Ecology Law Quarterly VOL. 3 SUMMER 1973 No. 3 The Socialist Response: Environmental Protection Law in the German Democratic Republic Peter H. Sand* As problems of environmental pollution and resource allocation be- come 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 environ- mental 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 compre- hensive system of environment protection and administration. This is due in part to the country's high level of industrialization and ur- banization, with the highest per capita income in Eastern Europe, and a proportionately high incidence of pollution and resource deple- tion problems, as set out in detail in the GDR National Report sub- mitted 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 re- cent economic reforms under the country's socialist system of govern- ment, has produced innovative measures for environmental protec- tion 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 I 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 with- drawn from such use upon authorization by the competent govern- ment 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 authori- ties 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 com- posed of high-ranking representatives of ministries and other govern- ment 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 dis- cussion 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 coun- try) 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 au- thorities, 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 con- servation of land, forest, and water resources; air-quality conserva- tion; 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 mea- sures.' ° Applying the socialist system of central economic planning (usually referred to as "democratic centralism"") to environmental conservation,12 the National Planning Commission inserted policy ob- jectives in the five-year "perspective plan" for 1971-75.11 The an- nual plan for 1972 further specified these policy objectives.'4 Only the annual plan for 1973, however, provides detailed budgetary in- structions 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