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Attorney Villy Lopman: “Revocation of environmental charges caused gap in legislation”
Attorney Villy Lopman: “Revocation of environmental charges caused gap in legislation”
In a recent Oil Shale Competence Centre newsletter Villy Lopman, attorney at RASK Attorneys-at-Law, commented on problems associated with environmental fees that were retrospectively annulled by the Supreme Court at the end of last year.
“While the public may have had the impression that the situation has been resolved and the state has repaid the erroneous sums to the respective companies, it has turned out that the unforeseen losers in the court battle are the municipalities of the oil shale region, who have an unexpected hole in this year’s budget,” remarked Villy.
The Ministry of Finance informed the municipalities in January that the repayable environmental fees are considered advanced payments to the local governments, which reduce payments due to the local governments in subsequent periods.
“Local governments will bear the consequences of the limited quality of the legislation created by the state despite the fact that they had no opportunity to affect the quality of the law,” explained Villy Lopman. “Another problem is that it is still not clear whether the state is relying on any laws or not when conducting the offsetting, reductions, delays or other operations. Repaying the money to the companies has been regulated by legislation, while there is a gap in the law in respect to the local governments. In conclusion, from the perspective of local governments, there are more questions than answers in this matter,” said Villy.
“While the public may have had the impression that the situation has been resolved and the state has repaid the erroneous sums to the respective companies, it has turned out that the unforeseen losers in the court battle are the municipalities of the oil shale region, who have an unexpected hole in this year’s budget,” remarked Villy.
The Ministry of Finance informed the municipalities in January that the repayable environmental fees are considered advanced payments to the local governments, which reduce payments due to the local governments in subsequent periods.
“Local governments will bear the consequences of the limited quality of the legislation created by the state despite the fact that they had no opportunity to affect the quality of the law,” explained Villy Lopman. “Another problem is that it is still not clear whether the state is relying on any laws or not when conducting the offsetting, reductions, delays or other operations. Repaying the money to the companies has been regulated by legislation, while there is a gap in the law in respect to the local governments. In conclusion, from the perspective of local governments, there are more questions than answers in this matter,” said Villy.