Regulatory instruments for environmental protection

Turkmenistan is a country with a centrally planned economy, and many large industrial enterprises remain in State hands. National economic conditions significantly impact upon possibilities for environmental enforcement authorities to inspect enterprises and to apply sanctions for their noncompliance with the environmental legislation. First, unlike most members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Turkmenistan has no clearly defined procedures for operators’ inspections of industrial activity. Due to the prevalence of Stateowned enterprises (SOEs), it is considered that there is no acute need to protect them from unlawful and discretionary interference by State inspectors and overly frequent inspections by law enforcement authorities. Second, administrative and criminal sanctions are applied in Turkmenistan only to individuals, private entrepreneurs, and officials of companies and organizations. While fines are the most frequently imposed sanction, they remain low in cases involving non-compliance by operators of industrial activities. Moreover, monetary sanctions are rarely applied to SOEs.

Related Subject(s): Environment and Climate Change

Countries: Turkmenistan