The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine has published a draft law that proposes to amend the Code of Administrative Offenses and introduce fines for violations related to integrated environmental permits.
The agency published this document, an explanatory note and a comparative table to it on its website.
The draft law is entitled: "On Amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses to Establish Liability for Violation of Legal Requirements in the Field of Prevention, Reduction and Control of Pollution by Installations that Require an Integrated Environmental Permit."
The main changes proposed by the Ministry of Environment are the addition of two articles to the Code of Administrative Offenses – 91-7 and 172-9-3. The first provides for fines for plant operators, the second for officials of state authorities responsible for issuing integrated environmental permits.
Article 91-7 establishes fines for the following violations:
- Failure to submit, late submission or submission of inaccurate data in the installation operator's report on compliance with the conditions of the integrated environmental permit. For such a violation, the ministry proposes to impose a fine on officials and individual entrepreneurs in the amount of 200 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens .
- Failure to comply with the conditions of the integrated environmental permit during installation operation . It will entail the imposition of a fine on officials, individual entrepreneurs from 200 to 500 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens .
- Repeated non-compliance with the conditions of the integrated environmental permit during the year will be punished by the imposition of a fine on officials, natural persons-entrepreneurs from 500 to 1000 tax-free minimum income of citizens .
Article 172-9-3 defines punishment for:
- Violation of the established procedure and deadlines for issuing an integrated environmental permit , including the procedure for informing the public and the procedure for holding a public discussion and taking into account its results, interference with the preparation and granting of an integrated environmental permit, refusal by a central executive body authorized by law to issue an integrated environmental permit on grounds not established by law. Such a violation will entail the imposition of a fine on officials of state authorities from 200 to 400 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens .
- The same actions committed by a person who was subject to administrative penalty during the year for the violation provided for in the first part of this article, officials of state authorities will be punished with a fine from 400 to 600 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of one year.
Also, Article 212-3 includes a proposal to impose a fine on officials from 25 to 50 of the tax-free minimum income of citizens for untimely entry of documents and information into the Unified State Register of Integrated Environmental Permits , as well as for limiting access to this information.
As EcoPolitic reported previously, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will not bet signature under the law No. 9665, which aims to strengthen responsibility for the illegal circulation of wood. The reasons are not reported.
