Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 11 Mar 10;
Those companies that are breaking the law by operating without an environmental assessment audit will be given a second chance to get their documents in order or face legal sanctions under a planned ministerial regulation, an official said on Thursday.
Ilyas Asaad, a deputy to the environment minister for environmental compliance, said a ministerial regulation currently being prepared would target companies that did not possess an environmental impact analysis, better known as an Amdal.
It has been a requirement since the 1990s for all businesses to carry out an environmental impact analysis before applying for a business permit .
“It’s no secret that thousands of companies already operating don’t have an Amdal. The new regulation is needed to fix this mess,” Ilyas said. “Companies that don’t have an Amdal will be required to undergo an audit to obtain their environmental assessment documents.”
The regulation will give companies until Oct. 3, 2011, to submit their Environmental Evaluation or Management Document, which will be based on the results of their environmental audit.
“If the companies do not comply and fail to conduct the audit by that time, their business will be considered illegal and the owners could face criminal charges,” Ilyas said.
Rhino Subagyo, executive director of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law, said the ministerial regulation would create controversy because an environmental impact analysis should be carried out before a business permit was issued.
“An Amdal should be applied for during the first stage [prior to getting a permit]; that’s the law,” Rhino said. “If not, it means these companies are operating outside the law. So, the right action should be sanctions instead of giving them new documents to fill in.”
The government, he said, should have enforced the environmental audit requirements.
“An Amdal is for measuring environmental impact, it can’t be replaced by these new documents because any damage would have already occurred. So, the best thing is just to go straight to environmental audits and legal sanctions,” he said.
Business Group Backs Green Proposal
Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 16 Mar 10;
An entrepreneurs’ organization on Tuesday expressed support for the government’s plan to issue a regulation that would strictly enforce compliance with environmental requirements.
The regulation, proposed by the State Ministry for the Environment, is aimed at companies that have already started operating but have not submitted their environmental impact analysis documents (Amdal), which consist of data that measures how much business activities are affecting the environment.
Based on the 1997 Environmental Law, an Amdal is required by the government from anybody starting a business. But the law was poorly carried out, as violators were not legally liable if they failed to comply.
Under the new green law, the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law, companies have been given a chance to conduct environmental audits within two years.
“I don’t think that we [entrepreneurs] would have any problems if there are going to be any environmental audits. If it’s the regulation, then we will comply with it,” said Erwin Aksa, chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi).
Erwin said entrepreneurs were aware that the Amdal was mandatory, but the lack of government monitoring resulted in poor compliance.
“The government should have been very firm,” he said. “Basically, we know the Amdal is mandatory but monitoring is not our role. It’s in the government’s hands, and we just follow it.”
Asep Warlan Yusuf, an environmental law expert from Bandung’s Parahyangan University, said the new green law were not meant to replace the Amdal’s role as an initial requirement for businesses.
“The issue here is that we have plenty of businesses that have started without an Amdal, so we need to require them to undergo an environmental audit in order to see how far their activities have been affecting the environment,” Asep said.
Because the government could not just close down companies that do not have an Amdal, the 2009 law was needed, Asep said.
“Let’s be realistic here. The government could not just shut down all of these companies,” he said.
“They may have broken some procedure, but that does not automatically mean that they have damaged the environment.”
