Legislative Ensure of Transfer of Competencies for Air Protection Carried out by a Municipality

The Slovak Republic pays close attention to effective care of the whole environment, important component of which is also the air. This is ensured through designated authorities within the competence of the State. Municipality, as the basic unit of territorial self-government, is the subject, which has competencies in the area of air protection and acts as a state administration body. This paper focuses on an analysis of legislative assurance of legal relationships arising during the application of the transferred competencies of the state administration to municipalities. In particular, it focuses on the position of the municipality in matters of transferred state administration and its focus on air protection, municipal competencies in air protection, administrative offenses in the competence of the municipality and their solution. Using the methods of analysis, deduction and grammatical and logical interpretation, the paper attempts to continuously monitor, analyse and organise the competencies of the municipality in the exercise of the transferred competencies in the area of air protection and to analyse their application towards obliged subjects from a legislative point of view. In particular, rigorous monitoring and appropriate repressive measures of the municipality are the most effective instrument for achieving the indispensable responsibility of individuals and collective bodies for the state of the air in the defined area. If a sanction is imposed in case of non-compliance with legal obligations, one of the methods currently required for general prevention in this area of the municipality may be fulfilled. By its consistent application activity, the municipality can make a very significant contribution to maintaining or improving the air quality in the area of its territorial scope.