The Ukrainian parliament has adopted as a basis the draft law No. 11309, which strengthens administrative liability for offenses in the territories and objects of the nature reserve fund.
This was reported by Svitlana Hrynchuk, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, on Facebook.
Draft law No. 11309 amends Article 91 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and significantly increases fines for violations of the rules of protection and use of protected areas – by 50 times:
- for individuals, they will range from 8.5 thousand to 17 thousand UAH
- for officials – from 17 thousand to 25.5 thousand UAH.
Draft Law No. 11309 “On Amendments to Article 91 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses to Strengthen Administrative Liability for Violation of the Rules for the Protection and Use of Territories and Objects of the Nature Reserve Fund” takes into account the new environmental restrictions provided for by Law No. 4188-IX, which prohibits the use of motor vehicles in protected areas.
Svitlana Grinchuk noted that without updating the fine policy, there are risks that potential offenders will be able to ignore the new rules. She reminded that currently, fines for citizens range from UAH 153 to UAH 408, and for officials from UAH 255 to UAH 510.
“Such amounts do not fulfill a preventive function. Responsibility for environmental destruction cannot cost less than a lunch in a cafe,” she said.
The minister said that in 2024, 661 protocols were issued and fines were imposed in the amount of only UAH 89.24 thousand. However, the actual damage to the nature reserve fund over the same period amounted to more than UAH 430 million.
As a reminder, on June 20, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada voted in the first reading for the draft Law 11024 on the protection of the nature reserve fund. On December 26, 2024, the Environmental Committee supported and recommended that the Parliament approve in the second reading the government's draft law “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine’ to Ensure the Conservation of Territories and Objects of the Nature Reserve Fund.”
On January 9, the Verkhovna Rada approved the draft law in the second reading, and on January 30, it was signed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy under the number 4188-IX.
EcoPolitic also recently reported that the Ministry of Ecology wants to dramatically increase fines for environmental pollution by waste.
