The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine plans to conduct unscheduled inspections of licenses for which no mining has started over the past 10 years or less than 1% of the minerals have been extracted.
This was announced by the head of the environmental ministry, Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk, during the “Hour of Questions to the Government” in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Friday, May 2.
According to the official, the issue of conditionally “dormant” licenses is a huge problem for the development of the subsoil use industry. She said that the Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine and its structural unit, the State Geological Control, analyzed and evaluated all issued licenses and the work being done under them.
The agencies have compiled lists of those licenses where no work has started or less than 1% has been extracted over the past 10 years. All these permits will be subject to unscheduled inspections, the minister said.
Svitlana Hrynchuk also said that work is also underway to allow scheduled inspections for high-risk companies. She believes that there is no other way to effectively combat dormant licenses.
What is the opinion of experts on such plans of the Ministry?
The Association of Environmental Professionals PAEW says that the current legislation and available tools allow the authorities to obtain comprehensive information on the status of each special permit without the need to organize mass inspections. Thus, subsoil users report on the mandatory forms 5-GR, 6-GR, 7-GR, which contain complete data on production volumes, start dates, and actual activities.
Experts emphasized that Ukraine risks an even greater blow to its own business, which is currently operating under martial law.
PAEW warned that mass inspections in wartime
- create additional pressure on companies trying to survive;
- absorb state resources that should be used to support the Armed Forces, develop new weapons, and strengthen infrastructure;
- undermine confidence in the declared course towards economic sustainability and European integration.
Therefore, the Association of Environmental Professionals PAEW, sharing the position of the European Business Association (EBA), appealed to the President, the Prime Minister and the Verkhovna Rada to
- reject the draft resolution on the resumption of mass inspections;
- focus on targeted actions against real violators instead of launching a massive pressure campaign;
- to direct available resources to defense needs and real green modernization, rather than to create the appearance of reforms.
“We ask the government to avoid rash, non-stateful decisions that could destroy the country's business and economic stability at a critical moment in its history. Ukraine should build the subsoil use reform on the principles of reasonableness, fairness and partnership, not on slogans and punitive practices,” the experts emphasized.
As EcoPolitic reported in mid-March, EBA members called for the rejection of the draft resolution prepared by the State Service of Geology and Subsoil to resume scheduled inspections of subsoil users.
We also told you how often the State Environmental Inspectorate will check compliance with the terms of integrated environmental permits.
