Specialists of the Professional Association of Ecologists of Ukraine (PAEU) named the key positions proposed by draft law No. 5159 "On amendments to some laws of Ukraine regarding the procedure for strategic environmental assessment."
The document proposes the creation of a Unified Register of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and its compatibility with other information and communication systems, improves public information and introduces responsibility for violations of SEA, reports Office of Sustainable Solutions.
The material explained that the Unified SEO register is a single information and communication system that ensures the creation, review, collection, input, accumulation, processing, use, review, storage, protection, accounting and provision of information in the field of strategic environmental assessment.
Such a register will be compatible and will have real-time information interaction with other electronic information systems and networks that constitute the information resource of the state, in particular with the Unified register for environmental impact assessment, urban planning cadastre, State land cadastre, etc.
The authors explained that the following are entered into the Unified Register of SEOs:
- statement on determining the scope of the strategic environmental assessment and notice of its publication;
- the project of the state planning document, the report on the strategic environmental assessment and the notification of the publication of the specified documents;
- comments and suggestions of the public, information on public discussion;
- remarks and proposals of executive authorities, certificate of consultations;
- an approved document of state planning (except for information that, according to the law, constitutes a state secret or belongs to information with limited access) and a decision on its approval;
- information on cross-border consultations (if they are held);
- the results of monitoring the consequences of the implementation of the state planning document for the environment, in particular for the health of the population, information on the negative consequences of the implementation of the state planning document for the environment that are not foreseen in the SEA report and about the measures taken to eliminate them;
- recommendations on the need to carry out a strategic environmental assessment of minor changes to the state planning document, for which a strategic environmental assessment was previously carried out, and a decision not to carry out a strategic environmental assessment of such changes.
The material emphasized that the information entered into this register is public and open. Free access to it is provided via the Internet.
The authors emphasized that in order to inform the public, within five working days from the date of approval of the state planning document, the customer places on its official website and enters the approved state planning document into the Unified Register of Strategic Environmental Assessment (except for information that, according to the law, constitutes a state secret or belongs to information with limited access), decisions on its approval, measures provided for monitoring the consequences of the implementation of the state planning document.
They also added that the customer, within the limits of competence, monitors the consequences of the implementation of the state planning document for the environment, in particular for the health of the population, publishes its results once a year on its official website, enters it into the Unified Register of SEA and, in case of detection of non-prescribed report on the strategic environmental assessment of negative consequences for the environment, takes measures to eliminate them.
The article emphasized that offenses in the field of strategic environmental assessment are:
- failure to carry out a strategic environmental assessment;
- violation of the SEO procedure;
- failure to take into account the results of a strategic environmental assessment when approving state planning documents.
Such violations are grounds for:
- annulment of decisions of state authorities and local self-government bodies on approval of state planning documents, recognition of state planning documents as invalid;
- refusal to approve and approve projects of state planning documents;
- refusal to approve the establishment and change of the target designation of land plots, as well as the boundaries of settlements, which are carried out on the basis of or taking into account the relevant state planning documents.
As EcoPolitic reported before, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, November 3 approved the government bill No. 5159 in the second reading "On amendments to some laws of Ukraine regarding the introduction of liability for violations of the strategic environmental assessment."
