A draft version of the Act on Integrated Pollution Register (IRZ), prepared by the Ministry of Environment, was adopted by the Czech Government.
According to this decision, the rights of the public to information about the toxic substances released by industry will be maintained and accessible through www.irz.cz.
“The voice of people who signed the petition Toxics Free Future-II and the voice of mayors and deputies who support the appeal for maintenance of IRZ this time was heard by the Government”, commented the director of the campaign Toxics Free Future, Dr. Jindřich Petrlík from the Association Arnika.
A continued access to information is an important step for the state administration as well, because IRZ is the only database with information about the concentration of the specific chemical substances released by any particular industrial plant.“This makes IRZ unique and irreplaceable. What is really important is that IRZ spares the Government from the costs for preparation of different studies about chemical substance data collection. We are really happy that the Government recognized these positive characteristics of IRZ in its decision making,” concluded Dr. Petrlík.
Prior to being adopted, the Act on IRZ was published for preliminary discussions in the Collection of Laws of the Czech Republic under the number 25/2008, in February 2008.
