Environmental law

 

The purpose of the Danish rules on nature conservation is not only to safeguard Danish nature, protect specific natural habitats, preserve wildlife, including protect the habitats of animals and plants, but also to safeguard public access to nature. That is achieved through ia preservation orders and by restricting the possibilities for making changes to the landscape or constructing buildings. Public access to nature is ensured by rules obliging owners of beaches, forests and uncultivated areas to give the public the opportunity of accessing those areas. The most important Danish Act within the field is the Danish Protection of Nature Act, but other Acts are important as well.

 

 

Preservation of nature is in general imposed by rules on maintaining the status quo, thus preventing any change in the use of a property or any other change of the property in question conflicting with the preservation, including eg establishing any business. Even though the rules on preservation entitle the Danish Minister for the Environment as well as the municipal councils to initiate preservation proceedings, the rules are a tool primarily used by the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, which is the only non-public authority in Denmark entitled to initiate preservation proceedings. That right held by the Society for Nature Conservation to initiate preservation proceedings may be very important in relation to the establishment and operation of a business in Denmark, as the rules also allow the Society for Nature Conservation to intervene in proceedings in or surrounding towns; a right that the Society for Nature Conservation has exercised on a number of occasions.

 

 

The possibilities for constructing buildings or making changes to the landscape near specific natural habitats etc are restricted by rules on construction and conservation lines surrounding forests, breaches, streams, lakes, churches and ancient monuments. As a result, the general rule is that no construction is allowed near beaches, streams, lakes or ancient monuments, whereas special permission is required for construction near the edge of a forest. In addition, the rules lay down restrictions as to the height of any new building to be constructed near a church. In some cases, exemption may be obtained from some of the construction or conservation lines if special reasons so warrant, but generally the rules will prevent the construction of any new building or any changes to the landscape. Consequently, knowledge of the rules on construction and conservation lines is of considerable importance in connection with the establishment and operation of any business activity.

 

 

Moreover, the protection of the habitats of animals and plants – biotopes – entails restrictions in the possibilities for establishing and operating business activities. The rules on biotope protection are no purely Danish phenomenon, but are very much founded on EU rules relating to eg bird protection areas as well as biotopes of animals and plants.

 

The most important rules within the field are the Ramsar Convention on the conservation of wetlands, the Conservation of Wild Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive implemented in Danish law by the Habitats Executive Order as well as supplementary provisions in the Protection of Nature Act.

 

According to the Conservation of Wild Birds Directive, the individual member states are to designate special bird protection areas. Such bird protection areas are to be designated based on objective criteria, meaning that the rights of member states to designate the areas freely have been restricted. If an area is important to birds, the member states are thus obliged to designate that area as a bird protection area. Relative to its area in square metres, Denmark has designated the largest bird protection areas in the EU.

 

In essence, the requirements stipulated in the Habitats Directive for designating protection areas correspond to the rules set forth in the Conservation of Wild Birds Directive, but the scope of the Habitats Directive is much broader and the Habitats Directive thus protects all important biotopes of both animals and plants and the migration paths of species are protected as well. 

 

The biotopes to be designated by the member states according to the two directives are to form the Natura 2000 network, which is the EU contribution to the global Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992. In Denmark, Natura 2000 will entail a need for further regulation in the form of Natura 2000 plans to be completed by 2009 at the latest. The purpose of such Natura 2000 plans is to halt biodiversity decline by ia regulating activities that may deteriorate various natural habitats as well as habitats of animals and plants. The regulation of such activities comprises not only future activities but also hitherto legal activities. That means that once the Nature 2000 plans are available, municipalities are to attempt to conclude agreements with the landowners affected regarding the operation of any activities that may affect the protected areas designated. If they do not succeed in reaching any agreement, the municipalities are to impose on the landowners any measures necessary to realise the Nature 2000 plan, including any discontinuation of the activity.

 

As a result, Natura 2000 may have quite wide-ranging effects on the possibilities for business activities, especially as not only activities within the protected areas designated may be regulated. Activities carried out outside the areas may be regulated as well if they deteriorate natural habitats or habitats in the designated areas.

 

In Denmark, the Ministry of the Environment is responsible for the designation of protected areas and an overview of the areas designated is available on the website of the Danish Agency for Spatial and Environmental Planning, http://www.blst.dk/English/.