On July 15, the Ukrainian government adopted a resolution “On Approval of Requirements for the Form and Content of Integrated Environmental Permits.”
This was reported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
The ministry called this regulatory act one of the most important adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in compliance with the requirements of Law No. 3855-IX “On Integrated Prevention and Control of Industrial Pollution.” It establishes a uniform form and requirements for an integrated environmental permit (IEP) – the main document of the entire industrial pollution reform.
The draft resolution was developed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in accordance with the requirements of Part 5 of Article 10 of the aforementioned Law. The ministry reminded that starting August 8 of this year, enterprises that carry out or will carry out the types of activities specified by the Law will be able to obtain an IP. It will be issued by the Ministry of Environment through the Unified State Register of Integrated Environmental Permits. The relevant IT system is currently being tested.
Since the final version of the resolution has not yet been published on the Cabinet of Ministers' website, we are providing the provisions that the ministry submitted in the draft of this regulatory act. It is highly likely that they have been approved.
Components of an integrated environmental permit
The draft resolution specifies that an IEP consists of:
- a descriptive part;
- a motivational part;
- conditions that are an integral part of an integrated environmental permit.
The descriptive part will contain information on:
- the facility for which the IEP is issued;
- a list of its components;
- a description of the procedure for considering an application for an integrated environmental permit (amendments thereto) and the documents attached to it submitted by the operator;
- the conclusions and proposals of the competent authorities;
- the comments and proposals of other executive authorities and local self-government bodies;
- comments and proposals received during public discussions and cross-border consultations (if any).
The explanatory part of the IEP will consist of four points:
- the grounds on which the integrated environmental permit is based;
- a list of conclusions on the best available technologies and management methods (BAT) for main and auxiliary activities (if any);
- the connection, correlation, and compliance of technologies and management methods, as well as emissions from the installation, with the best available technologies and management methods and maximum permissible emission standards;
- justification for granting a derogation (if granted) and the conditions of the integrated environmental permit in accordance with the derogation granted.
The third section, “Conditions of the integrated environmental permit,” contains a table with a detailed list of requirements, measures, and conditions imposed on the installation.
The IEP also contains:
- a list of permits issued to the operator of the installation that become invalid due to the receipt of an integrated environmental permit;
- the date of entry into force of the IEP;
- a requirement for the installation operator to draw up a report on the commissioning of the installation (for installations being commissioned for the first time);
- a requirement for the installation operator to publish information about the receipt of the IEP within 10 working days of its receipt;
- the terms and procedure for administrative and judicial appeal against the integrated environmental permit.
It is separately noted that the permitting authority may invalidate the integrated environmental permit or amendments thereto on the grounds provided for in Article 27 of the Law of Ukraine “On Integrated Prevention and Control of Industrial Pollution,” on other grounds and in the manner provided for by the Law of Ukraine “On Administrative Procedure.”
IEP form and document flow
The integrated environmental permit and amendments thereto will be issued in the form of an electronic document. All electronic document flow related to the IEP will take place through the Unified State Register of Integrated Environmental Permits.
It will be developed in accordance with the architecture of the state system DIA at the expense of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection of Germany. The state and local budgets of Ukraine will not finance the development of this register.
Once developed, the Register will be transferred to the Ministry of Environment and will operate within the framework of the Unified Environmental Platform “EcoSystem.” Its further operation will be financed as part of the costs of financing this platform.
As a reminder, the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Approval of Requirements for the Form and Content of an Integrated Environmental Permit” was published by the Ministry of Environment on March 26.
