The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources has developed proposals for draft law No. 6349 "On improving the procedure for conducting an environmental audit", which is currently under consideration in the Verkhovna Rada.
The proposals relate to the procedure for carrying out a special eco-audit at facilities affected by military operations, the Ministry of Environment reports.
It is noted that some provisions of the Law "On Environmental Audit" of 2004 are outdated and do not correspond to the current legislation.
The message emphasized that draft law No. 6349 has already passed public discussion and does not contain provisions that could burden economic entities. In particular, it defines the grounds for conducting a mandatory eco-audit for facilities or activities with increased environmental risk, and also provides effective eco-audit mechanisms.
The press service said that the new regulations stipulate that the customer must inform the subject of the ecoaudit about the choice of the executor before concluding the contract and approving the executor of the ecoaudit. In addition, the environmental audit must be carried out without obstacles to economic activity.
It is noted that the main additions are:
- definition of the term "special environmental audit";
- the possibility of conducting a special environmental audit on ecosystems and territorial units affected by emergency situations and during martial law;
- increasing the tools for bringing the aggressor country to account for causing damage to the environment;
- the ability to take samples, carry out measurements, take photographs, and videotape, in particular from aircraft and with the use of space technologies;
- carrying out a special environmental audit with the involvement of international experts and organizations on environmental protection issues.
"Currently, we have already recorded more than 2,300 facts of damage to the environment of Ukraine by the Russian invaders, and the preliminary amount of damages reaches almost 2 trillion hryvnias. Changes in the procedure for conducting an environmental audit will allow Ukraine to better record evidence of crimes against the environment committed by the Russians in order to achieve fair compensation in international courts in the future," said Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Viktoriya Kireyeva.
It is noted that the Ministry of the Environment urged the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada to consider the proposals and adopt the document as soon as possible.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that the European Business Association (EBA) called for finalization of draft law No. 6349 "On improving the procedure for environmental audits" and to bring it into line with European standards.
Previously, EcoPolitic analyzed draft law No. 6349 in order to assess what changes to expect.
