The Ministry of Natural Resources proposes to simplify the procedure of environmental examination for business
The Ministry of Natural Resources proposes to reduce the time of re -submission of documents for the receipt of state environmental examination (GEE). The draft amendments to the current procedure allows the owners of objects who have already been refused to issue a GEE to submit for the examination only those documents in which the changes were introduced to reduce the “temporary costs of the customer”. The expert commission, however, will retain the right to control the quality of the rest of the documentation, which raises questions to the industry to an arbitrary choice of stiffness of control and fears that the changes will worsen quality and reduce the transparency of the GEE, which may affect the quality of design solutions. In the RSP, it is noted that in the conditions of electronic document management and time saving will be formal.
The Ministry of Natural Resources published for public discussion the draft amendments to the government of May 28, 2024 No. 694. They adjust the process of re -submitting documents for the examination that have already received a negative conclusion. Now the customer sends the entire package of documents and a list of changes made to re -GEE, which requires “significant time costs”. Editing makes it possible to send for examination only those documents in which changes are made.
However, the expert commission, which makes a decision on the issuance of the conclusion of the GEE, is proposed to maintain the right to request and those documents in which the changes were not made. The Ministry of Natural Resources expects the editing will come into force on September 1, 2025 and will be valid until September 1, 2030. According to Kommersant in the ministry, the project does not change the order of the GEE, but only improves administrative procedures. The right of the expert commission to demand the entire package of documents is proposed to be preserved to exclude possible risks.
According to the Law “On Environmental Expertise” (174-ФЗ), the conclusion of the GEE are obliged to receive projects of garbage plants, training grounds and objects of waste disposal, industrial facilities of the first category of negative environmental impact, as well as waste disposal technologies, land reclamation and liquidation of accumulated harm. The composition of mandatory documents includes an assessment of environmental impacts, the results of public hearings and design and technical documentation. To issue the conclusion of the Ge, Rosprirodnadzor and its structures create a commission, the basis of which is the certified freelance experts.
The Committee on Ecology and Nature Management of the RSPP, however, notes that the Ministry of Natural Resources do not support: the regulator already has “unchanged” volumes of the project, in the current order, when re -submitting documents, “the provision of a register of volumes and sections, which are amended, which confirms the immutability of other volumes,” and in reality nothing changes for companies. To realize the procedure for obtaining a GEE, “a regulator could provide for a preliminary examination with a regulated estimated cost,” the union notes.
Among the claims to the GEE from the business, the fact that its receipt depends on the opinions of freelance experts, and the list of possible comments on projects is not regulated, which makes the process opaque. The amendments will not only not solve the existing problems, but also increase the risks: according to the general director of the ENV Consulting Company Irina Demina, the decree “does not determine in which cases only part of the documents is allowed to submit, and when they can request a complete set”. The lack of clear criteria can lead to a selective approach: « The materials of some companies will be considered in detail, and others will partially. » In addition, the documentation for obtaining a GEE is an interconnected document consisting of many volumes and sections. “Serious or numerous comments require comprehensive refinement of all documentation. A new approach can lead to a decrease in the quality of design solutions and provoke point corrections without taking into account their influence on the project as a whole, ”the expert said.
