General

Kazakhstan: Environmental Code amended

As of 16 April 2017, the Environmental Code of Kazakhstan was amended to include an additional definition “specific greenhouse gas emission factor”.

Russia: Proposed risk-oriented approach for state environmental inspections

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology published draft decree that would regulate state environmental inspections. According to the draft Decree proposed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, all organisations are to be assigned an environmental risk category. The draft Decree sets out criteria for assigning any organization to an environmental risk category.

Ukraine: Draft law on the collection and recycling of used packaging

Manufacturers and importers of packaging would be required to participate in the newly introduced deposit system. In order to participate in the deposit system, they would be required to mark packaging containers with special deposit labels. These deposit labels are to indicate that consumers may return the packaging to a particular collection point for used packaging and immediately receive reimbursement for each unit of returned packaging. 

Uzbekistan: Created the State Committee of Ecology and Environmental Protection

The State Nature Protection Committee has been transformed into the State State Committee of Ecology and Environmental Protection, reporting directly to the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan.

The main tasks of the Committee are to be state environmental management, state supervision of compliance with waste management and air protection regulations, creation of an efficient waste collection, transportation, utilization, recycling and landfill system,  etc. 

Russia: Proposed additional health and safety risk criteria for organisations

Organisations may be assigned to lower or higher risk category (for the purposes of state inspection frequency, insurance premium calculation, etc.) if additional criteria are to be applied.

Thus, an organization may be assigned a lower H&S risk if, during the past year, there were no occupational injuries at this organization or the organization is not in arrears for salaries or there were no administrative penalties issued to it.

Russia: Proposed additional options for paying advanced environmental fees

Organisations paying environmental fees (i.e. those performing air emissions, wastewater discharges or waste disposal) may be granted more flexibility for the payment of such fees in advance, if the published draft regulation is adopted.

The current procedure for the calculation of quarterly advanced payments of environmental fees requires the payers to pay in advance ¼ of the environmental fee paid for the previous year. As a result, some organisations are likely to significantly overpay their environmental fees.

Russia: Overpaid environmental pollution fees can be reimbursed

Payers of environmental pollution fees (e.g. organisations paying for air emissions, wastewater discharges or waste disposal) can be reimbursed for the amount of any overpaid fees. In order to do so, a payer is required to submit an application to the local branch of the environmental authority (RosPrirodNadzor) .

The letter with the detailed explanation on how to claim such a reimbursement was published by the RosPrirodNadzor on 22 March 2017. 

Ukraine, Issue 20 March 2017

Adopted safety rules for the development of underground minerals

All organisations performing underground mining of ore and non-metallic minerals will have to comply with the adopted safety rules.

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