Environmental legal framework
The Nation sets a floor of environmental protection and the provinces may demand more, never less. A workshop that etches boards is already covered by the hazardous waste law.
01The environment in the Constitution
The 1994 reform incorporated Article 41: all inhabitants have the right to a healthy, balanced environment fit for human development, and the duty to preserve it; environmental damage generates, as a priority, the obligation to restore. The same article divides the task: the Nation enacts the minimum-standards protection rules, and the provinces complement them, without being able to lower that floor. It also prohibits the entry into the country of hazardous and radioactive waste.
Two other articles complete the framework: Article 43 allows collective amparo actions (constitutional protection suits) in defense of the environment, and Article 124 recognizes the provinces’ original ownership of their natural resources. The structure of the regulatory system was covered in the Argentine regulatory system.
02The minimum-standards laws
The General Environmental Law, 25,675, of 2002, is the foundation: it sets out the principles of environmental policy, among them prevention, precaution, intergenerational equity and responsibility; the management instruments, such as land-use planning, environmental impact assessment and access to information; environmental insurance for hazardous activities and the regime of collective environmental damage. Other minimum-standards laws deal with specific subjects:
| Law | Year | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| 25,612 | 2002 | Integrated management of industrial and service-activity waste |
| 25,688 | 2002 | Environmental management of waters |
| 25,831 | 2004 | Free access to public environmental information |
| 25,916 | 2004 | Management of household waste |
| 26,331 | 2007 | Protection of native forests |
| 26,639 | 2010 | Preservation of glaciers and the periglacial environment |
| 27,520 | 2019 | Climate change adaptation and mitigation |
Law 24,051 on hazardous waste, of 1991, which predates the reform, remains central for industry: it creates the registry of generators, transporters and operators, and the manifest that accompanies each waste from the moment it is generated until its treatment. As always with rules, the current text must be consulted in InfoLEG.
03The provincial and municipal level
Each province has its own environmental law and its enforcement authority, which defines the impact assessment procedure and grants the permits: for example, Law 11,723 in the province of Buenos Aires, 11,717 in Santa Fe and 10,208 in Córdoba. The municipalities regulate the licensing of establishments, zoning and the management of urban waste. A specific project almost always needs permits from all three levels.
04The international level
The 1972 Stockholm Conference inaugurated international environmental law, and the 1992 Rio Summit gave it its principles, among them the precautionary principle, and the conventions on climate change and biodiversity. The agreements that Argentina approved by law rank above ordinary laws:
| Agreement | Year | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| Montreal Protocol | 1987 | Substances that deplete the ozone layer |
| Basel Convention | 1989 | Transboundary movements of hazardous waste |
| Stockholm Convention | 2001 | Persistent organic pollutants |
| Minamata Convention | 2013 | Mercury |
| Paris Agreement | 2015 | Climate change |
| Escazú Agreement | 2018 | Access to information, participation and environmental justice in Latin America |
Situations in which an electronic engineer encounters environmental law. When you choose one, the rules that come into play appear, and at which level. This is general guidance: the current text of each rule and the authority of each jurisdiction decide.
05In the laboratory
Look up the environmental law of the province where you study and its impact assessment procedure. Identify which activities require it and how public participation is carried out.
Draft an environmental information request under Law 25,831 about the waste management of a public agency.
Review a model hazardous waste manifest and follow the path of a board-etching waste from the workshop to the operator.
06Common mistakes
- Believing that a provincial law can be less demanding than the national one. The minimum standards are a floor.
- Thinking that the impact assessment is national. Each province sets the procedure.
- Pouring etching or soldering waste down the sewer. They are hazardous waste with their own circuit.
- Citing laws without checking their current text. Environmental rules are regulated and amended frequently.
07Self-assessment
Which article of the Constitution establishes the right to a healthy environment?
Article 41.
What are minimum standards?
The national environmental protection rules that set a common floor; the provinces may be more demanding, not less.
What document accompanies a hazardous waste from the moment it is generated until its treatment?
The manifest, under Law 24,051.
Which convention regulates the export of hazardous waste?
The Basel Convention.
08Further reading
- Law 25,675. Ley General del Ambiente (General Environmental Law) (in Spanish). Updated text in InfoLEG. The principles, the management instruments and the regime of environmental damage.
- Néstor A. Cafferatta (ed.). Tratado jurisprudencial y doctrinario de derecho ambiental (Treatise of case law and doctrine on environmental law) (in Spanish). La Ley, 2012. The doctrine and the main rulings of Argentine environmental law.
- United Nations Environment Programme. Texts of the Basel, Stockholm and Minamata conventions. UNEP. The international agreements on hazardous waste and substances.