IRZ - Integrated pollution register

The Integrated Pollution Register (IRZ) is established by Czech Act No. 25/2008 Coll. as a publicly accessible public administration information system run by the Ministry of the Environment. Facilities carrying out selected activities report to it by 31 March each year, for the previous year, their releases of pollutants into air, water and soil and transfers of pollutants and waste off site, if they exceed set thresholds.

Who reports

The duty applies to operators covered by the EU regulation on the pollutant release and transfer register (E-PRTR) and to facilities with other activities listed in the annex to the Act. The list of substances, thresholds and required data are set by Government Regulation No. 145/2008 Coll. Reporting facilities include, for example, large industrial plants, incinerators and waste facilities, landfills or large poultry and pig farms.

How to read it

• An IRZ entry does not mean limits were breached. It only says the facility is subject to reporting and exceeded the reporting threshold.
• Smaller facilities below the thresholds are not in the register, so “nothing in IRZ” does not mean there is nothing nearby.
• For homebuyers the main issues tend to be odour from large farms, noise and traffic around the site. IRZ does not capture these; noise from major roads is shown in the strategic noise map.

Frequently asked questions

Where can the data be found?

Facilities and reported substances for each year are public on irz.cz. What kind of operation may appear nearby is suggested by production and storage zones in the zoning plan and by projects going through an EIA.

How does it differ from SEKM?

SEKM records places where soil or groundwater is or may be polluted, often from the past. IRZ holds annual reports by operating facilities on what they released and sent elsewhere.