Abstract
With the increasing recognition of external costs caused by environmental pollution and its calculation in the total price of goods and services, there is a need to review as soon as possible the expansion of green tax bases as well as long-term policies to protect the environment. Although the country's environmental protection laws have a long history, new tax instruments are needed to achieve sustainable development. To achieve this goal, studying the experiences of other countries in the use of these new tools such as awareness-raising and political coordination in the field of green tax legislation and the authority to buy and sell pollution can be helpful. This chapter describes the status of green tax and its history in Iran and discusses new tools in environmental policy implementation.
TopEnvironmental Law In Iran
In a coherent and modern context, environmental protection in Iran does not have a long history. The first step in establishing a new and organized organization to protect the environment in Iran dates back to 1956. The Hunting Center of Iran was established, and the first steps were taken to protect wildlife and monitor the implementation of related regulations. After that, until the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the essential measures in the field of environment are as follows(Cropper & Oates, 1992):
1967: Adoption of the Hunting and Fishing Law of the Hunting and Fishing Supervision Organization.
1971: Renaming of the Hunting and Fishing Supervision Organization to the Environmental Protection Organization 1974: Adoption of the Law on Environmental Protection and Improvement and increase of the powers and duties of this organization with the approval of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and emphasis of Article 50 of the Constitution on protection The environment, which at the time was one of the leading laws in the world, raised the marginal view of environmental protection. Article 50 addresses the issue of the environment as follows:
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, protecting the environment, in which the present and future generations have a prosperous social life, is considered a public duty. Hence, economic activities are prohibited, except in the case of environmental pollution or irreparable damage.
In the first development plan, the environmental sector was presented with qualitative goals and did not have any quantitative goals. The quality objectives of the environment in the first program were as follows:
Key Terms in this Chapter
Sustainable Development: Defined by the United Nations Environment Programme as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” sustainable development may be considered together with the concepts of “integration” (development cannot be considered in isolation from sustainability) and “interdependence” (social and economic development, and environmental protection, are interdependent). Laws mandating environmental impact assessment and requiring or encouraging development to minimize environmental impacts may be assessed against this principle.
Transboundary Responsibility: Defined in the international law context as an obligation to protect one’s environment and prevent damage to neighboring environments, UNEP considers transboundary responsibility at the international level as a potential limitation on the sovereign state’s rights. Laws that limit externalities imposed upon human health and the environment may be assessed against this principle.
Prevention: The concept of prevention can perhaps better be considered an overarching aim that gives rise to a multitude of legal mechanisms, including prior assessment of environmental harm, licensing or authorization that set out the conditions for operation and the consequences for violation of the conditions, as well as the adoption of strategies and policies. Emission limits and other product or process standards, the use of best available techniques, and similar techniques can all be seen as applications of the concept of prevention.
Polluter Pays Principle: The polluter pays principle stands for the idea that “the environmental costs of economic activities, including the cost of preventing potential harm, should be internalized rather than imposed upon society at large.” All issues related to responsibility for environmental remediation costs and compliance with pollution control regulations involve this principle.
Equity: Defined by UNEP to include intergenerational equity - “the right of future generations to enjoy a fair level of the common patrimony” - and intragenerational equity - “the right of all people within the current generation to fair access to the current generation’s entitlement to the Earth’s natural resources” - environmental equity considers the present generation under an obligation to account for long-term impacts of activities and to act to sustain the global environment and resource base for future generations. Pollution control and resource management laws may be assessed against this principle.
Precautionary Principle: One of the most commonly encountered and controversial principles of environmental law, the Rio Declaration formulated the precautionary principle: To protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of complete scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation. The principle may play a role in any debate over the need for environmental regulation.
Public Participation and Transparency: identified as necessary conditions for “accountable governments,... industrial concerns,” and organizations generally, public participation and transparency are presented by UNEP as requiring “effective protection of the human right to hold and express opinions and to seek, receive and impart ideas,... a right of access to appropriate, comprehensible and timely information held by governments and industrial concerns on economic and social policies regarding the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment, without imposing undue financial burdens upon the applicants and with adequate protection of privacy and business confidentiality,” and “effective judicial and administrative proceedings.” These principles are present in environmental impact assessment, laws requiring publication and access to relevant environmental data, and administrative procedures.