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What is the Environment (Protection) Act?

There are several pieces of legislation or rules that are related to the environment. Some of were even pre-independence and still others are not central but local or state level rules.

The Environment Protection Act, 1986 took proper shape after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in June 1972. After the conference, it was found necessary to enact a comprehensive law on the subject to implement the decisions of the Conference. The EP Act was then introduced in the Parliament.

This law came much after the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 but is considered the central legislation on all environmental matters. This is because it specifically addresses issues related to the environment and vests with the Central Government a great deal of powers to take actions for environment protection.

This is a very broad legislation and just by itself only provides the very outline of the structure and implementation machinery envisaged for environment protection. It only becomes properly operations through Rules or Notifications (also called subordinate legislation) – which are more detailed and subject specific. Examples of Rules are The Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 or the Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous micro-organisms Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells. Some examples of notifications are the CRZ Notification, 1991 or the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006.

The Environment (Protection) Act as it appears in this guide
The Bare Act has been divided into four sections:

  1. Authorities – this section lists out authorities appointed under the Act for implementation of the Act. It includes Boards, Authorities, Officers, Government Analysts, Environmental Laboratories, or persons with local jurisdiction and lists their functions and powers.
  2. Procedures: A large portion of the EP Act is concerned with laying out a set of procedures related to the performance of the functions and duties of the above mentioned authorities. These procedures comprise of the collection of samples, entry and inspection, furnishing information on discharge of pollutants, making individual complaints, issuing directions, the location of industry, restrictions on hazardous industries, search and seizure, standards for emissions and submission of samples for analyses.
  3. Regulations on Activities – this section includes the responsibilities of citizens and also the activities that are prohibited or regulated under the Act. This pertains to Industry, operations & processes, Handling of hazardous substance, Submission of Environmental Statement and Furnishing reports.
  4. Offences and Penalties: Carrying out a prohibited activity or contravening provisions laid down for a regulated activity amount to an offence. Cognizance of offences and penalties are discussed in this section.

There is also an additional Section containing other information pertaining to this Act:

Downloads: Apart from the above mentioned sections, in the Downloads section, we provide a compilation of notifications, rules, orders etc. These are either scans of original gazette copies or they have been downloaded from different sources including from the Ministry of Environment and Forest website. These include the Bare Act, Rules, Notifications, Schedules, Amendments and Guidelines, all in downloadable pdf formats.

Alternately, click on one of the links below to go into ony one of the four major sections of this law.

AUTHORITIES


PROCEDURES


REGULATION OF CITIZEN ACTIVITIES


OFFENCES AND PENALTIES

 

 

This guide is an additional aid to understanding the law. We have re-written some of the text in various and have not reproduced the exact text from the bare acts. While all efforts have been made to maintain the accuracy of this information, relevant official gazettes may be consulted for authenticity. The authors of this resource will not be responsible for any loss due to the information provided in this guide. Any discrepancy found may kindly be brought to our notice.