On consideration of the Draft Law of Ukraine “On Mining Waste Management”

At its meeting on December 4, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management considered the Draft Law of Ukraine “On Mining Waste Management” (Reg. No. 12180 of November 05, 2024), submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (also see information on the EBA website in the News section for November 04, 2024).

Based on the results of the consideration, the Committee decided to recommend to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to include this draft law in the agenda of the twelfth session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation and adopt it as a basis with the revision of provisions in accordance with part 1 of Article 116 of the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

At the same time, the Main Scientific and Expert Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in its 20-page Opinion expressed its comments and suggestions to the draft law, which, in particular, concerned:

• – its terminology, scope and relevant key provisions;
• – insufficient regulation of certain provisions, as well as the lack of proper justification of certain provisions in the accompanying documents;
• – violation of the principle of legal certainty as a basic principle of the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine;
• – lack of a clearly defined mechanism for implementing certain provisions;
• – elimination of a number of internal and other inconsistencies (terminological, logical, substantive);
• – comments on amendments to other legislative acts (including the Civil Code, the Subsoil Code, the Land Code, etc;)
• – the need for technical and legal revision.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the European Business Association also provided their comments and suggestions to the above draft law.

From the Association. This draft law has been developed pursuant to the Association Agreement with the European Union, according to which Ukraine has undertaken to implement the provisions of Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the management of waste from the extractive industry and amending Directive 2004/35/EC 2006/21/EC, which provides for procedures and safeguards to prevent and reduce, as far as possible, any adverse effects on the environment, in particular water, air, soil, fauna, flora and landscape, and any threat that may arise therefrom to public health, resulting from the management of waste from extractive industries.

Directive 2006/21/EC is available at the following links:

https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/984_016-06#Text;
https://www.kmu.gov.ua/storage/app/sites/1/55-GOEEI/direktiva-2006-21-es.pdf
It’s interesting to note that, based on the date of adoption of Directive 2006/21/EC, Ukrainian legislation lags behind EU legislation in this regard by more than 18 years!

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