In Ukraine, at the beginning of February, the Verkhovna Rada registered the government draft law No. 8410 "On environmental impact assessment", which provides for a number of changes to the current procedure of environmental protection. In particular, in the case of the adoption of the draft law by the parliament, it is planned to shorten the period of public discussion of the notification of the planned activity from 20 to 12 working days.
EcoPolitic analyzed the document and talked with experts to assess what changes to expect.
Goal: improvement of the norms of the current Law of Ukraine "On Environmental Impact Assessment", due to the need to implement the principles of digitalization of the permit procedure, as well as with the aim of reducing the time frame for the environmental impact assessment procedure, and reducing the discretionary powers of the body when making decisions within the framework of the environmental impact assessment procedure.
"For almost 5 years of practical implementation of the Law of Ukraine "On Environmental Impact Assessment", a number of norms have been identified, the improvement of which can simplify the implementation of the environmental impact assessment procedure for business entities that are customers of planned activities, as well as for the public in terms of simplifying the format providing comments and suggestions during public discussions during environmental impact assessment. In addition, the proposed draft law is aimed at implementing the principles of digitalization in the field of environmental impact assessment," the explanatory note says.
Bill №8410 provides for the following changes:
- shortening the period of public discussion of the notice of planned activity from 20 to 12 working days;
- notification of the planned activity and announcement of the start of public discussion of the Environmental Impact Assessment report will be completed in digital format directly in the Unified Register of Environmental Impact Assessment. The authorized body will no longer be able to reject these documents due to their non-compliance with the approved form;
- the requirement to publish notices and announcements in mass media is cancelled. Instead, the draft law proposes to involve territorial communities to ensure proper public information;
- the public will be able to register on the website of the Register for targeted information about the publication of information and documentation in it;
- the draft law defines an exhaustive list of reasons for refusing to issue an environmental impact assessment opinion and a shortened procedure for carrying out an environmental impact assessment in the event of eliminating the deficiencies that caused the refusal.
- it is proposed to record the grounds on which the planned activity may be deemed inadmissible.
EcoPolitic asked the president of the Association of Environmental Professionals PAEU, the founder of the Office of Sustainable Solutions, Ludmila TSYGANOK, for a comment on the draft law.
Among the positive innovations, the expert noted promising changes regarding:
- production of copies of the environmental impact assessment report and other documentation provided by the business entity, necessary for the environmental impact assessment, for their physical placement for the purpose of familiarizing the public by the business entity upon public request;
- establishing a deadline for public discussion up to 25 working days, as the main principle of the permit system in the field of economic activity, provided for by the Law of Ukraine "On the permit system in the field of economic activity";
- the ability of the business entity to submit a notification about the planned activity, which is subject to an environmental impact assessment, directly to the authorized central body for the purpose of obtaining an environmental impact assessment opinion.
Also Mrs. Lyudmila noted the negative sides of the document. According to her, this position is also shared by the State Regulatory Service.
This project does not take into account comments regarding:
- legal certainty "non-compliance of the submitted documents with the requirements of the legislation" regarding the disclosure of the norms of "legislation" with a clear specification of their content;
- the actual identification of the provision of an environmental impact assessment opinion, in which the inadmissibility of the implementation of the planned activity is determined, with the procedure of refusal to issue a conclusion of the Environmental Protection Agency, since the planned activity is not implemented as a result of the specified decisions.
- the possibility of informing business entities about the presence of such comments and proposals of authorized bodies, based on the results of consultations, as well as the procedure for receiving them and taking them into account when carrying out an environmental impact assessment of the planned activity.
- not fully complying with the regulatory impact analysis (RIA) of the draft Law with the requirements of the Methodology for conducting the impact analysis of the regulatory act, approved by Resolution No. 308 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 11, 2004.
In particular, in the RIA, in the event of the adoption of the law, a reduction in the duration of the procedure is noted as a benefit. Simultaneously it has not been analyzed what benefits the state, the public, and business will receive if the activity is recognized as unacceptable or if the environmental impact assessment report is refused.
The calculation of the costs of economic entities, in case of adoption of the Law, contains data on the amount of the fee for holding a public discussion in the process of carrying out an environmental impact assessment, but does not include the costs associated with the need to repeat the procedure due to the provision of an environmental impact assessment opinion , in which the inadmissibility of carrying out planned activities, or refusal to issue an environmental impact assessment opinion, including costs of research, report preparation and administration of the permit procedure.
As an example of the European community's adequate response to crisis challenges, we at PAUU draw attention to the decision of the EU Energy Ministers, adopted on December 19, 2022, regarding changes to the Renewable Energy Sources Directive (RED) as part of the REPowerEU plan, including simplification of the EIA procedure, according to which the obligation to assess the impact on the environment and implement measures to mitigate this impact is partially entrusted to the state, and not to business.
It is worth noting that the government has already started the process of simplifying the EIA procedure.
In particular, information appeared on March 3 that the contract for holding a public discussion in the EIA procedure can be concluded online.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine made changes to the Procedure for the transfer of documentation for the provision of an environmental impact assessment opinion and financing of an environmental impact assessment. This will shorten the duration of the procedure, as well as simplify it due to digitalization.
"Today's decision of the Government is precisely about the simplification and transfer of procedures into a modern, civilized format. In effect, we are replacing paper contracts that had to be sent by mail with a public offer contract that can be concluded online. And the Ministry of Environment has already developed a corresponding digital module on its own website. In the future, it will also be available on EcoSystem. Because our goal is to create conditions for post-war reconstruction and business development in accordance with high European environmental standards," commented the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets.
Innovations will allow:
- reduce the procedure time by 60 calendar days;
- pay for relevant services online.
