Industrialists named two most urgent steps in subsoil use reform

Stakeholders in the extractive industry insist on the continuation of the reform of subsoil use, revision of the auction mechanisms for obtaining land for use, and elimination of investment barriers for subsoil users. Ksenia Orynchak, executive director of the National Association of the Extractive Industry of Ukraine, told about these and other "pain points" of the industry at an open meeting with the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Svitlana Grynchuk. She drew the attention of the head of the Ministry of Environment and the experts present to the fact that the reform of subsoil use has not yet been completed and it is necessary to focus our attention on it. The director of the association named the two most necessary steps:

1. Completion of the draft of the new Code on Subsoil.
2. Creation of a special law on critical raw materials, which would implement the best norms from European legislation (Critical raw materials act).

Ksenia Orinchak emphasized that the field of subsoil use needs flexible modern regulation in order to be able to function at the global level with other countries. Another important issue she called the attraction of financing for compliance with modern environmental standards, as well as the creation of compensation mechanisms for enterprises that have been affected by military actions on the environment. According to the executive director of the association, it is necessary to remove investment barriers and create acceptable legal conditions for subsoil users when allocating land plots for use. She emphasized that the situation where permits are sold and mining is not carried out is common today. Ksenia Orynchak drew Svitlana Grynchuk's attention to the fact that there is currently a conflict between the State Forest Management Strategy of Ukraine until 2035 and the needs of subsoil users when allocating land plots for forestry purposes. She explained that the Strategy prescribes a refusal to transfer forest-covered lands to other forms of land use, except when such transfer is carried out in case of public need and in the absence of other alternatives. The director of the association is sure that this issue also needs to be resolved. She did not ignore the issue that is relevant for many branches of Ukrainian industry: the need to introduce in Ukraine its own system of emissions trading and its analogue SVAM – to protect Ukrainian operators and the market as a whole. Ksenia Orynchak also reminded of the need for negotiations on granting our country a postponement of the payment of the SVAM in connection with the state of war and the presence of relevant provisions in the SVAM Regulation regarding force majeure. Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote about the problem with auctions for the use of subsoil, which activists asked draw the attention of the Ministry of Environment. Also ecologists warned ministry about systematic problems with subsoil use permits.