The Government adopted amendments to the Decree determining the amount of excise duty on energy products and electricity, modifying the excise duty on unleaded petrol, automotive gas oil (diesel) and heating gas oil (extra-light fuel oil – KOEL).

The Government adjusted the excise duty on these energy products so that the final retail prices of unleaded petrol, diesel and extra-light fuel oil – KOEL will remain unchanged.

The Government changed the excise duty on unleaded petrol from EUR 0.45571 per litre to EUR 0.49051 per litre, on automotive gas oil from EUR 0.39365 per litre to EUR 0.42267 per litre, and on heating gas oil from EUR 0.09141 per litre to EUR 0.11577 per litre.

The Government is closely monitoring the situation on the petroleum products market and continues to keep retail prices affordable and competitive by adjusting excise duties. At the same time, it must also strive to ensure fiscal sustainability in the current context, as it allocates financial resources to the reconstruction of the areas affected by the catastrophic floods in August.

Source: Ministry of Finance

Government adopts the Programme of Water Management Measures

To implement the objectives of the water management plans, the Government has also adopted a Programme of Water Management Measures. The Programme of Water Management Measures is a set of basic and supplementary measures to achieve the environmental objectives on surface water bodies and groundwater bodies, divided into three groups: basic measures ‘a’, basic measures ‘b’ and supplementary measures.

The basic water protection measures relate to the following areas:

•  prevention or reduction of water pollution,
• hydromorphological pressures,
• biological pressures,
• areas with special requirements, and
• measures necessary for the proper management of waters.

Basic measures ‘a’ are measures that are already being implemented under applicable legislation, governing the fields of water, environmental protection, nature conservation and fisheries. Basic measures ‘b’ are measures that are not yet being fully implemented in line with the requirements of the applicable legislation and that complement or build on the activities already underway.

The basic measures to reduce and prevent water pollution consist of measures to tackle pollution from industrial sources, agricultural sources and water pollution from human settlements. The basic measures for pollution from industrial sources consist of measures aimed at reducing pollution from various industrial sources, while the measures for pollution from agricultural sources comprise measures to prevent or control the input of pollutants and nutrients. The basic measures in the area of pollution from human habitation are measures to ensure the proper discharge and treatment of urban waste water and measures to discharge and treat meteoric water runoff from surfaces of buildings that are hardened, paved or covered with other material.

The basic water protection measures include measures to regulate pollution incidents, measures to protect against pollution caused by traffic accidents involving the transport of hazardous goods and nuclear accidents, measures relating to transboundary pollution, and measures to mitigate adverse impacts on the status of water bodies where deviations from the environmental objectives are foreseen.

Supplementary measures are identified for water bodies where it is assessed that the environmental targets will not be met by 2027 despite the implementation of the basic measures. Supplementary measures relate in particular to the implementation of measures to create fish passages through crossing structures (the construction of fish passes), the implementation of measures to reduce the negative impact of regulation and other improvements of watercourses, reservoirs, lakes and coastal seas on the status of water (implementation of restoration or revitalisation), measures to reduce diffuse nutrient pollution in agriculture, measures to reduce the negative impact of land drainage on water status, measures to reduce the negative impact of land use change and measures to reduce diffuse pollution of surface waters and groundwaters by plant protection products in agriculture.

Source: Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning