Publication of Water Management Information (MK0197)

Brief Description of the Commitment

The commitment aims to facilitate and increase public participation in decision-making in the area of the environment or that affect the environment.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address?

Transparency, access to information and public participation in decision-making related to the environment is a challenge that the state faces, and which is continuously stated by the European Commission in reports on the state's progress for 2020, 2021 and 2022. Challenges regarding public participation have also been identified by Macedonian NGOs. Public participation in the field of the environment occupies an important place in international law, so one of the pillars of the Aarhus Convention, ratified by North Macedonia in 1999, is precisely the obligation of public participation in decision-making, at least for processes and activities that the Convention itself stipulates. At the same time, the European Union acceded to the Aarhus Convention, and the EU itself, with its directives, foresees mandatory public participation in decisions and processes related to the environment. The public (citizens, NGOs, etc.), and especially the affected public (citizens who are currently and/or in the future may be affected or have an interest in making a decision about the environment and/or who are likely to feel the consequences of making the decision , including the civil organizations formed for the protection and improvement of the environment) face difficulties, and in certain cases, the denial of the right to participate in decision-making related to the environment. Taking into account the reports of the EC, this challenge has existed in the country for at least 4 years, and its persistence does not allow the public and the affected public to effectively get involved and influence decision-making in the field of the environment, in a way that would prevent or reduced negative impact on the environment. The commitment refers primarily to the importance of public participation in the procedures for the preparation and implementation of: 1) environmental protection reports and 2) water resources right permits. In a large part of the procedures related to granting a water resources right permit, an environmental protection report needs to be approved beforehand, so because of that, and in the direction of reforming the water management system and active involvement of the public in the whole process, the commitment it also focuses on the elaborations for environmental protection, as a previous part of granting the permission to use the waters or discharge into the waters.

2. What are the causes of the problem?

The reasons for public participation in the processes could be grouped into three groups: • Legal - The Law on the Environment in Article 24 does not stipulate 1) publication of reports on environmental protection, 2) possibility and deadlines for public participation by submitting written comments and observations, 3) obligation to take opinions from the public during the approval of the reports, 4) legal protection for the public and the affected public. The issue has been elaborated in analyses by Macedonian NGOs. At the same time, although the Law on Watter Supplies stipulates that the content of the publication of the application for a water supplies right permit in a daily newspaper and on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is defined by a by-law, which , has not yet been adopted , and the publication is based on the practice of the Water Supply Sector in the Environment Administration within the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning. The last request for a water right permit is from 2016, when the request was not published, only the accompanying letter that the requester submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning. • Technical - there is no central place in the country where all documents and notices are published to which the public has the right to submit comments and opinions. Such documents are published in various places on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and on portals developed by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning. So, for example: 1) information on submitted applications for permits for water rights is published on the section of the website of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning intended for the Water Supply Sector in the "Publications" section; 2) information related to environmental impact assessment is published in the "Services" section, subsection "Environmental Impact Assessment Studies" on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning; 3) information related to integrated environmental permits is published in the section "Services" subsection "Integrated pollution prevention and control-ISKZ" on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and at the same time on the REGISTER portal, and separate information is also published on the REGISTER OF SUPERVISED SUBJECTS AND INSPECTION REPORTS of the State Environmental Inspectorate. Given that public participation is bound by deadlines, on all these portals there is no automatic generation of dates when the document is published, so a challenge may arise in terms of considering the deadlines for submitting comments, and then in terms of deadlines for legal protection, where it is foreseen. • Personnel – Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning is faced with a lack of employees for the efficient implementation of all the numerous competences it has.

Commitment Description

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem?

What has been done so far is that most of the documents in the Water Supply Sector have been adopted, but they are not properly systematized and are not publicly available so that citizens can have access to them and get involved in the consultation process at any time. Such announcements are not made, perhaps because they are not mandatory according to the Law on the Environment (Article 24), but within the framework of increasing transparency, openness and accountability for what has been done, it is very necessary to do so and in this way all previously adopted decisions and documentation to be successful also in the part of satisfying the criteria for OGP.

2. What solution are you proposing?

1. Improving the availability and information related to the water registers that are prepared and edited on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning according to the following principle: - Possibility to comment on documents that have already been uploaded to the website; - Publication of all documents related to the subject o For ex. When the Water Department has to publish a request for obtaining a permit, the software itself will provide a field in which the entire request form should be attached, a field in which the solution for the approved environmental protection report or the impact assessment study should be attached on the environment etc. It will be mandatory to filled with files, before proceeding to the next stage of publishing the information on the portal. The implementation of these activities will 1) provide prerequisites for public participation in all decision-making procedures related to the use of water supplies, 2) will facilitate public access to information that will lead to effective public involvement in the decision-making process and opportunity for substantial impact on water management. Hence, the implementation of these activities is expected to fully solve the legal and technical problems identified above, but it will also contribute to the consistent implementation of Macedonian environmental legislation, as well as the fulfillment of the objective of international documents for public participation in decisions, related to the environment in the area of water law.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment?

The improvement of the existing registers of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning in the area of water law, that will stipulate a mandatory publication of specific documents from certain processes, before moving to the next stage of the procedure regulated by law, will contribute to the full implementation of the Macedonian legislation and will affect the change of the remarks by the European Commission regarding the participation of the public in the processes related to environment. The obligation of the employees of Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning to first publish all documents on the platform before proceeding with the next phase of the legal procedure will contribute to changing possible negative practices. On the other hand, the public and the affected public will have easier access to inclusion in the decision-making related to water management, and the established platform in the manner described earlier will also serve as a roadmap for their successful participation in the processes. Having access to all documents necessary for effective involvement in decision-making will increase public influence and participation in environmental protection. In that way, the knowledge, skills and capacities of the public and the affected public in making decisions related to the environment will be strengthened, through digitalization and the application of ICT tools.

Commitment Analysis

1. How will the commitment promote transparency?

Implementation of the commitment will make it possible to directly increase the transparency of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning by making all documents that are of interest to the public available in one place and organized, and every citizen who is interested will be able to read them and submit their own comments or observations.

2. How will commitment help foster accountability?

The publication of documents of interest to citizens on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning will greatly influence the increase of institutions responsibility, both for consultations with citizens and in the area of implementing legal accountability or obligations arising from strategic documents.

3. How will commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions? How will citizens and Civil groups be proactively involved?

The process of availability and opportunities to review the processes and documents will provide possibility to actively involve citizens in the public consultation processes, citizens will have the opportunity to be informed in a timely manner and to react where necessary, and through the strategic processes, again, they will have the opportunity to be directly involved in the implementation of measures and activities, but also to monitor the implementation.

Commitment Planning (Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date)

5.1.1 Defined components, functions, appearance of the platform as an integral part of the website of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning | A platform has been developed within the website of the MESP, which will be intended for the publication of documents in the field of water law that are mandatory for consultation with citizens and the general public. | December 2024

5.1.2 Regular and timely publication of all documents related to water right permits on the developed platform and strengthening the effectiveness of informing citizens and CSOs by promoting information about published documents on the communication channels of the MESP | 100% of the requests for water resource rights received in the period from 2024- 2026 are published on the developed platform and promoted through the communication channels of the MESP | October 2025

5.1.3 Amendment of Article 24 of the Law on the Environment | The Law on the Environment enables public participation in the procedures for the preparation and approval of environmental protection reports. | January 2026