). For a Soviet view see Tschchikwadse, Die Entwicklung der marxistisch-leninistischen Staats- und Rechtswissenschaft in der Deutschen Demokra- tischen Republik, 18 STAAT uND RacHT 1386 (1969). 64. Weinitschke, supra note 5, at 226. 65. An English translation of the Russian Nature Conservation Act of 1960 can be found in 11 SOVIET STATUTFs AND DECIsIONs 11 (1972), and an excerpt from the Implementing Decree of Oct. 25, 1965, in id. at 24. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

socialist countries, in accomplishing their environmental tasks," and to cooperate closely with related institutions in those countries.66 On the other hand, much of the substance and form of contemporary environmental law in the GDR bears the unmistakable imprint of Ger- man legal tradition dating back to the pre-socialist period. Examples of such traditional law include the basing of civil liability on the Biir- gerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB) of 1896,67 and of effluent charges on half a century of administrative experience in the Prussian Wasser- verbdinde.68 The relevance of the earlier German law in point was duly, if critically, acknowledged during the parliamentary presentation of the 1970 National Environment Act. 9

A. Enforcement Methods 1. Criminal and Administrative Sanctions While the 1968 Penal Code of the GDR makes no mention of "crimes against the environment, ' 7 and actually provides for exonera- tion from criminal responsibility where harm is caused "in pursuit of an important economic profit,"'" there is a growing catalogue of "environmental offenses" punishable under the 1968 Administrative Of- fenses Act72 pursuant to special legislation including the 1970 National Environment Act.7 In particular, the Nature Protection Decree en-

66. Section 9, [1970] G.BI. I 67, 69. 67. See generally E. COHN & W. ZDZIEBLO, MANUAL OF GERMAN LAw (2d ed. London 1970); A. VON MEEiEN, THE CIvI. LAw SYSTEM (Boston 1957); cf. MXRxo- vrrs, supra note 63; Roggemann, supra note 63; Westen, Das ausservertragliche Schadensersatzrecht der SBZ, 9 RECHT IN OST UND WEST 58 (1965); see also notes 94, 97, 133, 138, and accompanying text infra. 68. See generally A. KNEESE, THm ECONOMICS OF REGIONAL WATER QUALIrY MANAGEMENT 160-87 (Baltimore 1964). 69. Titel, supra note 4, at 5; ci. Weinitschke, supra note 5, at 226. 70. GDR Penal Code of Jan. 12, 1968 (StGB), [1968] G.BI. 1 1; French translation in 1968 REVUE DE DROIT ET DE L]GISLATION DE LA RtPUBLIQUE DtMOCRAT1QUE ALLEMANDE (No. 2) 15; see generally Toeplitz, Le nouveau code p~nal de la R& publique Ddmocratique Allemande, 1969 REVUE DE DROIT ET DE I3ISLATION DE LA R6PUBLIQUE DAMOCRATIQUE ALLEMANDE (No. 1) 5; Hinderer, Le nouveau droit pinal de la Ripublique Dimocratique Allemande, 16 REVUE DE Dlorr CONTEMPORAIN 89 (1969); cf. Roggemann, Das Strafgesetzbuch der DDR von 1968, 13 RECHT IN OST uro WEST 97, 145 (1969) (two installments). Note, however, section 193 of the Penal Code regarding infringements of legal provisions for health and labor protection. [1968] G.BI. I 1, 37. 71. In this regard section 169 makes allowance for "inherent economic and development risks." [19681 G.B. I, 1, 34. See E. BucmoLz & D. SEIDEL, WIRTscHAFr- UCHE FEHLENTSCHEIDUNG ODER STRAFTAT? (Berlin 1971); Buchholz & Seidel, Le risque 6conomique justifig, 1969 REVUE DE DROrr ET DE LiGISLATION DE LA R]kPULIQUE DkMOCRATIQuE ALLEMANDE (No. 1) 23 (1969). 72. Act of Jan. 12, 1968, for the Repression of Administrative Offenses, [1968] G.Bl. 1 101. 73. Public Notice of Jan. 31, 1972, [19721 G.BI. II, 65; see also Air Quality Decree, § 21, [1973] G.BI. I 157, 161. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 acted pursuant to the 1970 Act74 builds on a regulatory structure already existing under the 1954 Nature Protection Act of the GDR,75 which in turn was a revision of the earlier German Nature Protection Act (Reichsnaturschutzgesetz) of 1935 .76 This pre-war legislation generally was considered to be one of the world's most stringent systems of conservation law, controlled and strictly enforced by the Na- ture Protection Agency within the German Forest Service, and sup- ported by an extensive program of public education and propaganda geared in part to ideological objectives of the fascist regime then in power. While the ideological basis for conservation undoubtedly is different in the GDR today,77 the regulatory system remains essentially the same, providing for penalties, administrative permits, authority to restrict private property in designated conservation areas, and supervision by public conservation officers. 78 Considering the psychologi- cal impact of continued strict observance over a period of approximately one generation, 79 the 1970 National Environment Act may be said to have inherited a well-established tradition of governmental protection of nature against individual interference. The continuity of this policy is reflected, for example, in the Act's provisions on expropriation, 0 implemented in accordance with the 1960 Compensation 8 Act. '

74. Nature Protection Decree, [1970] G.Bl. II 331. 75. Act of Aug. 4, 1954, for the Preservation and Care of the Nature in the Homeland, [1954] G.Bl. 695; First Implementing Regulations [thereto] of Feb. 15, 1955, [1955] G.BI. I 165; Second Implementing Regulation [thereto] of Oct. 25, 1955, id. at 790. 76. Act of June 26, 1935, [1935] RGBI. [Reichsgesetzblatt] I 821, 1191, as amended at [1936] RGBI. I 1001, and [1938] RGB. I 36; Decree of Oct. 31, 1935, for the Implementation [thereof], [1935] RGB1. I 1275, as amended at [1938] RGBI. I 1184. See generally H. KLOSE & A. VOLLBACH, DIE NATURSCHUTZGESETZGEBUNG DES REICHES .(Neudamm 1939). On the survival of the legislation as state (Lidnder) law in post-war West Germany and Austria, see G. ZWANZIG, DIE FORTENTWICKLUNG DES NATuRSCHUTZREcHTES IN DEUTSCHLAND NACHI 1945 (Erlangen Univ. thesis 1962); Zwanzig, Die Fortentwicklung des Naturschutzrechtes in Deutschland und Osterreich nach 1945, 18 ALLGEMEINE FORsTzEITScHRIFr 53 (1963), cf. M. BLUM, LANDSCHAFTS- SCHUTZRECHT IM WESTLICHEN EUROPA 26-49 (Munich 1969). 77. Titel, supra note 4, at 5. By coincidence, however, both the present environment minister and his senior deputy are alleged to have been members of the Nazi party until 1945, according to West German press reports. 78. See L. BAUER & H. WEIrNrsCHKE, LANDSCHAFTSPFLEGE uND NATURSCHU-rZ ALS TELAUFGABEN DER SOZIALISTISCHEN LANDESKULTUR (3rd ed, Jena 1973); Meusel, Die Entwicklung des Naturschutzes in der DDR, paper reported in 1965-66 JAHRBUC DER DEUTSCHEN AKADEMIE DER LANDwiRTSCHAFTS-WIssENscHAFrEN 111 (1967); cf. H. FRANZKy, supra note 5, at 19. 79. The "experience of several decades of nature protection in Germany" is stressed by Weinitschke, supra note 5, at 226. 80. Section 21, [1970] G.B1. I 67, 71. 81. Act of Apr. 25, 1960, on Compensation for Requisitions Pursuant to the Con- struction Act [1960] G.Bl. I 257; cf. Landscape Decree, §§ 8-11, [1970] G.Bl. II 336, 338-39; Christoph, supra note 8, at 1464. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Besides penalties and expropriation, existing public law remedies against environmentally harmful acts include the right of government authorities to carry out corrective measures at the polluter's expense. Authority is found in section 44 of the 1963 Water Act 2 and, in the case of industrial enterprises, in section 7 of the 1969 Municipal Clean- 8 liness Decree. 3 In the case of individuals authority is found in section 16 of the 1968 People's Police Act."4 Supervision of governmental authorities in turn is exercised by the district attorneys, who, like their Soviet counterparts-the prokuratura-generallyare empowered to ver- ify compliance with the laws pursuant to the 1963 Act Regulating the Office of the Public Prosecutor.85 Further supervision is provided by local appeal boards created in 1969 for grievances against administrative action or inaction;8 6 and through civic-political channels such as the National Front.8 7 These institutions are implicitly concerned with the protection of citizens' rights, including environmental rights, against administrative abuses, 88

82. [1963] G.B1. I 77, 84, as amended by the National Environment Act, § 41(3), [1970] G.B1. I 67, 74; see also Air Quality Decree, § 6, [1973] G.Bl. 1 157, 159. 83. [19691 G.Bl. II 149, 150-51. 84. Act of June 11, 1968, on the Functions and Powers of the German People's Police, [1968] G.BI. I 232, 236; see Surkau & Schiisseler, Erliduterungen zur Landeskul- turgesetzgebung, 23 DIE VoLKspoLIzEI 23, (Supp. 17 1970); cf. Duckwitz, Rechtsprob- leme bei der Ausarbeitung von Stadtordnungen, 22 STAAT UND RECHT 238, 242 (1973)', Surkau & Petasch, Der Rechtscharakter und die Verletzung der Anliegerpflichen, 26 NEUE JUSTIZ 100 (1972). 85. Act of Apr. 17, 1963, on the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the GDR, [1963] G.BI. I 57; see Wunsch et al., Grundfragen der Konzeption der Allgemeinen Aujsicht der Staatsanwaltschaft, 17 NEUE JUSTiZ 14 (1963). Concerning the recent creation of a "legality control" department in the public prosecutor's office see Harr- land, H6here Wirksamkeit der Gesetzlichkeitsaufsicht, 27 NEuE JusTmZ 251 (1973). Compare Gellhorn, Review of Administrative Acts in the Soviet Union, 66 COLUM. L. REV. 1051 (1966). 86. State Council Order of Nov. 20, 1969, on the Processing of Citizen Com- plaints, [1969] G.Bl. I 239; see Ritter, Ddcret sur l'examen des requites des citoyens en R.D.A., 1971 REVUE DE IROIT ET DE LIEGISLATION DE LA REPUBUQUE DfIEOCRATIQUE ALLEMANDE (No. 2) 7; Kiihnau, Beschwerdeausschiisse und sozialistische Demokratie, 19 STAAT UND RECHT 35 (1970). Concerning recent reforms see Ritter, Beschwerdeaus- schiisse: Instrumente der 6rtlichen Volksvertretungen zur Wahrung der sozialistischen Gesetzlichkeit, 22 STAAT UND RECUT 380 (1973). 87. See the numerous references in the National Environment Act, [1970] G.B1. 67; see generally Mandl, Volksvertretungen und Ausschiisse der Nationalen Front bei der Entfaltung der schiipferischen Initiative der Bfirger, 22 STAAT UND RECHT 288 (1973); Mandl, Zur Rolle der Nationalen Front in den sozialistischen Liindern, 21 STAAT UND RECHT 800 (1972); Hetzelt & Lehmann, Zur Rolle der Nationalen,Front, 20 STAAT UND RECHT 1938 (1971). 88. See Binninger & Sch6nrath, Beschwerderecht: Instrument zur Wahrung der Rechte der Bfirger und zur weiteren Verbesserung der staalichen Leitungstdtigkeit, 21 STAAT UND RECHT 20 (1972); Bley & Ddhn, Aktuelle Probleme der Verwirklichung der -sozialistischen Gesetzlichkeit durch die 6irtlichen Organe der Staatsmacht, 21 STAAT UND RECMT 693 (1972). ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 and for this purpose may bring into play the sanctions of governmental liability to citizens for wrongful acts of civil servants.8 9 In protecting the public interest, these agencies may suspend execution of governmental decisions, but they may not substitute decisions of their own.90 Their primary objective is to safeguard the principle of "socialist legality," as that principle is understood in Eastern European jurispru- dence91 and is applied to environment protection. 92 Within this conceptual framework, a general, non-judicial review procedure currently is being developed in the GDR for all acts of public officials, and has been operative since 1971 for administrative appeals of decisions by regional water management authorities, among other agencies.9

2. Civil and Economic Sanctions Current environmental case law in the GDR shows continued re- liance on classical property and tort theories, particularly Articles 823 and 906 of the old German Civil Code.9 4 The traditional negligence

89. Act of May 12, 1969, to Provide for Government Liability in the GDR, [1969] G.B1. I 34. See explanatory comments (parliamentary presentation) by Wiinsche, 18 STAAT UND RECHT 956 (1969); French text in 1971 REVUE DE DROIT ET DE LEGISLATION DE LA REPUBLIQUE DIMOCRATIQUE ALLEMANDE (No. 1) 37; see also Lubchen, La responsabilitg de I'Etat dans la Igislation et dans la pratique de la R.D.A., 1971 REVUE DE DROIT ET DE LEGISLATION DE LA RfirUBLIQUE DtMOCRATIQUE ALLEMANDE (No. 1) 5; Westen, Das Staatshaftungsgesetz der DDR, 15 RECHT IN OsI UND WEST 105 (1971). 90. See KiIhnau, supra note 114, at 41; Ritter, Beschwerdeausschiisse, supra note 86, at 388. 91. Compare Tchikvadze, Quelques probl~mes giniraux concernant [a notion de la lMgalite socialiste, in LE CONCEPT DE LA LUGALrrt DANS DES PAYS SOCIALISTES 321 (Warsaw 1961); and Kruger, Fragen der Gesetzlichkeit in der DDR, id. at 117. See also Becker, Verwaltungsverjahrensrechtin Ost und West, 13 REClT IN OST UND WEST 49 (1969). 92. See Kachelmaier, supra note 8. 93. The procedure was partially codified by the Act of June 24, 1971, on the Amendment of Provisions on Recourse Against Decisions of Government Authorities, [1971] G.BI. I 49. Decree [thereon] of June 24, 1971, [1971] G.Bl. II 465, applied the new appellate procedure to a number of regulatory contexts, by revising certain provisions of the relevant decrees currently in force, including those dealing with hygiene supervision of central water supply facilities (id. at 465-66); with hygiene supervision of water and sewage (id. at 467-68); and with the responsibility of municipal councils for cleanliness (id. at 480). In this regard see the lecture by Brunner, Das System des bffentlich-rechtlichen Rechtsschutzes in der DDR, summarized in Fachta. gung der Studiengruppe jir Ostrecht fiber Probleme des DDR-Rechts, 17 OSTEUROPA- RECHT 295, 296 (1971). See also the appeal provisions of the Air Quality Decree, § 20, [1973] G.BI. I 157, 160. 94. Bilrgerliches Gesetzbuch [BGB] § 823, 906, supra note 67. See Christoph, supra note 8, at 1461; see generally Heuer & Klinger, Les fondements du droit 9conomique socialiste de la R.D.A., 1972 REVUE DE nRorr ET DE LEGISLATION DE LA REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE ALLEMANDE (No. 1) 5. On various attempts to re- place 'bourgeois" civil law see Meerpoel, Le droit 6conomique en Republique Alle- mande, 1970-71 ANNUAIRE DE L'U.R.S.S. 73. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW basis of tort liability has long been displaced by statutorily imposed liability regardless of fault for specified industrial risks. This system of strict liability dates back to the 1871 Enterprise Liability Act (Reichshaftpflichtgesetz), which is still in force in the GDR today.9 5 The system has been carried through into modem legislation on nuclear energy, mining, and oil pollution hazards. 96 In addition to the traditional remedies, a new variety of "economic sanction" for environmental damage has made its appearance. This new sanction is one which East German lawyers themselves seem to have difficulty classifying.97 The problem was highlighted in the 1968 case of City of Stassfurt v. Vereinigte Sodawerke Bernburg- Stassfurt. Relying on a 1967 State Council Resolution which empowered local government authorities to impose sanctions on enterprises for "interference with the improvement of the population's living conditions,"9'' the Stassfurt city assembly fined the defendant chemical factory 175,000 Deutsche Mark (approximately $40,000) for air pollution damages representing added pollution abatement costs allegedly incurred by the city. 9 When the defendant appealed to the district council, the GDR Council of Ministers felt prompted to publish an authoritative legal opinion on the case.'00 The opinion confirmed the city's position on principle, although not on the sole basis of the 1967 Resolution. The Council of Ministers also relied upon the defendant's alleged violation of the statutory duties of publicly owned

95. Act of June 7, 1871, Regarding Liability in Damages for Death and Bodily Injury Produced by the Operations of Railroads, Mining Works, etc., [18711 RGBI. 207, as amended Aug. 15, 1943, [1943] 1 RGB1. 489. For an English translation see A. VON MEHREN, supra note 67, at 416; see generally E. BoEmiR, DAS REICHSHAFT- PFLICHTGESETZ (Berlin 1950). 96. See notes 56, 59, 62 supra; Heuer & Klinger, supra note 94, at 83. With regard to mining damage in particular see Weineck, Schadenersatz nach Bergrecht, 25 NEUE Jusmnz 232 (1971); see also note 151 infra. 97. See, e.g., Heuer & Klinger, supra note 94, at 76-77, referring specifically to air pollution sanctions imposed by local authorities pursuant to section 7(3) of the Municipal Cleanliness Decree, [19691 G.BI. II 149, 151, as "sort of a substantive liability vis-a-vis the socialist state", though "insufficiently generalized in legal theory and legislation". See also Posch, Die materielle Verantwortlichkeit des Biirgers und der Betriebe im Zivilrecht, 19 STAAT UND RECHT 1111 (1970); Walter, Zu Problemen einer kiinftigen Sanktionsregelung, 1 WIRTSCHAFTSRECHT 233 (1970); cf. Friedel and Schiusseler, Zur Weiterentwicklung der wirtschajtsrechtlichen materiellen Verantwort- lichkeit durch die Einfiihrung von Wirtschaftssanktionen, 22 STAAT UND RECHT 1331 (1973). 98. Resolution of Sept. 15, 1967, Art. I, § 6(a), [1967] G.B1. I 111. 99. Judgment of May 9, 1968. See Probleme um die Stassfurter Luft, Sozialist- ische Demokratie, Sept. 13, 1968, at 3. 100. Spitzner, Antwort: Probleme der Stassfurter Luft, Sozialistische Demokratie, Jan. 19, 1969, at 9. The writer was Professor 0. Spitzner, legal adviser to the GDR Council of Ministers. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3: 451 enterprises. 10 1 The council further specified that the proceeds of the fine must be allocated "primarily" to the reparation of the pollution damages in point. Far more significant than "civil" sanctions, however, is the in- dependent sanctioning system of the 1965 Contracts Act."0 2 While originally conceived as an arbitration procedure for economic relations between publicly owned enterprises, supervised by a State Contract Tribunal, 10 3 the 1963 Decree on the Functions and Procedure of the State Contract Tribunal 4 is now interpreted by the courts as excluding civil actions altogether (whether in contract or in tort) whenever both parties to a dispute are wholly or partly publicly owned enterprises, cooperatives, government authorities, or social organizations. The question arose in a 1970 extra-contractual suit for pollution damages allegedly caused by effluents from an agricultural cooperative which tainted the water supply of a semi-public textile dye plant.'0 5 Al- though the 1963 Water Act provided for adjudication by the ordinary courts, 10 6 the county court of Karl-Marx-Stadt (formerly Chemnitz) dismissed the action on the basis of the subsequent 1963 Contract Tri- bunal Decree, and directed the plaintiff to take the case to the State Contract Tribunal. This interpretation was indirectly confirmed by subsequent legislation explicitly referring to the jurisdiction of the State Contract Tribunal. Examples are the provisions for liability

101. Id. The statutory duties are set forth in the Decree of Feb. 9, 1967, on the Functions, Rights and Duties of Publicly Owned Production Enterprises, § 20(3) [1967] G.B1. II 121, 126. Cf. Streich, Statut juridique des entreprises industrielles nationalis~es, 1968 REVUE DE DROIT ET DE LUGISLATION DE LA RtPUBLIQUE DtMOCRATIQUE ALLEMANDE (No. 1) 35. The 1967 decree now has been superseded by the Decree of Mar. 28, 1973, on the Functions, Rights and Duties of Publicly Owned Enterprises and Groups of Enterprises, [1973] G.Bl. I 129. See Schramm, Eriduterungen zur neuen Regelung iiber volkseigene Betriebe, Kombinate und VVB, 3 WIRTSCHAFTSTRECHT 64 (1973). 102. Act of Feb. 25, 1965, [1965] G. B1. I 107; see DER WIRTSCHAFTSVERTRAG ALS LEITUNGSINSTRUMENT (G. Walter ed., Berlin 1969); KOMMENTAR ZUM VERTRAGS- GESETZ (0. Spitzner ed., Berlin 1967); Such, supra note 16, at 211; cf. D. LOEBER, DER HoHErrLIcH GESTALTETE VERTRAG (Berlin 1969). 103. Established as Arbitration Tribunal for Economic Contracts by Decree of Dec. 6, 1951, [1951] G.Bl. 1143; see KOMMENTAR ZUM KOOPERATIONSRECHT (0. Spitz- ner ed., Berlin 1970); Walter, Position et tdches du Tribunal des contrats de la Re- publique Ddmocratique Allemande, 1972 REVUE DE DROIT ET DE L.GISLATION DE LA REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE ALLEMANDE (No. 1) 84. 104. Decree of Apr. 18, 1963, [19631 G.Bl. II 293, as amended Sept. 9, 1965, [1965] G.B1. I 711, and Mar. 12, 1970, [1970] G.Bl. II 205 [hereinafter cited as the Contract Tribunal Decree]. 105. Judgment of Feb. 13, 1970 (Bezirksgericht Karl-Marx-Stadt), in 25 NEUE JusTz 123 (1971). See case note by Janke, Zur Zulissigkeit des Gerichtweges ffir Schadensersatzanspriiche aus dens Wassergesetz, id. at 396; see generally Panzer, tber die Zustidndigkeit der Gerichte und des Staatlichen Vertragsgerichts, 17 NEUE JUSTz 747 (1963); KOMMENTAR ZUM KOOPERATIONSRECHT, supra note 103, at 38. 106. First Implementing Decree [thereto] of Apr. 17, 1963, § 26, [1963] G.Bl. I 281, 284. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW suits pursuant to the 1969 Mining Act' and the 1973 Air Qual- ity Decree.' 08 Environmental litigation in the civil courts of the GDR is thus limited to cases where at least one of the parties is either a private individual or a corporate entity other than those mentioned in the 1963 Contract Tribunal Decree.

B. Preventive Methods Necessary as administrative and civil sanctions may be to induce compliance with environmental law, enforcement of such sanctions also is a potential threat to general plan fulfillment, in view of the disrup- tive effect which an unbudgeted, retroactive financial burden can have on the ability of the liable enterprise to carry out its other concurrent or future obligations within a centrally planned economy. Altema- tively, preventive methods of legal environment protection are more attractive to a planned economy, as their costs can be allocated in advance. Therefore, in addition to price controls and other traditional planning tools, 0 9 a number of new preventive instruments of environmental law, in the form of both incentives and disincentives, have been developed in the GDR since 1963, when the "new economic policy" (NOSPL) was first introduced." 0 The result has been more decentralized decisionmaking at the local and enterprise level, usually under the label of "economic levers" (5konomische Hebel)."' Some

107. First Implementing Decree [thereto] of May 12, 1969, § 30, [1969] G.Bl. II 257, 261. 108. Section 19(3), [1973] G.B1. I 157, 161. 109. See notes 11-18 supra. Among conventional legal instruments are also certain specialized insurance schemes of the GDR State Insurance Agency, such as op- tional crop insurance against damage caused by pesticides, available on a voluntary basis to farmers and agricultural cooperatives pursuant to the Decree of May 22, 1968, [1968] 2 G.B1. 319. See Rogoll & Nagel, Massnahmen zur Verringerung der Schadens- fiille beim Einsatz von Pflanzenschutzmitteln und Wege zur Regulierung, 14 FELD- WIRTSCHAFT 119 (1973). 110. Guidelines of July 11, 1963, for the New Economic System of Planning and Control, [1963] G.BI. II 453. See W. ULBRICHT, ZUM NEUEN OKONOMISCHEN SYSTEM DER PLANuNG UND LEITUNG (Berlin 1966); Such, supra note 16; cf. G. KROL, DIE WIRTSCHAFTSREFORM IN DER DDR UND maRE URSACHEN: ERFAHRUNGEN MIT DER AD- MINISTRATIVEN STEUERUNGSKONZEPTION (Ttibingen 1972). Leptin, Das NOS Mittel- deutschlands, in WIRTSCHAFTSREFORMEN IN OSTEUROPA 115 (K. Thalheim & H. H6hman eds., Cologne 1968); Baylis, Economic Reform as Ideology: East Germany's New Economic System, 3 COMPAR.ATnvE PoLiTrcs 211 (1971); Miller & Trend, Economic Reforms in East Germany, 15 PROBLEMS OF COMMUNISM 29 (1966). The NOSPL system (subsequently renamed OSS, for "Economic System of Socialism") has under- gone important policy changes since 1966 and particularly since 1971, amounting to what some observers interpret as a reversal. See Keren, The New Economic System in the GDR: An Obituary, 24 SOVIET STUDIES 554 (1973); Erdmann, Abkehr vom bisherigen Modell des OSS, 4 DEUTSCHiLAND-AR HIV 816 (1971). 111. See Zehrfeld, Zur Einfiihrung bkonomischer Hebel in der Wisserwirtschaft, 18 WASSERWIRTSCHAFT-WASSERTECIiNIX 60 (1968); Titel, supra note 14; Christoph, ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

of these innovative methods are based on models elaborated jointly with other COMECON countries,112 and were initially introduced on a trial basis as economic experiments in selected areas.

1. EnvironmentalImpact Controls In addition to central clearance of annual economic plans by the Environment Ministry,'" nationwide zoning controls under the 1958 Urban Building Regulations, 14 and the 1967 Rural Building Regula- tions," all important new economic investment projects in the GDR (such as road construction, industrial plants, or large-scale agricultural production projects) are subject to a uniform pre-investment procedure. In force since 1968, this procedure requires formal approval by the relevant regional and local government bodies, in collaboration with the National Planning Commission and the competent central government departments.' 16 The 1972 Investment Allocation Decree" 17 confirmed this system of regional planning, and introduced specific environmental criteria as part of the pre-investment scrutiny of new projc- ects, both at the county level ("macro-allocation") and at the munici- pality level ("micro-allocation"). At both stages, authorization of a project may be denied or subjected to special conditions in the interest of environmental protection."" In particular, each investment project is to

supra note 8, at 1460; cf. generally U. HEUER, et al., SOZIALISTISCHES WIRTSCHAFTS- RECHT: INSTRUMENT DeR WIRTSCHAPTSFI0HRUNG (Berlin 1971). 112. See notes 155, 166-89, and accompanying text infra. 113. The Directive of Apr. 25, 1973, on Target Dates for Preparation of the 1974 Economic Plan and Governmental Budget provides that draft plans of all central government agencies be submitted for consideration by the Ministry of Environment Protection and Water Management [1973] G.Bl. I 189, 193-95 [hereinafter cited as Target Date Directive]. 114. Directive of Oct. 2, 1958, [19581 G.B. Special Issue No. 287. 115. Directive of May 12, 1967, on Preparation and Implementation of Agricul- tural Construction, [1967] G.BI. II 361; see also Directive of June 29, 1967, on Preparation and Implementation of Land Improvement Regulations, [19671 G.BI. II 412; cf. Bergemann & Schmidt, Zur Vorbereitung landwirt.schaftlicherInveslitionsbauten, 1 WIRTSCHAFTSRECHT 106 (1970). 116. Decree of Mar. 1, 1968, on Principles for the Planning of Investment Allo- cations, [1968] G.BI. II 263. This decree was superseded by the 1972 Investment Allocation Decree. See note 117 infra. For a critical evaluation of the 1968 Decree, see Glhss & Richter, iiberlegungen zur Standortverteilung der Investitionen nach dem VIII. Parteitag der SED, 20 STAAT uND RECHT 1297 (1971); see generally Werner, Raurnordnerische Aspekte der Investitionsgesetzgebung und der Volkswirtschaftspldne der DDR, 29 RAUMFORSCHUNG UND RAUMORDNUNG 49 (1971). 117. Decree of Aug. 30, 1972, on Principles for the Planning of Investment Al- locations, [1972] G.BI. II 573. 118. See the procedural provisions under the 1972 Investment Allocation Decree for Standort-Bestitigung (§ 7, [1972] G.BI. 573, 575; Standort-Genehmigung (II, § 9, id.). In regard to current administrative practice in environmental matters see generally Brock, supra note 34. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW be accompanied by a statement regarding compliance with environmental protection requirements. This statement must specify: (a) the environmental impact of the project; (b) projected measures for the elimination or abatement of related environmental disturbances; (c) the potential relevance of waste products; and (d) measures for the elimination and utilization of such waste products. All four criteria listed are to be considered for purposes of county and municipal authorization of the project. Criteria (a) and (c) also are to be considered by the National Planning Commission for purposes of central investment allocation among counties."19

2. Contractsfor EnvironmentalQuality Improvement The emphasis since 1963 on contracts as a preferred instrument of economic policy 20 has resulted in a new type of contractual arrangement for pollution control among enterprises, cooperatives, and local governmental bodies. The local governmental agencies usually have taken the initiative as part of their supervisory and coordinating functions for the improvement of environmental quality.' 2' On the basis of legal models (Kommunalvertriige) specified in the 1968 Mun- icipal Contracts Decree, 22 local government authorities have been directed by the 1969 Municipal Cleanliness Decree,'123 by state council resolutions, 2 4 and by the National Environment Act' 25 to promote and

119. See 1972 Investment Allocation Decree, Appendix, [1972] G.Bl. II, 573, 580; see also the provision in the Target Date Directive for advance planning and coordination between enterprises and county or district authorities. (1973] G.Bl. 1 189, 190, 195. 120. See text accompanying note 110 supra. 121. See Glass & Kntipfer, Rechtmprobleme der territoralen Koordinferung der Entwicklung der Arbeits-und Lebensbedingungen durch die 6rtlichen Organe der Staatsmacht, 22 STAAT UND RECHT 556, 564 (1973); Gliiss & Kniipfer, Zur Koordi- nierung der Tdtigkeit der Betriebe durch die 6rtlichen Volksvertretungen und ihre Organe auf dem Gebiet der Arbeits- und Lebensbedingungen,21 STAAT UND RECHT 881 (1972). 122. Decree of July 17, 1968, on the Form of Contractual Relations Between Mu- nicipal Councils and Enterprises .... [1968] 2 G.BI. 661; see Paschek, Vertragsbezie- hungen zwischen den drtlichen Organen der Staatsmacht und den Betrieben, 1 WmT- SCHAFTSRECHT 158 (1970). Concerning earlier forms of quasi-contractual arrangements to this effect (Vereinbarungen), see B~ttcher, Die Vereinbarungen: eine neue Rechtsform der Zusammenarbeit zwischen den brtlichen Riiten und den nichtunterstell- ten Betrieben und Einrichtungen, 14 STAAT UND RECHT 1785, 1786 (1965); cl. Elzanow- ski, Tendances actuelles du droit administratif dans les pays de l'Europe de 1'Est, 47 REVUE DE DROIT INTERNATIONAL ET DE DROIT COMPARIk 102, 111 (1970). 123. [1969] G.BI. II 149. 124. See, e.g., Resolution of July 8, 1970, on Guidelines for the Planning and Financing of Joint Measures Between Municipal Councils and Enterprises or Groups of Enterprises for the Territorial Development of Socialist Working and Living Condi- tions, [1970] G.BI. II 463; cf. Heuer & Protze, Staatsratsbeschluss und Vertragsbezie- hungen zwischen StiidtenlGemeinden und Betrieben, 1 WiRTscHAFT RzCHT 452 (1970). 125. Section 5, [1970] G.BI. 1 67, 68. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 conclude contractual arrangements with enterprises and cooperatives for the joint planning and financing of environment protection measures.' 2 6 Contractual arrangements also have been made with local citizens' groups, for such purposes as the maintenance of parks in residential areas. 127 According to a 1967 decision of the county contract 2 tribunal of Neubrandenburg,1 1 enterprises may be compelled to enter into contracts with governmental bodies on the basis of the 1965 Contract Act,'2 9 and thus become obligated to perform specified environmental improvement measures, and be subject to economic sanctions in case of noncompliance.1 0 In 1969, the State Contract Tribunal (Staatliches Vertragsgericht) issued a "statement of principles," de- claring that state and society have a duty to protect the environment for the well-being of all citizens. 3' In adherence to this statement, enterprises and cooperatives have been systematically encouraged to enter into economic contracts (Wirtschaftsvertriige) for air pollution abatement. More recently, this effort has been extended to other industrial pollution problems. A leading case in connection with the 1969 principles is Genthin 32 Public Forest Management Enterprise v. V.E.B. Detergent Factory.

126. See, e.g., the specific references to the National Environment Act by Gold & Krauss, Beziehungen zwischen brtlichen Volksvertretungen und LPGs und Fragen ihrer rechtlichen Gestaltung, 21 STKAT uND REcHT 34, 43 (1972); see also works cited in note 151 inlra, in regard to contracts for the recultivation of abandoned mining land (Folgenutzungsvertrdge). 127. Such maintenance contracts (Pflegevertrhge) have been entered into in compliance with the Third Implementing Decree of May 14, 1970, Pursuant to the Na- tional Environment Act, § 8(2), [1970] G.Bl. II 339, 340. In the city of Suhl, for example, such contracts were concluded with respect to a total area of 34.6 hectares of greenspace. Neues Deutschland, Mar. 7, 1973, at 2. On the controversy over the 'administrative" or "civil" basis of these contracts in general, see Surkau & Petasch, supra note 84. 128. Judgment of the Bezirksvertragsgericht Neubrandenburg, in DiE WIRTSCHAFT, Jan. 10, 1968, at 3; see H. FRANZKY, supra note 5, at 100; see also Sand, Pollution Sanctions-New Alternatives to Civil Liability, 1973 J. Bus. L. 147, 150 (1973). 129. Act of Feb. 25, 1965, § 12, [1965] G.Bl. I 107, 110; cf. Klinger, Zur Eigen- verantwortung der Betriebe und Vertragsabschlusspflicht, 12 VERxRAossysTEM 276 (1968). 130. See the Arbitration Procedure of June 15, 1972, Regarding Payment of Economic Sanctions, [1972] G.Bl. II 521. 131. Statement of Feb. 26, 1969 (Grundsdtzliche Feststellung Nr. 1/1969), discussed in Greiner & Lauterbach, Die Rolle des Wirtschaftsvertrages bei der Eindam- mung von Immissionsschiden, 13 VERTRAGSSYSTEM 251, 253 (1969). 132. StaatlicherForstwirtschaftsbetrieb Genthin v. V.E.B. Waschmittelwerk (Staat- liches Vertragsgericht), in 13 VERTRAGSSYSTEM 636 (1969). See comment by Freiberg et al., Eigenverantwortliche Ldsung von Streitfiillen bei Immissionsschidden, 21 DiE SOZIALISTISCHE FORSTWIRTSCHAFT 294 (1971); cf. Dressier & Otto, Zur L0sung von Widerspriichen im Kooperationsprozess: Erlduterungen der GF 1/70 iiber die eigenverantwortliche Lilsung von Streitf allen gem. § 19 SVG-VO, 1 WIRTSCHAFTSRECHT 520 (1970). 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

The plaintiff, a public entity in charge of forest production and conservation in the mixed agricultural-industrial district of Genthin, claimed compensation for damages caused to public forests by air pollution emitted from the defendant's chemical factory. Action was first brought in 1966 at the county contract tribunal in Magdeburg, with pleadings based on the 1965 Contract Act, Article 906 of the Civil Code, the Constitution, the principles of the new economic policy, and a 1965 Supreme Court precedent. 13 In view of the general legal and economic significance of the dispute,13 4 the State Contract Tribunal in 1967 exercised its right to take jurisdiction over the case, 13 and to join in the proceedings two other publicly owned enterprises (a sugar factory and a dairy plant) alleged to have contributed to air pollution in the forests concerned. The parties agreed to obtain a comprehensive expert opinion from the Forestry Planning Center at Potsdam, including air pollution measurements carried out jointly by the defendants, the GDR Meteorological Service, and the County Health Serv- ice. 3' The expert opinion established and quantified the pollution damage affecting forest productivity in a 500 hectare area, and attributed it partly to dust emissions from the detergent factory and partly to sulfur dioxide emissions from all three sources. In reaching its decision the State Contract Tribunal relied upon sections 906 and 1004 of the Civil Code, 3 7 interpreting these provisions along the lines of the leading 1937 decision of the German Sup- 13 preme Court in E. v. Gutehoffnungshitte A.G. 8 The contract tribu-

133. Hahn v. V.E.B. Chemiewerk Coswig (Oberstes Gericht), in DIE WiRTSCHAFT (No. 21) 19 (1965). See Oehler, Rechte und P1lichten sozialistischer Wirtschaftsbe- triebe bei rechtmidssigen Einwirkungen aus wirtschaftlicher Titigkeit anderer Betriebe, 15 STAAT UND RacHT 1287, 1290 n.5 (1966). 134. Similar cases then pending included Staatlicher ForstwirtschaftsbetriebDiibe- ner Heide v. V.E.B. Elektrochemisches Kombinat Bitterfeld. See Grundmann, Hut- schenreuter & Woehe, Reinhaltung der Lu!t-bedeutendes Anliegen der sozialistischen Staats- und Gesellschaftsordnung, 17 STAAT UND RECHT 1157, 1162 n.10 (1968); cf. Costa, Rauchschdden und ihre rechtliche Behandtung: ein volkswirtschaftliches Prob- lem, 8 STAAT uND RECHT 763 (1959). Industrial air pollution damage to forestry has been a notorious problem in East Germany for more than a century, and has been a subject of pioneering scientific research starting with the work of Professor A. Stbck- hardt, first published in 21 THARANDTER FonsTLIcHEs JAHRBUCH 218 (1871). Cf. H. JUNG, LUFTVERENREINIGUNG UND INDUSTRIELLE STAUBBEKXMPFUNG (2d ed. Berlin 1968); J. STOKLASA, DIE BESCHADIGUNGEN DER VEGETATION DURCH RAUCHGASE UND FABRK- EXHALATIONEN (Berlin 1923). 135. The proceedings before the State Contract Tribunal are discussed in Freiberg, supra note 132, at 294 n.4. On the "cassation" procedure of the GDR (which is similar to that followed by other European supreme courts, but different from the West German "revision" procedure), see generally Roggemann, supra note 63, 1966 JumisTiscinE RuNuscHiAu at 444. 136. See excerpts in Frieberg, supra note 132, at 294-95. 137. BGB §§ 906, 1004 (Staatsverlag der DDR 1967) (E. Ger.). 138. E. v. Gutehojfnungshiitte A.G., Judgment of Mar. 10, 1937, 154 RGZ 161, ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 nal held that even though each defendant individually had complied with the applicable technical standards and maximum emission limits, the combined effect (Ballung) of their separate emissions neverthe- less justified the plaintiff's claim for compensation, regardless of fault, covering a three-year period preceding the date of decision. The tribunal allocated liability in proportion to the defendants' respective shares in the pollution damage.139 In addition, relying on its 1969 Statement of Principles140 and on the 1964 Land Use Decree, 41 the tribunal directed the parties to conclude an agreement on improvement and adjustment measures with a view to the abatement and possible elimination of smoke and dust damages in the Genthin area. The agreement provided for joint monitoring of air pollution by a permanent working group in close cooperation with the county health inspection agency, for technical modifications of fuel substances and filter systems in the defendants' plants, and for a program of reforestation, with the use of pollution-resistant varieties in specified forest areas. The defendants were required to finance the reforestation program jointly through annual advance contributions, and to supervise it by means of a joint working group. After ten years the agreement would be subject to reevaluation by the Forestry Planning Center, unless any one defendant prior to that date could offer formal evidence of having eliminated or substantially reduced its share of emissions, in which case renegotiation could be requested.' 42 In the quest for pollution control, this type of contractual instrument offers an advantage over most tort remedies: the fact that no proof of fault is required in order to establish violations. To make good a claim of breach of the agreement, it is sufficient to show failure to perform the agreed undertaking or failure to comply with applicable technical standards. Pursuant to the 1967 Standardization reversing a decision of the Oberlandesgericht Diisseldorf of July 9, 1936 (and thereby indirectly reversing its own prior decision in Gutehoffnungshiitte A.G. v. A. et al., Judgment of Nov. 26, 1932, 139 RGZ 29). See comments by Biittner, 66 JURISTISCHME WOCHENSCHRIFT 1237 (1937), and by Schiffer, Immissionen: Ein Beitrag zur Neu- gestaltung des Nachbarrechts, 3 ZEITSCHRIFT DER AKADEMIE FUR DEUTSCHES RECHT 1076, 1085 (1936). Note that in West Germany section 906 of the BGB has been amended by the Air Quality Act of Dec. 22, 1959, [1959] BGBI. 781. See commentary of H. RoSENTHAL & H. BOaNENBERG, BURGERLICHES GESETZBUCH 1018 (15th ed. Cologne 1965). 139. Staatlicher Forstbetrieb Genthin v. V.E.B. Waschmittelwerk (Staatliches Ver- tragsgericht), in 1969 VERTRAGSSYSTEM 636. The decision confirms the interpretation advocated by Grundmann, Hutschenreuter & Woehe, supra note 134, at 1167, and ap- proximates the result achieved by the West German legislative amendment discussed at note 138 supra. 140. See note 131 supra. 141. Decree of Dec. 17, 1964, [1965] G.B1. II 233, as implemented May 28, 1968, [1968) G.BI. II 295. 142. Freiberg, supra note 132, at 296. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Decree, 43 uniform national standards for technical products and services are applicable to such contractual undertakings, whether or not they are stipulated in the agreement, and whether or not they were in force prior to the date of agreement.114 According to a 1971 decision of the county contract tribunal of Halle, the fact that an enterprise is not yet equipped with the modem facilities needed to meet new technical standards does not constitute a valid defense if the required equip- 4 ment is readily available elsewhere.1 While "environmental contracts" thus are subject to constant administrative supervision and adjustment, 14 they are flexible enough to facilitate the adaptation of general environmental policies and planning directives to specific local circumstances. A further advantage is the fact that monitoring and conformity control can be delegated to local authorities and to the contracting parties themselves, who have a direct mutual interest in ensuring compliance.

3. Charges For Resource Use and Pollution Emissions In partial revision of the 1963 Water Act and the 1964 Land Use 4 Decree,1 1 which still reflected the old central-regulatory approach, the new economic policy in force since 1963148 has gradually cleared the way for decentralized economic incentives and disincentives to promote rational use of scarce natural resources by enterprises. As a first attempt to contain the rapid encroachment of urban and industrial development upon valuable, productive land,'149 a "land-use charge" (Bodennutzungsgebiihr) has been levied since 1967 on all lands permanently or temporarily withdrawn from agricultural or forestry use.

143. Decree of Sept. 21, 1967, on Standardization, in the GDR, §§ 7(1), 8(4), [1967] G.BI. II 665, 669-70; see Schulze, Standardisierung und Wirtschaftsvertrag, 9 STANDARDISIERUING LANDWIRTSCHAFT UND NAHRUNGSG0-TERWIRTSCIIAFT 81, 83 (1970). 144. See Pahl, supra note 9, at 3; cf. Air Quality Decree, § 11(2), [1973] G.BI. 1 157, 159. 145. V.E.B. A v. V.E.B. M. (Bezirks-Vertragsgericbt Halle), in 10 STANDAtDiSIER- UNG LANDWIRTSCHAFT UND NAHRUNGSGTERWIRTSCHAFT 123 (1971). This view appears to be confirmed by section 19(1) of the Air Quality Decree, [1973] G.BI. I 157, 161, which holds an enterprise liable upon proof that it failed to "duly utilize the possibilities available to it, within the conditions of socialist production, for preventing or miti- gating the emissions which caused the damage." 146. The hybrid civil-administrative nature of this contract system is pointed out by D. LOEBER, supra note 102; Loeber, Plan and Contract Performance in Soviet Law, 1964 U. ILL. L.F. 128. 147. [1963] G.B1. I 77; [1965] G.BI. II 233. 148. See text accompanying note 110 supra. 149. An illustrative case study is provided by Hesse, Ausmass und Verwendung der von 1954 bis 1969 im Bezirk Halle abgegangenen bisher landwirtschaftlich genutzten Flichen, 19 WISSENSCHAFTLICHE ZEITSCHRIFT DER UNIVERSITXT HALLE: MAT]EMATisCu- NATuRwiSSENscnAFLicHE REME (No. 6) 39 (1970). ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

Rates are differentiated according to land capability and land use. 1 0 The revenues from the charge are earmarked for land improvement measures and, in the case of mining land, for reclamation and recultivation measures as specified in the 1969 Mining Act and supplemented by subsequent environmental improvement contracts (Folgenutzungs- vertriige). 151 Furthermore, in view of the GDR's precarious overall water balance,' 52 the 1969 Economic Directives for the Conservation of Water and Air Quality and for Efficient Water Use151 introduced a "water-use charge" (Wassernutzungsentgelt), expanded by decree in 1970,15 for all non-agricultural uses of ground or surface water. In this instance rates are differentiated according to types and volume of use and with regard to the technical investments required at each loca- tion. The 1969 Directives also provided the basis for the introduction of effluent or emission charges, following the example of other socialist countries, 55 and in part building upon the earlier administrative

150. Decree of June 15, 1967, on the Introduction of a Land-Use Charge for the Protection of Agricultural and Forest Lands [1967] G.Bl. 1I 487; First Implementing Regulation [thereto] of May 24, 1968, [1968] G.B1. II 281. See Schramm, iikonomische Massnahmen der DDR zum Schutz des land- und forstwirtschaltlichen Bodenfonds, 12 INTERNATIONALE ZErrSCHRrFT DES LANDWIRTSCHAFT 507 (1968); Oehler, Die Verfassung und die sozialistischen Eigentums- und Nutzungsbeziehungen am Boden, 17 STAAT UND RECH-T 1381 (1968). 151. Act of May 12, 1969, [1969] G.BI. I 29; First Implementing Decree [thereto] of May 12, 1969, [1969] G.B1. II 257. See note 56 supra; cf. Weineck, Bergbauliche Grundstiicksnutzung und Ausgleich wirtschaftlicher Nachteile, 24 NEUE JusTIz 545 (1970); Schlifer, Ersatz von Bergschiiden und Wiedernutzbarmachung bergbaulich genutzter Bodenifichen, I WIRTscHAFTsREcHT 718 (1970); see generally Bauer & Werner, The Systematic Reclamation of Disused Lignite Mining Territories in the German Democratic Republic, U.N. Doc. ST/ECE/ENV/1 (1971) at 378. 152. See National Report, supra note 4, at 2; cf. R. GILSENBACH, WASSER: PROB- LEME, PROJEKTE, PERSPEXTIVEN (Leipzig 1971); 17 STATISTISCHES JAHRBUGH DER DEUTSCHEN DEMOKRATISCHEN REPUBLIK 148 (1972). 153. Directives of Feb. 19, 1969, [1969] G.B1. III 17; see Schneider, Okonomische Regelungen zur rationellen Nutzung und zum Schutz der Gewasser sowie zur Rein- haltung der Luit, DIE WIRTSCHAFr, Jan. 15, 1970, at 14. 154. Second Implementing Decree of Dec. 16, 1970, Pursuant to the Water Act (Application of Economic Controls for Maintaining Water Quality and for the Rational Use of Ground and Surface Waters), [1971] G.Bl. II 25, 26. See Thorns, Okonomische Regelungen zur Reinhaltung der Gewiisser und zur rationellen Nutzung des Grund- und Oberfldchenwassers, 21 WASSERWIRTSCHAFT-WASSERTECHNIK 30 (1971); L6sel, Vorbe- reitung und Einffiirung der zweiten Durchfihrungsverordnung zum Wassergesetz in einer Oberflussmeisterei: Ehrfahrungen und Ergebnisse, at 226. 155. See particularly the Hungarian Effluent Charges Decree No. 40 of Nov. 25, 1969. For an English translation see U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, Sum- mary and Extracts From Hungarian Legislation on Water Pollution Control, 20 FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL LEGISLATION (No. 2) 17 (1971); see also note 173 and accompanying text infra. As regards air pollution legislation, on the other hand, the GDR precedes Hungary, where emission charges are scheduled to be introduced on January 1, 1975. See [1973] Magyar K6zlny II 17. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW experience of regional water quality management in pre-war Ger- many.""6 A "water effluent charge" (Abwassergeld), first introduced on an experimental basis in three of the most heavily polluted districts (Halle, Bitterfeld, and Merseburg) in 1969, was enacted on a nationwide basis in the following year. 15'7 The charge is prorated according to the quantities of specified harmful effluents or waste waters dis- charged into watercourses in excess of fixed standards. By 1972, 500 industrial enterprises were reported to be paying the charge.' Since 1969 similar experiments for air pollution control have been conducted in the same test districts. A "charge for dust and gaseous emissions" (Staub- undAbgasgeld) entered into force on a national scale on May 1, 1973.1'9 The charge is calculated on the basis of air pollution emissions exceeding fixed standards for 113 specified substances, in monetary amounts per kilogram per hour.1"0 Both the land-use charge and the air and water pollution charges (but not the water-use charge) are considered as economic penalties cutting into the profits of individual enterprises and, unlike positive environmental improvement investments,' 16 may not be budgeted or passed on to consumers by way of price adjustments.'6 2 Unlike a general tax, the revenues from both types of charges are earmarked for special pollution abatement, compensation, and environmental improvement measures in the areas concerned. 16 Payment of the charges

156. See note 68 supra. 157. Second Implementing Decree of Dec. 16, 1970, [1971] G.Bl. II 25; cf. J. SALZWEDEL, STUDIEN ZUR ERHEBUNG VON ABWASSERGEBUHREN 28 (Berlin 1972). For a progress report see Leder and Kessler, Ein Jahr i6konomische Regelungen zur Reinhaltung der Gewiisser und zur rationellen Nutzung des Grund- und Oberfliichen- wassers, 22 WASSERWIRTSCHAFT-WASSERTECHNIK 112 (1972). 158. Gedunkelte Saale, DER SPIEGEL, Feb. 26, 1973, at 51. For statistics on GDR industrial water use and pollution see R. GILSENBACH, supra note 152, at 156; cf. Michaelis, An der Saale triibemn Strande, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Aug. 23, 1971, at 7. 159. Air Quality Decree, [1973] G.Bl. I 157; First Implementing Regulation [thereto] of Apr. 13, 1973, [1973] G.Bl. I 162. With regard to the previous legal situation see Grundmann, Hutschenreuter & Woehe, supra note 134, and the commentary upon that article by Oehler, 18 STAAT uND RECHT 425 (1969); see also G. COSTA, EINE STUDIE ZUR SCHAFFUNG EINES LUFTREINH4ALTUNGSGESETZES (Halle Univ. thesis 1962); Costa, Rechiliche Massnahmen zur Gewihrleistung der Lu!treinheit, 12 STAAT UND RECHT 688 (1963). 160. Implementing Regulations of Apr. 13, 1973, Apps. 1-4, [1973] G.Bl. I 162, 164-72. 161. See Price Calculation Decree, App. 1, § 4, [1972] G.Bl. 11 741 ("calculable costs"); cf. Air Quality Decree, § 12(6), [1973] G.BI. 1 157, 160. 162. See Price Calculation Decree, App. II, [1972] G.BI. II 741 ("noncalculable costs"); cf. Air Quality Decree, § 18(1), [1973] G.BI. 1 157, 161. 163. These revenues are channelled through a special fund administered by the State Food and Agriculture Bank, established by Decree of Dec. 23, 1968, [1969] G.BI. II 41. See Werner, Gesetzliche Grundlagen der Rekultivierung von wieder urbar ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 does not, however, shield the polluter from legal liability for compensation of damages, 0 4 nor from the obligation to enter into environmental improvement contracts for long-term preventive measures. 165

C. Methods of InternationalCooperation East Germany's participation in international activities for environment protection was until recently limited to the intersocialist framework of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA, or COMECON), established in 1949.16 Currently forming the general basis for COMECON environmental cooperation is the comprehensive "Nature Protection Program" for 1971-75, adopted by a conference of plenipotentiaries at Sofia in October 1972. The Nature Protection Program is administered by a Coordinating Council, established in Prague in January 1973, to operate within the COMECON Standing Committee for Scientific-Technological Coordination.Y6 7 The GDR is represented on the Coordinating Council by the Commission for En- vironmental Research of the GDR Academy of Sciences. 168 The Na- ture Protection Program includes plans for a uniform "environmental law code,"'16 as part of ongoing efforts for the harmonization and uni- gemachten Bodenfliichen durch die Forstwirtschaft, 22 DIE SOZIALISTISCHE FORSTWIRT- scHAFT 121 (1972); cf. Air Quality Decree, § 18(3), [1973] G.BI. 1 157, 161. 164. Like emission charges, damage payments are non-budgetable and non-calculable costs for the enterprise. See Air Quality Decree, § 19(1), [1973] G.BI. I 157, 161; cf. Christoph, supra note 8. 165. See text accompanying notes 120-46 supra; cf. Air Quality Decree, § 13(2), [1973] G.Bl. 1157, 160. 166. Charter signed at Sofia Dec. 14, 1959, 368 U.N.T.S. 253 (English translation at 264). See generally J. CAILLOT, LE C.A.E.M.: ASPECTS JURIDIQUES ET FORMES DE COOPERATION tCONOMIQUE ENTRE LES PAYS SOCIALISTES (Paris 1971); H. KOHLER, ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN THE SOVIET BLOC, WITH AN EAST GERMAN CASE STUDY (New York 1965); K. GRzBowsKm, THE SOCIALIST COMMONWEALTH OP NATIONS (New Haven 1964); Ustor, Decision-Making in the Council for Mutual Economic Assist- ance, 134 RECUEIL DES COURS DE L'ACADEMIE DE DROIT INTERNATIONAL 163 (1971); cf. Warsaw Agreement of Sept. 9, 1966, on the Legal Status and Privileges of Interna- tional Branch Organizations for Economic Cooperation, English text in 11 INT'L LEO. MATS. 468 (1972). [Ed. note: Although the charter was not adopted and signed un- til1959, the Council actually had been established as a result of a six nation conference in Moscow in January 1949. Ustor, supra at 183, 186. The 1959 session in Sofia was the twelfth held by the Council. GRZYBOWSKI, supra at 78.] 167. 61st Session of the COMECON Executive Comm., Jan. 26, 1973; see A. SuM, supra note 3, at 115. The project is part of the "Comprehensive Program for the Fur- ther Intensification and Perfection of the Cooperation and Development of Socialist Economic Integration Among COMECON Member Countries," adopted by the 25th COMECON Conference, meeting at Bucharest in June 1971. See DOKUMENTE RGW (Berlin 1971); cf. Note, Information on Activities of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) Relating to Environment, U.N. Doc. ST/ECE/ENV/320 (1971). 168. Mottek interview, supra note 26. Cf. Zillmann, Unsere Bemiihungen zum Schutz der Umwelt werden durch Forschungskooperationund Zusammenarbeit im RGW unterstiitzt,DIE WIRTSCHAFT, June 14, 1972, at 17. 169. A. SuM, supra note 3, at 115a. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW fication of laws among COMECON member states. 170 Pursuant to a 1971 agreement, six specialized "coordination centers" were created for environmental matters, including one for socio-economic, organiza- tional, and legal aspects (with the Moscow Academy Institute of State and Law functioning as "lead agency"). The GDR is represented at this coordination center by the Environmental Law Working Group in the GDR Academy of State and Law.' 7' Sectoral cooperation dates back much further, however, than these recent comprehensive programs and institutions. Since 1962 the Stand- ing Conference of Heads of COMECON Water Management Services (in which the GDR was represented by its Water Management Agency, now merged with the Environment Ministry 172) has formulated recommendations to member states on uniform methods of water management, including principles of water classification, water quality criteria, and guidelines for effluent standards and charges.1 73 In line with the Conference's Basic Principles on Agreements to be Concluded Among COMECON Member States Relating to Cooperation in the Field of Water Quality Conservation, 74 the GDR concluded a Boundary Wa- ters Agreement with Poland in 1965.' A major part of this agree-

170. See 1971 COMECON "Comprehensive Program," ch. IV, § 15, DOKu- MENTE RGW, supra note 167, at 117; Miller, Schnfeld & Schbnrath, Probleme der kiinftigen rechtlichen Regelung der wissenschaftlisch-technischen Zusammenarbeit zwischen den Mitgliedsldndern des RGW, 21 STAAT UND RECHT 1087 (1972); Seiffert, Theo- retische Probleme der Herausbildung des Sozialistischen InternationalenWirtschaftsrechts, id. at 368, continued at 581, 1305, 1469; cf. Knapp & Kalensky, Problemes actuels du rapprochement rigional des droits nationaux (pays socialistes), 41 NORDISK TIDSSKRIFT FOR INTERNATIONAL REV 114 (1971); Posch, Probleme der Angleichung und Verein- heitlichung zivilrechtlicher Materien der sozialistischen Liinder, 13 STAAT UND RECHT 855 (1964); M. BOGUSLAWSKI, AKTUELLE RECHTSFRAGEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSBEZIE- HUNGEN SOZIALISTISCHER UNDER 34-41 (rev. transl. of 1970 Moscow ed., W. Seiffert ed., Berlin 1973). 171. Concerning the Moscow Agreement of Apr. 28, 1971 see A. SuM, supra note 3, at 111; cf. Oehler & Woiczyk, supra note 28. 172. See text accompanying note 24 supra. 173. Recommendations of the standing conference are published in the semi-annual COMECON INFORMATION BULLETIN ON WATER PROTECTION. See A. SuM, supra note 3, at 115a-19, 160-62; Stainov, Besonderheiten des rechtlichen Schutzes der Ge- wiisser gegen Verunreinigungen in den Oststaaten, 7 ZErrscHRIFT FOR WASSERRECHT 213, 217 (1968); World Health Organization, Control of Water Pollution, 17 INT'L DIGEST OF HEALTH LEGISLATION 629, 632 (1966); Wegener, Die internationale sozialistische Zusammenarbeit auf dem Gebiet der Wasserwirtschaft, 13 WASSERWIRTSCHAFT- WASSERTECHNIK 107 (1963). 174. As formulated in 1963, COMECON Doc. 23-11-61; see Stainov, Les aspects juridiques de la lutte internationale contre la pollution du Danube, 72 REVUE GgNERALE DE DROIT INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC 97, 113 (1968). 175. Agreement of Mar. 13, 1865, on Cooperation in the Area of Water Manage- ment with Respect to Boundary Waters, signed at Berlin, Mar. 11, 1965. See Procla- mation [thereof], of July 10, 1967, [1967] G.BI. 93. I 93. This treaty superseded the Agreement of Feb. 6, 1952, 304 U.N.T.S. 160. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 ment deals with water quality control along the Oder-Neisse river boundary, providing for advance consultation on projects involving effluents, 7' for joint water quality standards, and for coordination in case of pollution emergencies. 177 Similar arrangements exist for boundary waters with Czechoslovakia, 178 and bilateral or possibly regional cooperation is now envisaged with these two countries for the control of trans-frontier air pollution. 179 Such arrangements would be based on common air quality standards elaborated through COMECON.' s are mo- Other subjects of multilateral cooperation within COMECON 82 tor vehicle emission standards' 8' and radiation protection standards.' East German environmental technology is currently being exported to other COMECON countries.18 In view of its major role as a producer as well as a consumer of agro-chemicals, 8 4 the GDR took the initiative in seeking harmonization of pesticide regulations and standards throughout Eastern Europe. This effort began in 1960, with a meeting in Berlin of COMECON experts. The meeting recom- mended common criteria and tolerance limits for pesticide residues in

176. Boundary Waters Agreement, art. 5, [1967] G.BI. I 93, 95. 177. Id., art. 8, [1967] G.B1. I at 96. 178. Titel, supra note 4, at 16. New negotiations between Czech authorities and the GDR Ministry of Environment Protection and Water Management were reported in Neues Deutschland, Mar. 4, 1973, at 2. 179. See Rummel, Lutte contre la pollution de I'air sur le plan international, in ASPECTS JURIDIQUES DE LA LUTrE CONTRE LA POLLUTION DE L'AIR 11 (A. Kiss ed., 1974) (Polish report presented at a 1972 symposium in Strasbourg). 180. Id. at 13-17; cf. the proceedings of the COMECON Symposium on Air Qual- ity, held at Leipzig in 1969, 19 WISSENSCHAFTLICHE ZEITSCHRIFT DER HUMBOLDT- UNIVERSITXT BERLIN: MATHEMATISCH-NATURWISSENSCHAFTLICHE REIHE 447-558 (1970). 181. These standards are being developed through the COMECON Standing Com- mission on the Engineering Industry. 'See Note, Information, supra note 167, at 322; A. SuM, supra note 3, at 120. The relevant national agencies in the GDR are the Ministry of Machine and Vehicle Construction and the Ministry of Transportation. Concerning the regulatory functions of these agencies for emissions from combustion engines in coordination with other ministries see Air Quality Decree, §§ 5(4), 14, 16(2), 23, [1973] G.B1. I 157, 158, 160, 162. 182. Such standards were adopted in 1965. See A. SUM, supra note 3, at 124- 25. The competent national agency in the GDR is the Central Office of Radiation Protection. See notes 39, 62 supra. 183. Air pollution filter equipment, for example, is being exported for factories in Bulgaria. Neues Deutschland Mar. 31, 1973, at 6. 184. See Kurth & Schapitz, Entwicklung und Perspektiven der Herbizidproduktion und des Herbizidverbrauches in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 26 NACH- RICHTEN FUR DEN PFLANZENSCHUTZDIENST IN DER DDR 206 (1972); Schmerler, Ana- lyse und Ausblick zur Chemisierung der pflanzlichen Produktion in der DDR, 19 DEUTSCHE AGRARTECHNIK 469 (1969); see also the legislative survey by Beitz, Anger- mann & Becker, Ptlanzenschutz und Umweltschutz unter den Bedingungen der len- sivierung der Pflanzenproduktion, 26 NACHRICHTEN FUR DEN PFLANZENSCHUTZDIENST IN DER DDR 87, 90 (1972); and the data on GDR and COMECON fertilizer production and use in STAnSTISCHEs JAHRBUCH, supra note 152, at 128. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW plant and animal products.185 The recommendations were based partly on research by the Working Group on Pesticide Toxicology, established in 1959 at the GDR Academy of Agricultural Sciences.18 6 On the basis of a 1959 COMECON Agreement on Plant Quarantine and Plant Protection, 8 7 a permanent Working Group on Plant Protec- tion now functions in Budapest and was instrumental in COMECON's adoption in 1972 of Recommendations for the Protection of Plants and the Environment Against Pollution by Pesticides. 8 " The principal vehicle for the unification of national technical standards for this, as well as for several other environmental fields, was the COME- CON Permanent Standardization Commission, established in 1962.189 Recommendations of the standardization commission have proven in- fluential well beyond Eastern Europe, particularly in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).190 In a number of areas the GDR now participates in cooperative international efforts for environmental protection extending beyond the socialist bloc. In 1962 the German Democratic Republic, the Soviet Union, and Poland entered into an Agreement on Cooperation in Marine Fisheries which subsequently was extended to include Bul- garia and Romania.' In 1971 the GDR concluded a bilateral treaty on fishing rights with Poland. 9 ' On September 13, 1973, the GDR signed the multilateral Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources in the Baltic Sea and the Belts. Other signatories

185. Deutsche Akademie der Landwirtschaftswissenschaften, Tagungsberichte No. 42 (Berlin 1962) (meeting of Nov. 28-30, 1960). 186. See Hey, Entwicklung und Aufgtibenstellung der Forschung iiber Pflanzen- schutzmittelriickstiinde in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 21 NACHRICHTEN- BLATr FijR DEN DEUTSCHEN PFLANZENSCHUTZDIENST 117 (1967); Heiniseb, Chemischer Pllanzenschutz.: Gefahr fir die Umwelt? 48 URANIA (No. 9) 28 (1972). Since January 17, 1973, the functions of the former Working Group are carried out by a new Section for Toxicology of Agrochemicals within the Academy. See 27 NACHRIUCHTEN- BLAT FOR DEN PFLANZENSCHUTZDIENST IN DER DDR 215 (1973) (special issue on "Plant Protection and Environment Protection"). 187. Agreement of Dec. 14, 1959, 422 U.N.T.S. 33; see J. CAILLOT, supra note 166, at 279, 367. 188. See U.N. Doc. E/ECE/AGRI/373/Add.1 (1973). 189. See J. CAILLOT, supra note 166, at 143; cf. Angelo, Protection of the Human Environment: First Steps Toward Regional Cooperation in Europe, 5 INT'L LAWYER 511, 518 (1971). Concerning the competent national agency in the GDR, the Office of Standardization, Metrology and Product Testing, see note 40 supra. 190. See, e.g., Report on the Assessment of the Residues of Pesticides from the Aspect of Hygiene of Nutrition and on Control Methods in Produce of Vegetable Ori- gin, U.N. Doc. ISO/TC.34/Secretariat-45/71.E (1964), at 17 and Table III. The table reproduces verbatim the resolutions of the 1960 Berlin meeting, supra note 185. 191. Mixed Comm'n for Implementation of the Agreement signed at Warsaw on July 28, 1962, 460 U.N.T.S. 230; see J. CAILLOT, supra note 166, at 372; and Gureyev, Sotrudnichestvo stran-chlenov SEV v oblasti morskogo sudokhodstva, 1973 SOVETSKOE GosroAs-rvo r Panvo, Mar. 1973, at 83. 192. Signed at Szczecin (Stettin), Dec. 19, 1971, [1972] G.Bi. 1 91. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 to the Convention, adopted at Gdansk (Danzig), Poland, were Den- mark, Finland, the Federal Republic of Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the Soviet Union. In efforts to control marine pollution in the Baltic Sea, East Ger- man participation has proven to be a crucial factor, because of the GDR's important role both in the use and in the degradation of this shared resource.'93 In 1967 the GDR passed an Act on the Explora- tion, Exploitation, and Delimitation of the Continental Shelf of the German Democratic Republic. 194 The Act made specific reference to the 1958 Geneva Convention, to which the GDR was not then eligible to become a signatory' 9" In 1968 East Germany signed a joint Declara- tion with Poland and the Soviet Union on the Continental Shelf of the Baltic Sea.' The Declaration calls for the exclusion of non-Baltic states from the shelf,'1 and provides that the "exploration, exploitation and other uses of the continental shelf of the Baltic Sea must not result in any unjustifiable interference with navigation, fishing, or the conservation of the living resources of the sea. "198 Although the GDR is not formally an adherent to the Interna- tional Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 9 20 0 its vessels "have been instructed to comply with the Convention,' and its ports are being equipped with the oil disposal facilities required by the Convention.2°' The 1969 Oil Spills Decree applies to oil pollution casualties within the territorial waters of the GDR.2 °2 East

193. See International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), Report of the Working Group on Pollution of the Baltic Sea, ICES Cooperative Research Reports, ser. A, No. 15, Feb. 1970; Brosin & Rohde, Probleme der Verunreinigung des Meeres, dargestellt am Beispiel der Ostee, 2 SEEWIRTSCHAFT 708 (1970); cf. A. Sparring, Pol- lution Control as a Problem of International Politics: Models for a Baltic Convention, Proceedings of 21st Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs (1971). 194. Act of Feb. 20, 1967, [1967] G.BI. I 5. 195. Convention on the Continental Shelf, Apr. 29, 1958, 499 U.N.T.S. 311; see Reintanz, Neue vbIkerrechtliche Fragen des Festlandsockels und des Tiefseebodens, 24 NEUE JusTz 536 (1970). 196. Signed at Moscow, Oct. 23, 1968; English translation in NATIONAL LEGISLA- TION AND TREATIES RELATING TO THE TERRITORIAL SEA, THE CONTIGUOUS ZONE, THE CONTINENTAL SHELF, THE HIGH SEAS AND TO FISHING AND CONSERVATION OF THE LIV- ING RESOURCES OF THE SEA, U.N. Doc. ST/LEG/SER. B/15 (1970), at 772. 197. Art. 9, id. at 773. 198. Art. 8, id. at 772. 199. International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil, May 12, 1954, 327 U.N.T.S. 3 (amended in 1962, 1969, 1971, 1972). 200. Reintanz, Umweltschutz und Vilkerrecht, 20 STAAT UND RECHT 1920, 1926 (1971). 201. Neues Deutschland, Jan. 2, 1973, at 2 (with respect to the oil port at Ros- tock). 202. Decree of Feb. 19, 1969, on the Prevention and Control of Oil Spills, [1969] G.BI. II 145 (amended Feb. 7, 1973, [1973] G.BI. I 101. See Trotz, Zivil- rechtliche Verantwortlichkeit fiir Schiiden aus Olverschmutzung des Meeres, 4 SEEWIRT- 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

German representatives participated in the Baltic Conferences on Oil Pollution at Visby in 1969 and 1970, but the controversy over diplomatic recognition of the two German governments prevented formal agreement at that time,203 and subsequently led to a boycott of the 1972 United Nations Stockholm Conference by all COMECON members except Romania.204 Another meeting of representatives of all Baltic states was held at Helsinki, Finland, in November 1973. This meeting approved a Draft Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, to be finalized by a Con- ference of Plenipotentiaries scheduled to open at Helsinki on March 18, 2 1974 . 04a The 1972 Treaty on the Basis of Intra-German Relations2 5 has cleared the way for new East-West initiatives in this field. It provides, inter alia, for the conclusion of further agreements with West Germany on environmental protection.20 6 An intra-German boundary commission began discussions on water management matters in March 20 1973. Similar arrangements are envisaged for Berlin, 7 where infor-

SCHAFT 67, 68 (1972); see also note 244 infra; cf. Eiling, Stand der Kenntnisse lubet die Wirkung von Erdblverunreinigungensowie gesetzliche Bestimmungen und technische Vorkehrungen zum Schutz des Wassers, 16 WASSERWIRTSCHAFT-WASSERTECHNIK 171 (1968); Eiling, Schutz der Gewasser beim Umgang mit Mineraldlen und deren Neben- produkten, 17 WASSERWIRTSCHAFT-WASSERTECHNiK 222 (1967). The territorial limit was set at five kilometers (approximately three miles) by the Regulation of Mar. 31, 1969, on the Administration of Border Areas and Territorial Waters of the GDR (Boundary Regulation), [1969] G.B1. II 223; see also Decree of Mar. 19, 1964, for Protection of the National Boundary of the GDR, [1964] G.BI. II 255. 203. See Neues Deutschland, Sept. 24, 1969, at 6; Reintanz, supra note 200, at 1932 n.l1; cf. Jenisch, Regional Anti-Pollution Initiatives of the EEC, NATO and OECD and Their Repective Memberstates for European Waters, 50 REvuE DR DROIT INTERNATIONAL, DE SCIENCES DIPLOMATIQUES ET POLITIQUES 171, 185 (1972). 204. A similar showdown was narrowly avoided by compromise at the 1971 Prague Symposium of the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe, supra note 3. See Stein, The ECE Symposium on Problems Relating to Environment, 66 AM. J. INT'L L. 118 (1972). For statements of the GDR position see Reintanz, supra note 200, at 1924; Titel, Probleme des Umweltschutzes und die Vereinten Nationen, 16 DEUTSCHE AUSSENPOLITI 101 (special issue 1971); see generally G. SCHIRMER, UNIVERSALITXT VOLKERRECHTLICHER VERTRIGE UND INTERNATIONALER ORGANISATIONEN (Berlin 1966). It has been suggested that the USSR had its own internal reasons for not participating in the Stockholm Conference. Ginsburgs, The Soviet Union and the Biosphere, 28 INT'L J. 50, 67 (1973). Concerning the developments since the Stockholm Conference see Miller, Environmental Crisis: The Soviet View, 29 THE WORLD TODAY 352 (1973). 204a. The draft convention included six technical appendices, dealing with hazardous substances, noxious substances and materials, criteria and measures for the prevention of land-based pollution, prevention of pollution from ships, exceptional dumping permissions, and cooperation in combating marine pollution. 205. Signed at East Berlin, Dec. 21, 1972; English text (based on W. German trans.) in 12 INT'L LEG. MATS. 16 (1973). 206. See id. Art. 7 and pt. 11-9 of Supplementary Protocol, at 17, 18. 207. Pursuant to the Treaty on the Basis of Intra-German Relations, supra note 205, and the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin, Sept. 3, 1971, 10 INT'L Lm. MATS. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY (Vol. 3: 451 mal cooperation between West Berlin and GDR authorities has long existed for purposes of solid waste disposal, but not for the equally press- 2 0 ing problems of water and air pollution. 1

D. Environmental Protection Under Socialism A primary difficulty in comparative evaluation of environmental protection in East Germany is the lack of common indicators for environmental quality improvement or degradation. 20 9 The effectiveness of environmental legislation generally is "a very hard thing to docu- ment." 10 In the absence of comprehensive annual reports by the GDR Ministry of Environmental Protection and Water Management, 21' frag- mentary information must be gleaned from a variety of published sources, 2122 including statistics on environmental investments,211' recul- tivated mining areas, 214 nature reserves,215 and noise abatement pro-

895 (1971); see generally Docker, Melsheimer & Schroeder, Berlin and the Quadripar- tite Agreement of 1971, 67 AM. J. INT'L L. 44 (1973). 208. The situation concerning water pollution is discussed in Behrendt, Stand des Wasserrechis in Berlin (West), 10 ZEITSCHIU F R WASSERRECHT 75 (1971). 209. In view of this difficulty, the Manpower and Social Affairs Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) launched a study of "social environmental indicators" in 1970. See 64 OECD OBSERVER 37 (1973). 210. Russell E. Train, former chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, as quoted by Gillette, National Environmental Policy Act: How Well Is It Working?, SCIENCE (Apr. 14, 1972), at 146, 150. On "legislative impact research" in the GDR see Udke, Efjektivitiit der Rechtsvorschrijten und Gesetzgebungstechnik, 22 STAAT UND RlcH 228 (1973). 211. Annual unpublished reports on the state of air quality are submitted by the county health inspection offices to the Ministry of Public Health and to the County Councils, pursuant to the Air Quality Implementing Regulations, § 9, [1973] G.BI. I 162, 164. 212. See, e.g., Probleme der sozialistischen Landeskultur und des Schutzes der Umivelt, Special Supplement to DIE WIRTSCHAFr Oct. 18, 1972 (special supp.); see also the new publication series, UMWELTFORSCHUNG, issued by Gustav-Fischer-Verlag (Jena) since 1973. 213. A total of DM 860 Million (approximately $215 million) is budgeted for environmental matters in the 1973 annual plan of the GDR. Neues Deutschland, Mar. 5, 1973, at 2. This figure compares to a total of DM 500 Million (approximately $125 million) in 1972, according to Deputy Environment Minister G. Thorns. Speech at GDR National Front Conference, Magdeburg, Mar. 29, 1973. The anti-pollution budget of the city of Dresden for 1973, including all investments by local enterprises, amounts to DM 75 Million (approximately $19 million). Neues Deutschland, Jan. 15, 1973, at 2. 214. According to the GDR National Report, supra note 4, at 5, approximately 3,500 hectares of land are required annually for lignite mining. The Five Year Plan for 1971-75 calls for recultivation of at least 9,700 hectares of former mining land. Werner, supra note 163. The county of Cottbus plans to reclaim 1,000 hectares of mining land in 1973. Neues Deutschland, Feb. 2, 1973, at 3. See also Neumann & Rindt, Landschaft im Wandel: Folgelandschaften des Bergbaus in der Niederlausitz, 48 URANIA (No. 1) 16 (1972). 215. The 7-volume HANDBUCH DER NATURSCHUTZGEBIETE DER DEUTSCHEN DEMO- KRASCHEN REPUBLIK (Halle 1970) gives detailed descriptions of 651 nature reserves 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW grams.218 For example, a net reduction of air pollution has been reported in the pilot district of Halle (including a 50 percent decrease in sulfur oxide emissions);21 on the other hand, a detailed land-use survey for the same district indicates that the net loss of agricultural land converted to urban-industrial use continued at its former rate in spite of legislative disincentives.2 18 A second difficulty relates to the general question of "comparabil- ity" of Western and socialist systems, which has long been contro- versial among political scientists, economists, and lawyers alike. 210 The controversy is fully relevant in the context of environmental control. It may be well to remember that "man's power over Nature is really the power of some men over other men, with Nature as their instrument. '220 While some socialist jurists originally considered the diver- gence between "capitalist" and "socialist" law to be so fundamental as to preclude any meaningful comparison, 221 intersystemic legal rein the GDR, most of which are relatively small in area. These reserves represent approximately 0.7% of the land area of the GDR. Cf. Bauer, Book Review, 11 ARCHIv FOR NATURSCHuTZ uND LANDSCHAFTSFORSCHUNG 289 (1971). Their number increased to 654 in 1973; there also were 390 landscape conservation areas (primarily serving recreational purposes) in 1970, representing 17% of the land area of East Germany. National Report, supra note 4, at 10. 216. See, e.g., Neues Deutschland, Jan. 2, 1973, at 2, on "noise zoning plans" completed in 1972 for 6 townships in the county of Gera. 217. Neues Deutschland, Mar. 5, 1973, at 2. Concerning the previous situation see Gruhn, supra note 26, at 1040; Hammje & Schiller, Lufthygienische Untersuchun- gen im Kreis Halle, 15 ZFATscHllnr FUR DIE GESAMTE HYGIENE 811 (1969). 218. Hesse, supra note 149, at 49; see also Schramm, supra note 150, at 507, where the average annual loss of agricultural land in the GDR is estimated to be 13,000 hectares, "with no noticeable downward trend." 219. As in political science (especially in the International Political Science As- sociation) and in economics (e.g., COMPARISON OF ECONOMIC SYSTEMS: TREoRETI- CAL AND METHODOLoGIcAL APPROACHES, A. Eckstein ed., Berkeley 1971), the literature on cross-system comparison in law is voluminous indeed. Among Western comments see particularly Constantinesco, La comparabiliti des ordres juridiques ayant une idso- logie et une structure politico-6conomique diiffrente, et la thiorie des 6lments d9- terminants, 25 REVUE INTERNATIONALE DE DROIT COMPARA 5 (1973); David, Droit com- parg et systemes socio-politiques, 22 REVUE INTERNATIONALE DE DROIT COMPARA 263 (1970); Hazard, Area Studies and Comparison of Law: The Experience With Eastern Europe, 19 AM. J. CoMp. L. 645 (1971); Hazard, Socialist Law and the International Encyclopedia, 79 HARv. L. REV. 278 (1965); Jakobs, Zur Methodik der Zivilrechtsver- gleichung zwischen Rechten aus verschiedenen Gesellschaftsordnungen, 9 OsTEUROPA- RECmT 108 (1963); Loeber, Rechtsvergleichung zwischen Liindern mit verschiedener Wirtschaftsordnung, 25 RABELS ZErFScHRIFT FOR AUSLANDISCHES UND INTERNATIONALES PRIVATREcrr 201 (1961); Berman, The Comparison of Soviet and American Law, 34 IND. L.J. 563 (1959). 220. C. S. Lewis, as quoted by Zola, Medicine as an Institution of Social Control, 20 SOCIOLOGICAL R V. 487, 500 (1972). 221. See, e.g., Eirsi, Rdllexions sur la mithode de [a comparaison des droits dans le domaine civil, 18 REVUE INTERNATIONALE DE DROIT COMPAR 401 (1966); Edrsi, Comparative Analysis of Socialist and Capitalist Law, 1964 Co-ExIsTENCE 139, 151 (1964). ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 search is now generally accepted and encouraged as useful in Eastern Europe222 and in the GDR, 228 if only for the avowed purpose of "de- monstrating the superiority not only of socialist law over capitalist law but also of Marxist comparative jurisprudence over formal-dogmatic ' bourgeois comparativism. "224 Be that as it may, this study of legal developments in the GDR indicates that modern environmental protection law is probably less 225 "system-related than seems generally to be assumed. Although there certainly is no lack of ideological rationalizations for environmental policy in current East German literature,22 much of the GDR's environmental law directly contradicts some sweeping generalizations about socialism which have been put forward by Western commentators,227 such as the frequent allegation that socialist systems attach no economic value to common goods like land and water resources,228 or that a centrally planned economy cannot provide sufficient economic incentives to achieve ecological goals.229 The charges for land use, water

222. See Zivs, Comparative Research into the Science of State and Law, 11 REV. OF CONTEMp. L. (No. 2) 145, 151 (1964). 223. Especially at the Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law of the GDR Academy of State and Law, Potsdam-Babelsberg. See Enderlein, Die weiteren Auf- gaben der rechtswissenscha/tlichen Forschung zur Regelung der Wirtschatsbeziehungen der DDR mit nichtsozialistischenStaaten, 22 STAAT uND RECHT 457 (1973). 224. Seiffert, Internationale Tagung in Wien zu Fragen des gewerblichen Rechts- schutzes, 18 STAAT utND RECHT 113, 118 (1969). Professor Seiffert is director of the Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law, Potsdam-Babelsberg. 225. In the terms used by Loeber, "systembezogen" vs. "systemneutral." See Loeber, supra note 219, at 226; see also Jakobs, supra note 219, at 114. 226. E.g., R. LOETHER, ZUM VERHALTNIS MENSCH UND NATUR UND DEM PROBLEM DER UMWELTCESTALTUNG (Berlin 1969); Grundmann, Mensch und Umwelt, 21 DEUTSCHE ZEITSCRnFr FOR PHILOSOPHIE 190 (1973); Bittigh~fer et al., Theoretische und politisch-ideologische Fragen der Beziehungen von Mensch und Umwelt, 20 DEUTSCHE ZEfTSCHRIET FUR PHILOSOPHIE 60 (1972); Grundmann and Stabenow, Bezie- hungen von Mensch und Umwelt, 19 WIRTSCHAFTS-WISSENSCHAFT 1774 (1971). Cf. Titel, supra note 4; LANDESKULTURGESETZ: KOMMENTAR, supra note 8, at 11-29 (further references to political literature). 227. M. GOLDMAN, THE SPOILS OF PROGRESS: ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION IN THE SOVIET UNION (Cambridge, Mass. 1972); P. PRYDE, CONSERVATION IN THE SOVIET UNION (New York 1972); Hbdl, Die technokratische LUsung der Umweltprobleme in sozialistischen Lindern, 27 FRANKFURTER HEa'E 426 (1972); Syer, Marx and Ecology, 1 ECOLOGIST, Oct. 1971, at 19; Powell, The Social Costs of Modernization: Ecological Problems in the USSR, 23 WORLD POLITICS 618 (1971); Bush, Environmental Prob- lems in the USSR, 21 PROBLEMS OF COMMUNISM, July-Aug. 1971, at 21; Z. Zile, Soviet Struggle for the Quality of the Natural Environment: An Inquiry into the Limits of Environmental Law Under Central Planning (typewritten manuscript, July 1972). 228. M. GOLDMAN, supra note 227; P. PRYDE, supra note 227; Kramer, Prices and the Conservation of Natural Resources in the Soviet Union, 24 SOVIET STUDIES 364, 372 (1973); Goldman, Externalities and the Race for Economic Growth in the USSR: Will the Environment Ever Win?, 80 J. POL. ECON. 314, 315-16 (1972); Pryde, The Quest for Environmental Quality in the USSR, 60 AM. SCIENTIST 739, 745 (1972). 229. See M. GoLDMAN, supra notes 227-28; Hodl, supra note 227, at 430. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

use, water pollution, and air pollution imposed by the East German government not only disprove these stereotypes but can be regarded as pioneering methods for the internalization of social costs23 ° at a time when such programs are still at the theoretical level elsewhere.23 Con- trary to the often invoked spectre of bureaucratic over-centralization under socialism, 232 there is considerable room for local decisionmaking in the GDR, particularly through innovative environmental impact controls and environmental improvement contracts, 23 1 both of which have their parallels abroad.23 It is true, as the source material for this study illustrates, that the development of environmental law in East Germany has occurred mostly through statutory and quasi-statutory enactments, rather than by judicial decisions. Considering the substantially different channels for citizen environmental action in socialist systems, 233 it would be a mis-

230. See text accompanying notes 150-65 supra. 231. For discussions of proposed legislation concerning resource use charges and effluent charges in the United States, Canada, Sweden, West Germany, and South Af- rica, see Rabie, South African Air Pollution Control Legislation, 6 CoMP. & INT'L L.J. SOUTHERN AFRICA 63, 74 (1973); Meyer-Abich, Wirtschaftspolitische Konsequenzen der Umweltprobleme, 5 ZErrscHRIFT n RECHTSPOLITIK 186 (1972); Baumol & Oates, The Use of Standardsand Prices for Protection of the Environment, 73 SWEDISH J. OF ECON. 42 (1971); Kneese, Environmental Pollution: Economics and Policy, 61 AM. ECON. REV. 153 (1971); Krier, The Pollution Problem and Legal Institutions: A Conceptual Over- view, 18 U.C.L.A.L. REv. 429, 470 (1971); Lucas, Legal Techniques for Pollution Con- trol: The Role of the Public, 6 U.B.C.L. REV. 181 (1971); Salzwcdcl, supra note 157; Reed, Economic Incentives for Pollution Abatement: Applying Theory to Practice, 12 ARIz. L. REv. 511, 513 (1970). Specifically, although water effluent charges have been tried elsewhere before, emission charges for air pollution thus far have remained a purely hypothetical proposition in other countries. See EFFLUENT CHARGES ON Am AND WATER POLLUTION (ELI monograph series no. 1, E. Selig ed., Washington 1973); Ferrar, Air Pollution Abatement: An Examination of Three Policies, 3 CRiTICAL RE- VIEWS IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL 121 (1973); Note, The Effluent Fee Approach for Controlling Air Pollution, 1970 DUKE L.J. 943, 952 (1970); Hagevik, Legislating for Air Quality Management: Reducing Theory to Practice, 33 LAW & CONTEMP. PROB. 369, 370 (1968). 232. M. GOLDMAN, supra notes 227-28; Goldman, Environmental Disruption in the Soviet Union, in PROCEEDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL SYmPOSIUm ON ENVIRONMENTAL DISRUPTION 171, 181 (S. Tsuru ed., Tokyo 1970). 233. See text accompanying notes 116-46 supra. 234. E.g., the requirement in the United States of environmental impact statements pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C) (1970), and pursuant to similar state laws, such as the California Envi- ronmental Quality Act (CEQA), CAL. PUB. RES. CODE § 21100 (West Supp. 1973). Consider also the pollution abatement agreements concluded by Japanese municipali- ties with local industrial enterprises. See P. SAND, LEGAL SYSTEMS FOR ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION: JAPAN, SWEDEN, UNITED STATES 30 (FAO Legislative Studies No. 4, Rome 1972); Sand, supra note 128, at 150. 235. For a critique of oversimplified comparisons see Mandel, The Soviet Ecology Movement, 36 SCIENCE AND SOCIETY 385, 395 (1972). On the civic functions of the GDR Cultural League and National Front, see notes 29, 87 and accompanying text supra. Concerning the "watchdog" functions of voluntary nature conservation and wa- ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 take to assess the impact of environmental protection law in the GDR 2 6 on the basis of "environmental defense" litigation alone. 1 On the other hand, it has been contended that in making environmental measures effective a socialist government has an advantage over Western systems, by its relative freedom from obstructive litigation.237 A reading of the sizeable East German case material,2 8 however, leads one to doubt the validity of this alleged advantage, at least in a decentralized system like that of the GDR. Once the principle of enterprise responsibility for production costs is accepted, public and private enterprises alike tend to make full use of legal procedures to resist cost- internalizing (in their view, cost-augmenting) measures. Similarly, ac- ceptance of the principle of local community responsibility for environmental quality leads local governmental authorities to make full use of legal procedures against all polluting enterprises, whether such be under private or public ownership. The resulting volume of lawsuits is not incomparably smaller than in a private-enterprise system. In any event, the earlier discussion of the GDR's comprehensive statutory and administrative system of environmental controls should indicate that a lack of law enforcement is not a criticism applicable to East German environmental administration. 39 It has taken the GDR approximately three years since 1970 fully to integrate environmental policies into the economic planning process. 140 Several inconsistencies remain, such as the questionable exemp- tion of agriculture from all resource-use and pollution charges, 241 or the peculiar omission of anti-noise equipment from the list of production fund deductibles. 242 The Environment Ministry's current organ- izational structure does not seem to have eliminated potential conflicts between resource conservation and resource development interests. ter conservation wardens see LANDESKULTURGESETZ: KOMMENTAR, supra note 8, at 80, 229. 236. There are indications that the role of civil court action as an instrument to implement environmental law may have been overstated even in the United States. It has been suggested that "environmental litigation has generated far more learned commentary than lasting success." Coggins, Preparing an Environmental Law Suit, Part 1: Defining a Claim for Relief Under the National Environmental Policy Act oj 1969, 58 IowA L. REv. 277 (1972). For other critical viewpoints see Murphy, The National Environmental Policy Act and the Licensing Process: Environmentalist Magna Carta or Agency Coup de Grace?, 72 COLUM. L REv. 963 (1972); Cramton & Boyer, Citizen Suits in the Environmental Field: Peril or Promise?, 2 EcoLOGY L.Q. 407 (1972). 237. Goldman, Russian Roulette: Environmental Disruption in the Soviet Union, 1 EcoLOGIST 18, 20 (1970). 238. See cases cited in notes 61, 99, 105, 128, 132-34, 145 supra. 239. See text accompanying notes 108-28 supra. 240. See notes 15, 113 supra. 241. See text accompanying notes 150, 154 supra. 242. See note 16 supra. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

This is demonstrated, for example, by the case of reclamation and waterworks construction projects. 48 Nor has the Ministry been granted the necessary regulatory control over such crucial matters as air pollution control, radiation protection, energy policy, nature conservation, and pesticide regulation.2"4 This lack of regulatory power has been a handicap particularly evident in the area of international cooperation. Even so, the GDR appears to have been quite successful in influencing COMECON environmental standardization in sectors relevant to its 2 4 national economy, as in the case of agro-chemicals.

CONCLUSION Western observers commenting on what is sometimes described as a cross-systemic "ecological convergence" have been quick to conclude-not without Schadenfreude-that socialist countries have "no notable advantages over other economic systems in solving environmental disruption." 4 " Perhaps the basic fallacy of this suspiciously self-congratulatory conclusion is that it usually is based upon the comparison of two specimens sui generis, the United States and the Soviet

243. From the Agency for Water Management (see note 24 supra), the Environ- ment Ministry also inherited operational responsibilities for the construction of dams, canals, and water pipelines; see Decree of Nov. 28, 1972, on the Supervision of Pub- lic Works by the Ministry of Environment Protection and Water Management, [19721 G.Bl. 1I 851. Potential conflicts with environment protection interests are quite con- ceivable here, as has been illustrated by experience in the United States. See R. BERK- MAN & W. ViscusI, DAMMING THE WEST: RALPH N&DER's STUDY GROUP REPORT ON THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION (New York 1973); Findley, The Planning of a Corps of Engineers Reservoir Project: Law, Economics, and Politics, 3 EcOLOGY L.Q. 1 (1973). 244. In the case of oil pollution control, the ministry was given regulatory powers by means of an amendment to the 1969 Decree. Second Decree, of Feb. 7, 1973, on the Prevention and Control of Oil Spills [1972] G.Bl. I 101. By contrast, in the case of air pollution control, section 5(2) of the Air Quality Decree, [1973] G.BI. I 157, 158, merely sets forth the Environment Ministry's responsibility "for the economic integration of air quality policies into the over-all development of environment protection," leaving all regulatory powers to other ministries. Id. §§ 5(4), 14, 16(2), 23, [1973] G.BI. I at 158, 160, 162. With reference to pesticide regulation, a 1972 report on the functions of the GDR Plant Protection Service does not even mention the Environment Ministry or its predecessor, the Permanent Environment Commission, when describing coordination with other government agencies. See Becker, supra note 37. 245. See text accompanying notes 184-90 supra. The GDR's bilateral agreements with individual COMECON partners (e.g., with Poland regarding pesticide production standards) also tend to have model influence on subsequent multilateral standardization within COMECON. See Beitz, supra note 40, at 44. 246. Goldman, The Convergence of Environmental Disruption, SCIENCE, Oct. 2, 1970, at 37, 42; see also works cited in note 227 supra; Lilers, Umweltrecht in der DDR: Hiiben wie driiben ein Problem der Kontrolle, 2 UMwELT (No. 6) 48 (1972). But see LANDESKULTURGESETZ: KOMMENTAR, supra note 8, at 22, for an express and categoric "rejection of any variety of the convergence theory in the field of environmental protection." ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

Union, whose only common denominator may be their sheer size. One reason for selecting the GDR instead as a more comparable reference system is the fact that the country happens to share, for one thing, the industrialization and urbanization pattern of most Western countries. Against this background, it is revealing to note the unabashed fraternal envy that seems to characterize most West German commentaries on East Germany's new environmental law.247 Convergence or no convergence, the case of the German Democratic Republic offers a number of useful lessons-and no alibi for comparative ecological complacency.

247. See Barm, Umweltschutz in der DDR, DEuTscHE STUDIEN, June 1972, at 194; Schneider, Neues Recht der DDR aul dem Gebiet der Wasserwirtschaft, 23 WASSER UND BODEN 97 (1971); Lieberum, Die Umweltpolitik der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik im Spiegel ihres neuen Landeskulturgesetzes, 46 NATuR uND LANDSCHAFT 135 (1971); Knoche, Umweltschutz in der DDR, 21 INFORMATIONEN DES INSTUTS FilE RAUMORI tJNG 343 (1971); Darmer, Ein neues Landeskulturgesetz in der DDR, 2 I.ANDSCHAFT UND STADT 82 (1970); cf. H. FRANZKY, supra note 5; Gruhn, supra note 26; see also the comparative study by Liiers, Umweltschutzgesetzgebung in beiden Teilen Deutschlands, 12 JAmHuca FOR OsTREcHT 43 (1972). 19731 EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

APPENDIX The Act of May 14, 1970, on the Systematic Arrangement of the So- cialist National Environment in the German Democratic Republic (National Environment Act) was published in the official gazette on May 28, 1970. 1970 G.B1. I 67-74. The following English translation of the National En- vironment Act (Landeskulturgesetz) is a revised version of a translation appearing in a pamphlet entitled "The Systematic Arrangement of the So- cialist Natural Environment of the GDR," published in 1971 by the Social- ist Natural Environment Committee of the Council of Ministers of the GDR.

PREAMBLE In the German Democratic Republic, nature and its resources serve the people. They form an important basis for developing the national economy and for satisfying the material and intellectual-cultural needs of the working population. The development, cultivation and protection of the country's natural environment, its abundant flora and fauna and natural beauties are indis- pensable prerequisites for providing an environment worthy of a socialist society, and promoting the health and vitality of citizens, their recreation and leisure activities. The management of an advanced socialist system calls for the comprehensive development, rational and efficient utilisation, conservation and cultivation of landscapes according to scientific principles, to ensure continuous growth of the national economy and to improve the working and living conditions of the citizens. Within the context of the scientific-technological revolution, natural resources are being used to an ever-growing extent due to the further development of industry and agriculture, of communications, and of towns and villages. Their availability is not unlimited. In socialist society, conditions exist for the planned development of productive forces in such a way as to lead to increased usability and productivity of natural resources, and to ensure the conservation and embellishment of man's natural environment. Article 15 of the Constitution of the German Democratic Republic pro- claims nature conservation, the efficient use and protection of land, the prevention of water and air pollution, and the protection of flora, fauna, and natural beauties of the country as duties of government and society and also of every citizen. With a view to implementing the Constitution, the socialist national environment shall be planned and managed under the responsibility of the popular representative bodies, as a common task of all government and economic authorities, enterprises and institutions, committees of the National Front of democratic Germany, social organizations, and all citizens. They all are obliged to protect the country's natural environment and to use natural resources in a circumspect and economic manner, in the interests of the present and future generations. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

Community efforts inspired by the creative power of citizens and their devotion to our socialist country, the valuable experiences and outstanding achievements of collectives of citizens in towns and villages, of social organizations, enterprises and scientific institutions in the management of our socialist country and in nature conservation are an important basis for implementation of this Act.

ARTICLE I: BASIC AIMS AND PRINCIPLES FOR THE PLANNING AND CONTROL OF THE SOCIALIST NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Section 1 (1) The purpose of this Act is the planned development of the socialist national environment as a system for the rational management of natural surroundings and for effective nature conservation, with the aim of con- serving, improving, and efficiently using the natural basis of social life and production-land, water, air, flora and fauna, as a whole-and for the embellishment of our socialist country. (2) The socialist national environment shall be managed as an in- tegral part of the advanced system of socialism. It calls for planned development, efficient use, cultivation and protection of landscapes and their resources on the basis of the most advanced scientific criteria by government and economic authorities, publicly-owned enterprises and industrial combines, cooperatives, enterprises under different forms of ownership, and institutions (hereinafter referred to as enterprises), in concert with the National Front, social organizations and citizens.

Section 2 Government planning and control shall ensure the development of the socialist national environment with maximum benefit for society. This calls for comprehensive planning of environmental development, for multiple use of landscapes and their resources, concentration of forces and means on economic and territorial focal points, and the most efficient utilisation of funds. Environmental requirements shall be included in the planned allocation of productive forces and the preparation of investments.

Section 3 (1) The responsibility for- central governmental planning and control of the fundamental aspects of the socialist natural environment in their overall economic context lies with the Council of Ministers. Central government planning and control of fundamental aspects of the socialist national environment shall be organically linked with autonomous planning and control by local authorities, with the autonomous activities of enterprises and with the promotion of citizen initiative. (2) The Council of Ministers shall ensure the integration of environmental planning and control into the economic system of socialism, and the 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

inclusion of environmental requirements in prognostic surveys, long-term and national economic plans. The Council of Ministers shall also ensure that the development of a productive countryside corresponding to the requirements of society, the rational and efficient use of land and water, the prevention of air pollution and the treatment or utilisation of waste products are effectively promoted by means of economic regulations. (3) Within the scope of its responsibility for central governmental planning and control, the Council of Ministers shall ensure that, in the event of divergent points of view regarding the implementation of fundamental environmental policies, priority is given to the interests of society as a whole.

Section 4 (1) Local representative bodies and their executive authorities are responsible for comprehensive management of the socialist national environment in their respective regions. They include environmental requirements in their prognostic activities within the scope of their responsibility, defining related policies within the long-term and economic plan, in concert with other government and economic authorities. (2) On the basis of the applicable laws of local government, the representative bodies of the towns and villages define the rights and obligations of enterprises and citizens with regard to the management of the socialist national environment in their regions. In particular they define policies within their local statutes with regard to maintaining the cleanliness of residential areas, of roads, streets, squares, parks, gardens and green spaces, watercourses and local woodlands, and policies of waste disposal and noise abatement. (3) Local representative bodies and their executive authorities shall ensure that, in the event of divergent points of view regarding the implementation of environmental measures within their regions, priority is given to the interests of society as a whole.

Section 5 (1) Local councils coordinate all measures within their regions affecting or influencing the environment, to ensure the comprehensive development of the socialist national environment with a high degree of social effectiveness. For this purpose they shall-on the basis of the applicable laws-coordinate their long-term and annual plans with those of enterprises, and make decisions on site selection. They may request the inclusion of environmental policies in the plans of enterprises for the prevention, reparation, or abatement of damage, and undertake further appropriate measures. Cooperation between local authorities and with enterprises shall be established for the joint implementation of environmental policies. (2) Local authorities and their departments shall supervise the planned implementation of environmental policies by enterprises. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

Section 6 (1) Government and economic authorities and enterprises are responsible-in concert with the National Front and the social organizations -for developing multiple opportunities for citizen participation in environmental measures, for promoting their initiative, and for including them in the supervision of the implementation of such measures. Systematic public relations work shall be conducted, in order to enlighten and inform the population and the enterprises. (2) Responsible government authorities shall ensure environmental education and instruction, particularly at the general schools, the universi- ties, technical colleges, and vocational schools. The competent government and economic authorities and the enterprises ensure the continued environmental education of the working population, in concert with scientific institutions, the National Front and social organizations.

Section 7 Enterprises and their supervisory authorities shall ensure that the landscape and its resources are used in a rational and efficient manner. They are responsible for excluding to the greatest extent possible harmful effects on the natural environment resulting from their activities. They shall undertake the necessary environmental measures by appropriate means of cooperation within the scope of their autonomous planning and control of the reproduction process. Enterprises are obliged to include environmental problems in their prognostic surveys, to coordinate projected measures with the local councils and to include them in their long-term and annual plans. In the enterprises' reports to their supervisory authorities and to the local representative bodies, environmental measures must be included.

Section 8 (1) The most advanced scientific and technological findings shall be applied for the planned implementation of environmental policies. En- terprises shall plan, develop, and apply techniques and installations which eliminate to the furthest possible extent harmful effects and nuisances for the people and their environment and which ensure the fullest utilisation of substances used or arising from production for the economic solution of environmental problems. When developing new techniques and products, the efficient and harmless disposal of unavoidable waste products is to be taken into account. (2) Government and economic authorities and enterprises, which ex- ert an essential influence on the socialist national environment through their activities, are responsible for ensuring the necessary scientific-technological research and for concentrating on focal points of science and technology in accordance with the principles of socialist scientific organization. They shall develop socialist teamwork in the implementation of the necessary scientific- technological policies in concert with scientific institutions. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Section 9 Government and economic authorities and enterprises are obliged to make use of international experience and scientific knowledge, particularly that of the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries, in accomplishing their environmental tasks. Responsible government and economic authorities shall work together closely with similar institutions in the Soviet Union and in other socialist countries. Cooperation in industry and research shall particularly be developed for the purpose of basic science and technology.

ARTICLE II: LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT AND CULTIVATION, AND PROTECTION OF THE NATURAL HERITAGE

Section 10 (Objectives) Planned management and cultivation of landscapes, conservation and improvement of such assets of our socialist country as serve the promotion of health and recreation, our heritage in the field of the natural sciences and cultural history, and aesthetic assets shall be ensured by the responsible government authorities in close cooperation with economic authorities, enterprises, scientific institutions, the National Front, social organizations and citizens. Landscape management and cultivation, including development of the natural environment of towns and villages, shall be the subject of long- term and comprehensive planning.

Section 11 (Principles governing landscape management and protection) (1) Measures likely to modify or influence landscapes shall be un- dertaken in such a way as to ensure that landscape balance is not disturbed and that multiple use of the landscape is possible. Government and economic authorities and enterprises are obliged to prepare measures changing the landscape, such as buildings, roads, public transport and other facilities well in advance, and to integrate them into the landscape in such a way as to ensure an efficient and harmonious use of the area. The recreational value and beauty of the landscape shall essentially be preserved, and en- hanced to the extent possible. (2) Landscapes biologically disturbed as a result of economic and technological interference shall, to the extent possible, be restored and developed in such a way as to allow their rational and efficient use by society and to enable them to fulfil their environmental functions. (3) In connection with the use of chemicals necessary for the effective use of landscapes and their resources, observance of the standards set for the maximum admissible quantity, the time and the repetition of their application shall be assured. These and other substances shall be handled in such a way as to guarantee, to the furthest possible extent, the exclusion of harmful effects on man and his environment. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

Section 12 (Measures in towns and villages) Government and economic authorities and enterprises shall cooperate with the National Front, social organizations, and citizens to make use of all possibilities to embellish towns and villages and to develop and cultivate residential areas, places of work, transport facilities, roads, streets, squares, parks, gardens and greenspaces, local watercourses and woodlands, so as to allow them to serve the maintenance and promotion of health, recreation, and well-being of citizens.

Section 13 (Protectedlandscapes, parts of landscapes,and sites) (1) Appropriate landscapes, parts of landscapes, sites and natural phenomena, rare species of plants and animals shall be protected to preserve the variety and beauty of our socialist country, and to ensure opportunities for scientific research. For this purpose, the responsible government authorities may declare landscapes, parts of landscapes, or sites to be nature reserves, landscape protection areas, nature monuments, primeval or early historical soil monuments, or declare rare species of plants and animals to be protected. (2) District councils may designate as nature reserves parts of landscapes which are distinguished by natural features of scientific or cultural value, or which accommodate rare plants or animals threatened with extinction. The Council of Ministers shall make decisions concerning nature reserves of central significance. (3) District councils may designate as landscape protection areas landscapes or parts of landscapes which are particularly suitable as recreation areas for the population on account of their beauty, or considered worth preserving on account of their particular character or as areas of outstanding landscape cultivation. The Council of Ministers shall make decisions concerning landscape protection areas of central significance. (4) Natural sites or structures of environmental value, or of local geographical and scientific importance, may be protected by decision of county councils. The protection of primeval or early historic soil monuments takes place on the basis of the applicable laws in cooperation with the competent State Museums of Primeval and Early History. (5) Wild-growing plants and wild animals may be declared to be protected by the competent central government authority, if they are threatened with extinction, are of national economic significance, or are of particular value for research and education. (6) Local representative bodies and their executive authorities shall ensure the planned development, cultivation, and improvement of protected landscapes, parts of landscapes, and sites, and the conservation and increase of protected plants and animals, in concert with scientific institutions, the National Front, social organizations, enterprises, and citizens. (7) In nature reserves, all measures are prohibited which have a harmful effect on the landscape, or its flora and fauna. Exceptions must be approved by the responsible government authorities. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

(8) In landscape protection areas, measures changing the. landscape, in particular buildings, surface changes, and mining operations, require con-- sent of the responsible local councils.

Section 14 (Recreation areas) (1) Landscapes shall be planned, developed, cultivated, and ration- ally used for the full implementation of the right of citizens to leisure and recreation, particularly in the form of tourism, physical culture, sports, intellectual-cultural activities, and for the maintenance and promotion of health. Landscape protection areas and other suitable areas, especially landscapes with abundant forest and water resources, shall be developed as recreation areas, and existing recreation areas shall be developed and cultivated in such a way as to ensure their permanent suitability. (2) The representative bodies of towns and villages make decisions concerning local recreation areas in accordance with the general development of recreation facilities in the counties and districts. Suitable forms of cooperation shall be employed in the development of local recreation areas. Decisions concerning the development of regional recreation areas are made by the county and district representative bodies in concert with the representative bodies of the towns and villages within the recreation areas, according to the importance of those areas for the recreation facilities of the region concerned. The Council of Ministers shall make decisions on recreation areas of central significance. (3) The local councils shall develop recreation areas, improve them and ensure their appropriate use by promoting the initiative of enterprises, the National Front, social organizations, and citizens, in accordance with social interests. (4) The responsible local representative bodies shall make full use of the possibilities to ensure water and shoreline recreation facilities for all citizens. In the general social interest, construction and establishment of fenced-in sites shall as a rule not be permitted on the embankments of waters serving the recreation of citizens, envisaged as such, or suited to this purpose. Decisions concerning the necessary extension of such embank- ment areas shall be made by the government authorities responsible for recreation areas. (5) Where real property or parts of property situated within the recreation areas of embankments are required in the general social interest for the establishment of facilities serving the recreation of citizens, local authorities competent for development of the recreation area must undertake measures to conclude agreements on the right of joint use, or, if necessary, on the transfer of ownership by exchange, purchase, or, in the case of publicly-owned property, on the change of legal title. If such agreements cannot be concluded and if the envisaged measures cannot be accomplished elsewhere at reasonable expense, responsible government authorities are entitled, in exceptional cases, to restrict or expropriate rights of use and ownership or legal title to such real property or parts of property. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

(6) Measures injurious to the interests of society in the use of recreation areas for leisure and recreation purposes are prohibited. Exceptions must be approved by the responsible local authorities.

Section 15 (Health resorts and recreationcenters) (1) The development of health resorts including seaside spas and recreation centers is of particular importance for the promotion and restora- tion of the health and fitness of citizens. Local representative bodies and their executive authorities are responsible for overall management of health resorts and recreation centers in conformity with the hygienic and aesthetic purposes of such places. (2) The responsible government authorities must ensure that natural medicinal and bioclimatic facilities are developed, used, and protected in accordance with social interests.

Section 16 (Coast protection) (1) The coast, with its beaches, dunes, cliffs, and areas threatened by erosion, shall be protected to the greatest extent possible by means of biological and technological measures against natural transformation processes and, in particular, against losses of land. (2) Responsible government authorities shall undertake the necessary measures in the framework of a plan of coast conservation and care, with the participation of the National Front, social organizations, and enterprises. Citizens and enterprises shall prevent damage to coastal protective installations, in the interests of the conservation of the coastal regions and the recreation of the working population.

ARTICLE II: LAND USE AND PROTECTION Section 17 (Objectives) Conservation, cultivation, improvement, and efficient social utilisation of land as an important basis for the development of environmental and living conditions of the citizens and as an irreplaceable major means of production for agriculture and forestry are permanent duties of government and economic authorities and enterprises in concert with the National Front, social organizations, and citizens.

Section 18 (Land use and duty of use) (1) Land shall be used in conformity with ecological circumstances in such a way as to meet social requirements and to achieve the greatest possible benefit. (2) Agricultural cooperatives, publicly-owned farms and other socialist enterprises in agriculture and forestry are responsible for the permanent optimum use of agricultural and forest land and of areas suitable for agricultural and forest use, unless these areas are being utilised in other ways. They shall ensure the planned conservation and extension of agricultural and forest areas, particularly areas of arable land, according to natural and economic circumstances. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

(3) Local councils are responsible for taking measures to ensure the utilisation of areas suitable for agricultural and forestry use which are not currently so used, to ensure the planned reclamation of damaged areas and their reallocation to social use. Section 19 (Increasingsoil fertility) (1) Agricultural cooperatives, publicly-owned farms and other enterprises in agriculture and forestry and the competent government and economic authorities shall ensure the conservation and increase of soil fertility by means of appropriate measures based on the latest findings of scientific research and the best experience gained in soil cultivation. All resources and possibilities shall be utilised towards a fundamental and lasting improvement of the fertility of areas used for agriculture and forestry, or suitable for such use, and towards appropriate landscape management. (2) Land improvement projects of agricultural cooperatives and publicly-owned farms, of related cooperative associations, and of other enterprises in agriculture and forestry must be in line with modern industrial production methods in agriculture. They shall be directed towards the de- cisive improvement of soil fertility and thus towards the further increase of agricultural and forest production and towards the general improvement of environmental qualities, taking into account possible effects on the natural environment. The responsible government and economic authorities shall ensure the implementation of comprehensive land improvement projects in particular.

Section 20 (Protection of soils against damage caused by wind and water) (1) The responsible state and economic authorities, the agricultural production cooperatives, nationally-owned estates, and other agricultural and forestry enterprises shall ensure proper allocation of land to woodlands- farmlands, type of use and cultivation corresponding to ecological circumstances and environmental requirements, in order to protect the soil against wind and water erosion or parching, to increase' soil fertility, and for landscape management. (2) Planting trees outside forests, in particular around waters, roads and streets, shall be used wherever possible-taking traffic security into consideration-to preserve and increase soil fertility, to increase agricultural, forestry and wildlife production, as well as to improve the appearance and recreational value of the landscape and to promote nature conservation.

Section 21 (Protection of land used for agriculture and forestry against un- justified withdrawal for other purposes) (1) Land used for purposes of agriculture and forestry may not be withdrawn from use or restricted in such use, save in justifiable exceptional cases. (2) In cases where land used for agriculture or forestry has to be withdrawn-wholly or partly-for other purposes for socially justified rea- ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

sons, it shall be ensured that soil of inferior quality be given priority for such purposes. Valuable arable land shall be preserved in conformity with ecological circumstances. (3) After termination of other uses, areas must be systematically reconditioned by the former users, so as to enable the area to be returned primarily to agricultural use. Areas, for which a return to agriculture was not envisaged or cannot be achieved, shall be made available for purposes of forestry, inland fishing, water supply, recreation or other uses, according to social requirements and economic prerequisites, through planned cooperation by present users with subsequent users and upon approval by government authorities responsible for the administration of agriculture.

ARTICLE IV: FOREST USE AND PROTECTION Section 22 (Objectives) Planned management, use, and cultivation of the forests as an important source of raw materials and as an important environmental factor for the health and recreation of citizens, and for the landscape balance constitute permanent tasks of government and economic authorities, government forestry enterprises, agricultural production cooperatives and other legitimate users.

Section 23 (Development and protection of forests) (1) Responsible government and economic authorities, government forestry enterprises, agricultural cooperatives and other legitimate users shall ensure the planned conservation and enhancement of the productive and environmental functions of forests by means of forest cultivation and efficient use according to the latest results of scientific research. They shall ensure the most effective utilisation of wood as a raw material. (2) Government forestry enterprises, agricultural cooperatives and other legitimate users shall cultivate high-yielding and ecologically suitable varieties of timber, and apply the most advanced forest protection measures towards the management and development of forests to ensure a maximum increase in wood supply and to improve their environmental functions. (3) The responsible government and economic authorities and enterprises shall cooperate with the National Front, social organizations, and citizens to protect forests against fires, against reducing their multiple functions, against pollution, and against depletion of their flora and fauna.

ARTICLE V: WATER USE AND PROTECTION Section 24 (Objectives) Water, including groundwater, shall be efficiently used and protected as an irreplaceable basis of the social reproduction process, particularly for the supply of drinking water, industrial water, and irrigation of socialist agricultural enterprises, as well as for inland shipping and fishing. Conserva- tion of its quality shall be ensured for the continuous development of the 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW national economy, for the promotion of the health and recreation of citizens, of physical culture, and of sports. Utilisation of water resources protection and cultivation of waters and their embankments, improvement of water quality, and efficient use of water constitute permanent duties of government and economic authorities and enterprises in concert with the Na- tional Front, social organizations, and citizens.

Section 25 (Utilisation of water resources and water allocation) (1) Responsible government authorities and enterprises shall ensure that water resources are conserved-particularly by means of a system of biological and technological measures including economic regulations-that their usable proportion is increased, improved in quality, and used efficiently. (2) In case of interference with the water economy of the landscape as a result of production measures by industry, agriculture, or other sectors, enterprises shall strive to exclude, to the extent possible, detrimental effects on the social use in terms of quantity and quality of water resources, or undertake other measures to safeguard the water supply. (3) To meet the water demands of the national economy, economical use of water, particularly by industry, shall be ensured by means of appropriate methods based on the highest scientific-technological standards.

Section 26 (Water use and water quality conservation) (1) Utilisation of waters by water extraction, inflow of water and effluents, and other measures influencing water quality, or by the raising or lowering of water levels shall proceed in accordance with social requirements. The competent government authorities shall regulate water use based on government permits, ensure the supervision of water uses, and cooperate with citizens and social organizations in implementing the functions of water protection. (2) To ensure water quality conservation, the intake of effluents may not exceed the established limitations of water pollution. These standards shall be variable, taking into consideration use requirements, self-cleansing capacities, the burdening of the water with polluting substances, and scientific-technological knowledge in accordance with social requirements. (3) The handling of substances liable to cause water pollution shall be effected in such a way as to exclude injuries to the health of citizens and damage to the national economy, and to avoid detrimental effects on the waters and their flora and fauna. Enterprises and citizens shall take all necessary precautions for this purpose. (4) The planned development and care of the waters shall preserve their environmental qualities, prevent the depletion of the flora and fauna of the waters and their shorelines and ensure their appropriate use.

Section 27 (Measures for elfluent treatment) (1) Enterprises are obliged to treat effluents in accordance with the required standards to ensure water quality conservation. Effluent treatment ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451 facilities shall be operated permanently by them with optimal cleansing effect. Enterprises not possessing treatment facilities required for ensuring the observance of standards shall plan and install such facilities. Appropri- ate forms of cooperation must be developed for the efficient implementation of effluent treatment. (2) Government and economic authorities and enterprises shall ensure that the necessary facilities and establishments for the treatment of effluents are planned and provided in the course of initial construction, extension or reconstruction of enterprises, production plants and settlements, and in the introduction of new production techniques; such facilities and establishments shall be brought into operation with the required degree of effectiveness at the time of starting production or beginning with the use of dwellings and establishments. (3) Measures for water quality conservation shall be planned, coordinated and implemented by government and economic authorities and enterprises so as to achieve a gradual improvement of water quality in accordance with the focal points of the respective regions. (4) Enterprises shall promote the planned use of suitable effluents and of their usable contents for the national economy. Effluents shall be used for soil treatment in accordance with economic, territorial, and natural factors and the interests of hygiene, to ensure water quality conservation and the increase of yields in agriculture and forestry. (5) Owners, holders of property rights and occupants of residential properties from which effluents do not flow into public sewage collection systems are obliged to dispose of their domestic effluents in such a way as to prevent any detriment to the requirements of hygiene and water quality.

Section 28 (Water protection areas) To safeguard the water supply of the population, water source areas must be protected against pollution and depletion. For this purpose, district or county councils may designate areas as water protection areas which serve as sources of water supply for the population, stipulating limitations of use and prohibitions, according to the significance and extent of the supply region.

ARTICLE VI: AIR QUALITY CONSERVATION Section 29 (Objectives) The air, as a necessary condition of life and production in society and as a vital prerequisite to maintain the health of citizens and to improve their working and living conditions, shall, to the furthest possible extent, be conserved in its natural composition. Prevention of air pollution from dust, waste gases and odors constitutes a permanent duty of government and economic authorities and enterprises, in concert with the National Front, social organizations and citizens. 1973] EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Section 30 (Protection of the atmosphere against air pollutants) (1) To ensure air quality conservation, the competent authorities must fix standards varied in accordance with social requirements and in consideration of the state of scientific technological knowledge. (2) Enterprises are responsible for preventing pollution of the air with air pollutants exceeding the required standards. They shall permanently operate facilities for air quality conservation at maximal efficiency. (3) In the development, production, and operation of facilities and products, enterprises shall concentrate on excluding or, to the extent possible, reducing air pollution in the course of the production process or in the utilisation of products or installations. Where air pollutants result from the production process, in spite of the application of modem production methods and other measures, enterprises are obliged to plan, install, and operate the necessary facilities for air quality conservation according to required standards. The recovery of usable substances from dust and waste gases must be ensured. (4) The competent government and economic authorities shall make planned provision for ensuring that pollution of the air by exhaust gases from motor vehicles does not exceed the required standards. (5) The competent government authorities shall supervise the observance of required standards for air quality conservation.

Section 31 (1) Government and economic authorities and enterprises shall ensure that in the planning and implementation of investments, in the construction and reconstruction of residential areas, health resorts and recreation centers, in the extension and reconstruction of the communications network, and in the new and further development of means of transport, the necessary measures and requirements are included for air quality conservation, taking into consideration the selection of appropriate sites, so that the observance of the required standards can be ensured, The required facilities for air quality conservation shall be put into operation at the time of starting production or use of the establishment. (2) Air quality conservation measures shall be planned, coordinated, and executed by government and economic authorities and enterprises in such a way as to guarantee a gradual improvement of air quality conditions, in accordance with regional target area priorities. (3) Local representative bodies and their executive authorities shall provide for measures in their plans by which the damage caused by unavoidable air pollution is kept as low as possible in their regions, or by which other facilities are provided to compensate for any interference with working and living conditions. Agricultural cooperatives, publicly-owned farms and other agricultural and forestry enterprises shall reduce harmful effects of unavoidable air pollution from agricultural and forestry production by means of long-term adaptation measures. ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY [Vol. 3:451

ARTICLE VII: UTILISATION AND HARMLESS DISPOSAL OF WASTE PRODUCTS Section 32 (Objectives) (1) Further development of the national economy and the management of the socialist national environment call for towns and villages to effectively utilise or harmlessly dispose of waste products occurring as solid, liquid or gaseous residues of production processes or municipal waste or other liquid or gaseous harmful substances. (2) Responsible government and economic authorities and enterprises shall cooperate with the National Front, social organizations and citizens to ensure that the living conditions of citizens, the landscape and the national economy are not impaired by the discharge and disorderly disposal of waste products. The disposal of waste products outside the required dumping sites is not permitted.

Section 33 (Measures for the re-use and harmless disposal of waste products) (1) Responsible government and economic authorities and enterprises shall ensure that the necessary facilities for the efficient re-use and the harmless disposal of waste products are planned and provided, utilising suitable forms of cooperation. This applies in particular to the establishment, extension, and reconstruction of enterprises and production plants. (2) Local representative bodies and their executive authorities are responsible for the planned collection, re-use, and orderly disposal of municipal waste and residues from industry and effluent treatment, in accordance with the requirements of safety, order, cleanliness, hygiene, and national economic effectiveness. In particular, the production of soil improvement agents shall be promoted in this context.

ARTICLE VIII: PROTECTION AGAINST NOISE Section 34 (Objectives) Protection against noise is an important prerequisite for the maintenance and promotion of the citizens' health and the improvement of their working and living conditions. Noise abatement therefore constitutes a permanent duty of government, economic authorities, enterprises, and citizens, in concert with the National Front and social organizations.

Section 35 (Measures for protection against noise) (1) For the protection of citizens against noise, responsible central government authorities shall fix standards varied according to social requirements and considering the state of scientific-technological knowledge. (2) The responsible government and economic authorities and enterprises are obliged to ensure a planned gradual reduction of noise which orig- inates within their areas of competence. They shall take noise abatement into account in conformity with the required standards in the planning and 19731 EAST GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW implementation of investments, in the construction and reconstruction of residential areas, health resorts and recreation areas, in the extension and reconstruction of the communications network, and in the new and further development of production techniques and products including transport vehicles. (3) Citizens shall behave in such a way as not to disturb socialist community life by avoidable noise.

Section 36 (Noise protection areas) The representative bodies of towns and villages may designate as noise protection areas parts of their regions where objects and establishments are situated which require very quiet surroundings and special protection against noise.

ARTICLE IX: FINAL PROVISIONS Section 37 Environmental measures must be planned and implemented in accordance with the requirements of national defense and internal security. Section 38 (1) Local councils and other responsible government authorities are entitled to issue orders to enterprises and citizens who violate their obligations arising out of articles II-VIII, and to demand compensation for ad- ditional expenditure and damages caused by infringements of obligations. (2) Administrative appeal is permissible against decisions of government authorities according to section 14(5) and against orders by the chair- persons of local councils and the heads of other responsible government authorities according to paragraph (1). (3) Assertion of these rights in detail is governed by the applicable laws. Section 39 The Council of Ministers shall issue legal provisions for the implementation of this Act. Section 40 The applicable special laws on the protection and use of land and water, the laws on mining, health resorts, recreation centers, and medicinal facilities, on hygiene and public health and on primeval and early historic soil monuments remain unaffected. Section 41 (1) The present Act shall enter into effect on June 1, 1970. (2) (3) [Repeal and amendment of prior legislation].