Today, on October 21, 2021, within the framework of the High Segment, the 7th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention formally approved a number of decisions on compliance by the Parties with the provisions of the Convention following results of consideration of relevant cases by the Compliance Committee. Among other violators this time again appears Ukraine. This is a case against Ukraine, initiated under communication ACCC/C/2014/118 submitted by International charitable organization “Environment-People-Law” in 2014.
By its decision VII/8r, the Meeting of the Parties approved the following findings of the Compliance Committee:
(a) By failing to provide access upon request to either the full text of the production-sharing agreements for the Yuzivska and Oleska oil fields, or redacted versions thereof, the Party concerned failed to comply with article 4 (1) of the Convention;
(b) By failing to carry out a public participation procedure meeting the requirements of article 6 regarding the draft production-sharing agreements for the Yuzivska and Oleska oil fields, the Party concerned failed to comply with article 6 (1) (a) of the Convention;
(c) By establishing a legal framework in which public participation under article 6 of the Convention will only be carried out once a production-sharing agreement is already at the implementation stage, the Party concerned failed to comply with article 6 (4) of the Convention;
(d) By denying a non-governmental organization meeting the requirements of article 2 (5) standing to challenge the legality of a production-sharing agreement subject to article 6, the Party concerned failed to comply with article 9 (2) of the Convention;
(e) By failing to ensure that the requested environmental information was disclosed promptly after the court had ordered it to be disclosed, the Party concerned failed to comply with the requirement in article 9 (4) of the Convention to provide an adequate and effective remedy for the review of environmental information requests;
In the light of these findings, the Meeting of the Parties recommended that Ukraine take the necessary legislative, regulatory, administrative or other measures to ensure that:
(a) Subject to any redactions made in accordance with article 4 (3) and (4) of the Convention, the texts of production-sharing agreements are to be provided in full to members of the public upon request in accordance with article 4 of the Convention;
(b) Public participation meeting the requirements of article 6 of the Convention is to be carried out regarding draft production-sharing agreements prior to their approval, at an early stage when all options are open and effective public participation can take place;
(c) Non-governmental organizations meeting the requirements of article 2 (5) are deemed to have standing in review procedures under article 9 (2) of the Convention;
(d) Adequate and effective remedies are put in place to ensure that orders by the courts to public authorities to disclose environmental information are promptly complied with.
The Meeting of the Parties requested Ukraine to submit a plan of action (including a time schedule) to implement the above recommendations by 1 July 2022, as well as to provide by1 October 2023 and 1 October 2024 detailed progress reports on the measures taken and the results achieved in the implementation of the plan of action and the above recommendations. The Meeting of the Parties also undertook to review this situation at its eighth session in 2025.
We sincerely hope that the conclusions of the Compliance Committee, approved by the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention, will receive a swift and appropriate response from the Ukrainian government. By this we mean, in particular, providing the public with the texts of production sharing agreements, making changes in the current legislation, as well as making appropriate adjustment of current legislative initiatives, in particular of the draft Code of Minerals. International charitable organization “Environment-People-Law”, which since 2014 has been defending the rights of the public in the context of production sharing agreements, expresses its readiness to provide assistance to the Ministry of Environment, the Verkhovna Rada and other relevant bodies in implementing the above recommendations.
