The State Environmental Service is a state institution under supervision of Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia.
Functions of the State Environmental Service:
- according to the procedure provided in the laws and regulations regulating the protection of the environment to carry out the state control of the environment protection and natural resources use in the territory of Latvia, continental shelf, economic zones of the Baltic Sea and Rīga Gulf, territorial waters and inland waters;
- according to the procedure provided in the laws and regulations concerning fishing to provide the control of the fishing carried out by the Latvia’s fishing vessels in the waters of the European Union member states, of states which are not member states of the European Union and in the high seas;
- according to the procedure provided in the laws and regulations concerning radiation safety and nuclear safety to provide supervision and control on issues concerning radiation safety and nuclear safety.
The State Environmental Service implement following tasks:
- controls the compliance with the laws and regulations regarding to the output and utilization of the natural resources, the protection of the nature, the emissions of the polluting substances, the management of the hazardous and household waste, the activities with the chemical substances and products, the radiation safety and nuclear safety;
- issues and coordinates the permits (licenses), the technical requirements and other administrative acts concerning the utilization of the natural resources and the performance of the polluting activities;
- informs the society about the activities of the SES and gives to the society the disposable information about the environment;
- organizes air monitoring and inland water and groundwater monitoring funded by European Union;
- organizes historically polluted sites remediation;
- takes part in the management of the emergency situations.