Summary

In February 2011, the Riigikogu passed the General Part of the Environmental Code Act (GPECA), which should enter into force during 2013 according to the national action plan. The Act contains a lot of innovative elements. Of them, the most prominent ones are the environmental principal obligations, which are stipulated in Division 2 of Chapter 2 of the GPECA. There is no institution comparable to the principal obligation in the environmental law. Division 2 of Chapter 2 of the GPECA includes rules that elaborate the general environmental diligence obligation arising from the Constitution.

This article seeks to answer two questions. Firstly, which are the justifications for stipulating the environmental principal obligations, more specifically—which arguments justify or even require the existence of principal obligations for environmental protection. Secondly, the article analyses the scope of those obligations and their key elements. It should be admitted, however, that since the principal obligations represent abstract behavioural rules, their content can only be generally described initially, and the more specific elements of their contents can be identified during the practical experience.