The Association of Environmental Professionals (PAEW), represented by President Lyudmila Tsyganok, appealed to the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada with proposals that would allow taking into account the objective circumstances caused by the war when adopting draft Law No. 11355 "On Integrated Prevention and Control of Industrial Pollution."
The specialist posted the corresponding appeal on Facebook.
Experts stated that the reform of the sphere of management of industrial production is long overdue. They stressed that the Association shares the need for bill No. 11355 as a European integration.
But at the same time, experts urged lawmakers to take into account their proposals when working on this document, taking into account the objective circumstances caused by the war.
They conducted a comparative analysis with the previous draft law No. 6004-d and concluded that the new draft Law of Ukraine No. 11355 was almost 95% discharged from it, except for minor technical and legal clarifications. Nevertheless, PAEW experts noted fundamental differences:
1. For some reason, the term of application of the BREF instead of "not earlier than 4 years after the cancellation or termination of martial law" was replaced by 4 years after the entry into force of the law (12 months after its signing – before that, draft law No. 6004-d had 6 months).
"Do the lawmakers know what the actual deadline for ending martial law will be?!!!" – PAEW ecologists asked a reasonable question.
2. The norm has been left unchanged, according to which, before issuing an integrated environmental permit, the State Inspectorate must come and check the "real state of compliance of the object". The experts stated that this is very similar to the MTB inspection of licensees before issuing a license for operations with hazardous waste.
3. There remains a rule that allows checking the operator simultaneously by all the bodies involved in this, in particular, city executive committees. PAEW specialists see this as another attempt to regulate the activities of enterprises, without a confirmed positive impact on the state of the environment.
4. There remains a rule regarding the non-application of the principle of "tacit consent in case the Ministry of Environment does not issue an integrated permit within the time limit established by law." Environmentalists of the Association emphasized that this is a violation of the norms of Art. 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
In a comment for GMK Center, Lyudmila Tsyganok noted that PAEW considers it necessary to postpone the entry into force of the law until the termination or abolition of martial law.
"No one knows when the war will end, and the norms of draft law No. 11355 provide for its implementation by enterprises from the third quarter of 2025," she explained.
Ms. Lyudmila also emphasized that the Association's experts consider it necessary to extend the validity period of the existing permit documents of the installation operator for the period of martial law and to provide sufficient time to bring their documentation into compliance with the law.
She said the permits will expire in October 2029, and plant operators must apply for an integrated environmental permit by October 2028. Taking into account the requirements stipulated by the draft law, plant operators are obliged to carry out certain preparatory actions and finance them during 2027.
"However, our country is in a state of war for the third year, that is, no one knows the date and conditions of its termination, as well as the ability of enterprises to obtain an integrated permit in 2027-2028," she summarized.
As EcoPolitic previously wrote, on June 20 Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted as the basis for the project of the Law "On Integrated Prevention and Control of Industrial Pollution" No. 11355. We also analyzed the draft law and identified flaws in it, which may lead to the closure of some enterprises and the collapse of the permit system.
