At its meeting on June 4, the Verkhovna Rada did not support the government's draft law No. 12188 “On the Management of Waste from the Extractive Industry.”
Information on the progress of consideration of this legal act is available in its card on the Parliament's website.
The MPs also refused to send the draft law on extractive industry waste for a second first reading and return it to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for revision. The speaker's proposals did not receive the required number of votes.
Screenshot from itd.rada.gov.ua.
A little earlier in the day, the Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt Draft Law No. 12188 as a basis. The committee members noted the following positions:
- The draft law was developed to fulfill the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Waste Management” and the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, on the other hand.
- The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Energy support this legal act.
- The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Science, the State Emergency Service, and the Administration of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection have no comments or suggestions.
- Draft Law No. 12188 has comments from the Main Scientific and Expert Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Committee on Digital Transformation, the Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Finance, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil, business associations and industry associations of subsoil users, which may be taken into account when preparing the draft law for the second reading.
- This legal act has an opinion on its compliance with the provisions of the European Union acquis and Ukraine's international legal obligations in the field of European integration.
Based on this, the Environmental Committee recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt the draft law on the management of extractive industry waste as a basis after consideration in the first reading.
Draft Law No. 1218 0: what it provides for
- Contains definitions of terms in the field of extractive industry waste management.
- Establishes the responsibilities of entities in the field of extractive industry waste management.
- Regulates the activities of a business entity in the field of extractive industry during the management of extractive industry waste, operation of facilities for the management of extractive industry waste, closure and implementation of post-operational measures for such facilities.
- It establishes a number of norms on planning activities for the management of extractive industry waste and prevention of accidents, regulation of the issue of man-made deposits and abandoned facilities.
- Defines the requirements for the provision of administrative services, including obtaining permits in the field of waste management, as well as for state supervision (control).
- Establishes requirements for financial security for an operator that intends to operate or operates a facility for extractive industry waste.
- It provides for liability for violation of legislation in the field of mining waste management.
What comments did experts have to the document?
Experts who analyzed the version of draft law No. 12188 submitted to the committee stated that the lawmakers did not take into account the amendments of MPs, specialized associations and specialists. They promised to take them into account when preparing the document for the second reading.
Among the drawbacks, experts say that the fiscal burden on the same object of taxation will increase. They say that if the draft law is adopted in its current wording, in early 2025, after 6 years (i.e., by 2031), business entities will pay the waste disposal tax for all volumes of waste from the extractive industry and at the same time pay financial security for facilities for such waste.
Experts noted that the text of the draft law published for public discussion contained a provision stating that the relevant provisions would come into force after amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine were made to abolish the tax on waste disposal. This approach was supported by the business community “as a positive signal for a balanced and thoughtful policy of supporting national producers.”
Another drawback, experts said, is that the proposed version of the draft law does not fully take into account the specifics of waste management in oil and gas production, as it does not disclose or ambiguously interprets the concepts of “sludge pit” and “neutralization,” which automatically leads to the use of a single pitless drilling method by oil and gas producers. Therefore, according to experts, the adoption of the draft law in the specified wording without taking into account the specifics of waste management in the field of oil and gas production may lead to an increase in the economic cost of their production.
For the first time, EcoPolitics wrote that the Ecocommittee recommended that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopt the government's draft law No. 12180 “On the Management of Waste from the Extractive Industry” on December 4, 2024. A few days later, we told you that experts from the European Business Association had identified 5 problematic issues in this document.
On January 13, the Environmental Committee agreed to the stakeholders' proposal to extend the deadline for submitting and processing proposals to draft law No. 12180 between the first and second readings to 3 weeks. This is probably why on January 14, MPs did not support the inclusion of Draft Law No. 12180 “On the Management of Extractive Industry Waste” on the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada.
