Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia Development of the Ecoregister, a national metaregister for environmental information in the Republic of Serbia Tina Janjatović and Ivan Jarić Geneva, December 2013

Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection Environmental Protection Agency Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)  Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia and the Environmental Protection Agency of the Republic of Serbia, with the support of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), have implemented a project of the development of the first National Metaregister for Environmental Information.  Project of the development of the first national metaregister for environmental information lasted for eight months, from May 2012 to January 2013.

Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia  A project implementation team was established, consisted of four experts who worked in cooperation with the representatives of the Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection and the Environmental Protection Agency on database design, development and data gathering.  Metaregister was given the name Ecoregister, to make it more accessible to the general public.

 During the Ecoregister designing and development, non- governmental organizations engaged within the field of environmental protection have been timely consulted.  A questionnaire was sent to over 100 NGOs with a wide range of questions, such as those related to the type of environmental information they need during their work, as well as the types of information they consider important to be included in the Ecoregister. Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Ministry also organized a public discussion with non-governmental sector representatives, where they had an opportunity to become acquainted with the Ecoregister development project, and to present their views and opinions about the planned contents of the database. Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Regarding the legal framework for the Ecoregister establishment, Republic of Serbia has ratified the Aarhus Convention on 12th May 2009, which in the Article 5, paragraph 2, prescribes the establishment of the register for environmental information. Directive 2003/4/EC  In 2003, a Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information was adopted, which is harmonized with the Articles 4 and 5 of the Aarhus Convention. Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 The Article 3, paragraph 5 of this Directive, prescribes the establishment of the registers or lists of the environmental information held by public authorities or information points, with clear indications of where such information can be found. national Strategy for the implementation of the Aarhus Convention  Based on these regulations, a national Strategy for the implementation of the Aarhus Convention, adopted by the Government on 31st December 2011 („Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 103/11), prescribed the establishment of a national metadata register of environmental information within the “Measures related to the establishment of the efficient information system”. Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Ecoregister was installed as a subdomain of the Internet presentation of the Environmental Protection Agency of the Republic of Serbia, on the following web address: Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Ecoregister represents an electronic database and a portal to the existing databases and documents with environmental information that are available on the Internet.  Ecoregister comprises environmental information that is kept and maintained by responsible ministries, agencies, local governments, protected area managers, as well as the available data on the state of all segments of the environment (air, water and soil pollution), waste, pollution emitters, flora and fauna, etc. Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 The main aim of the Ecoregister establishment is to provide quick, easy and simple public access to environmental information, and to improve general availability of such information for the general public. Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia  The provisions regarding the establishment and maintenance of the Ecoregister are incorporated into the Law on Amendments to the Law on Environmental Protection, which is in the adoption procedure.

 Ecoregister contains two types of entries: Relevant institutionsRelevant documents  Institution types: - ministries, agencies, departments, institutes, museums, etc. - cities, municipalities, public utility companies, etc. - protected area managers - business entities - non-governmental organizations Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Major document types: - legal documents, strategic documents and plans - databases, registries, information systems - studies, reports, projects - informational and educational documents  Database developed both in Serbian and English language Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Each document entry is characterized by several parameters: - document name, publication year - responsible institution(s) with their contact data - document type (study, legal document, report, etc.) - areas covered by the document (biodiveristy, air, soil, water, pollution, energy sources, etc.) - language (Serbian, English or other) - Internet link (if available) Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 For the information that is not available online, Ecoregister provides information about institutions that are responsible for their publishing and maintenance, with the contact data of responsible persons in those institutions, and the description of the application procedure for the access to information. Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Five types of data search: Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Five types of data search: Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Database search by maps: Cities Municipalities Protected areas Enterprises Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Other Ecoregister website contents: Key national institution that ensures free public access to information - description of the Commisioner’s responsibilities and powers - description of public free information access rights, and procedures for filing complaints in case of a refusal to grant access to information - download links for official forms for making access to information requests and for filing complaints - download of relevant legal documents and informational material Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Currently, Ecoregister contains entries for over 700 institutions and more than 4000 documents.  Ecoregister fully operational since December 2012  Significant number of visitors during the last year, but efforts are currently made to further improve its visibility Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

 Major weakness of any database is the constant need for data updating  Ongoing project for Ecoregister updating, funded by OSCE  Beside contacting all relevant institutions to check for updates and corrections, and extensive Internet search, a new system for automatic data updating is currently being developed Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

Thank you for your attention! Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia