Proposed changes to the law on Expo dangerous for the environment

23. 2. 2025.

Link to the original article: https://radar.nova.rs/drustvo/expo-opasan-po-zivotnu-sredinu/

For the Academic Committee “Environment” of SANA, the new solutions are unacceptable and therefore calls on the competent authorities to withdraw from the procedure the Proposal of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Special Procedures for the Implementation of the International Specialized Exhibition Expo 2027 in Belgrade

The Committee of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts for the Environment (Academic Committee “Environment”) sent a letter to the Government of Serbia on February 10 , in which the competent authorities are requested to withdraw from the procedure the Proposal for the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Special Procedures for the Implementation of the International Specialized Exhibition Expo 2027. The letter was signed by the Chairman of the Committee, Academician Bogdan Šolaja , who confirmed to Radar that to date no response has been received from Nemanjina 11 to the objections and proposals of academics.

In the meantime, the Association of Architects of Serbia, the Chamber of Engineers of Serbia, the Commission of Inquiry investigating the case of the fall of the canopy of the Railway Station in Novi Sad , the Regular Institute, the Regulatory Institute for Renewable Energy and the Environment have also requested the withdrawal of the disputed changes to the law on Expo from the procedure.

In the letter to the Government, which Radar had access to, it is stated that on February 4, the “Environment” academic committee of SANU analyzed in detail the Proposal for the Law on Amendments and Amendments to the Law on Special Procedures for the Realization of the International Specialized Exhibition Expo 2027 and established that the proposed changes to Articles 8, 10 and 13 “to the greatest extent possible disrupt the established system of environmental protection, prescribed by Article 2 of the Law on Environmental Protection (Sustainable Management, Conservation natural balance, integrity, diversity and quality of natural values ​​and conditions for the survival of all living beings; prevention, control, reduction and remediation of all forms of environmental pollution)”.

If adopted, the proposed changes may have significant or irreversible adverse effects on the environment, not only in the area where the Expo 2027 project is implemented, but also in the wider area. They would also suspend the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, because they enable the construction of buildings even before the issuance of consent for the environmental impact study.

Academics also warn that the proposed changes “suspend the principle of prevention and precaution, prescribed by Article 9 of the Law on Environmental Protection, whereby the principle of precaution is achieved, among other things, by assessing the impact on the environment.” In addition, they indicate that the amended law, if adopted, would practically suspend the implementation of the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, “because it enables the construction of buildings before the issuance of consent to the environmental impact study, which is contrary to the spirit and purpose ( ratio legis ) of the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment”.

It is also disputed that the new decisions “exclude the procedure for public participation in procedures that affect or may affect the environment and thereby suspend the application of the standards and operational provisions of the Law on Confirmation of the Convention on the Availability of Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and the Right to Legal Protection in Environmental Matters”, and in the SANU “Environment” Committee they state that they are subject to constitutional assessment “from the point of view of the application of Article 74 of the Constitution of Serbia, which stipulates, among other things, that, in particular, the Republic of Serbia is responsible for the protection of the environment.”

Because of all this, the “Environment” Academic Board considers the proposed amendments to the law unacceptable. If they are adopted, they can have significant or irreparable harmful consequences for the environment, not only in the zone of implementation of the Expo 2027 project, but also in a wider area, which Radar has already written about .

“For the reasons stated, the Academic Board “Environment” of SANU calls on the competent authorities to withdraw from the procedure the Proposal for the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Special Procedures for the Realization of the International Specialized Exhibition Expo 2027,” states the last sentence of the letter, which was sent to the Government of Serbia on February 10.