Policy-brief on the reformation of the environmental control system

Since the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence, environmental control has repeatedly been reformed. The goal of the reform is to ensure real environmental protection, timely suspension and prevention of harm that may be caused to the environment, compensation for it, detection and suspension of violations, and bringing the perpetrators to justice. However, environmental control is still inoperative and practically does not achieve the goal of preserving the environment, which is consequently contaminated.

1. Challenges of the sector since 2014

In 2014, the challenges of the reform of the environmental control in the environmental protection sector were the change of the goal (control of compliance with environmental norms and preventing damage to the environment rather than control over the activities of economic entities) and the procedure for environmental control (implementation of control measures promptly, without approval by any authorities), creation of an independent environmental control body (without subordination to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources), providing the body with the necessary material and technical base (transport, special means for taking samples, laboratories for testing samples, etc.).

In addition, the reform needed changes in the areas that are adjacent to environmental control: monitoring of the state of the environment (monitoring of various elements of the environment, establishment of an open database with indicators on the state of the environment, etc.), supervision (separation of supervisory and control functions, establishment of an independent supervisory body), environmental liability (ensuring the inevitability and proportionality of the degree of responsibility with the offenses committed), managing funds received during the implementation of environmental control (funds that are levied for environmental damage, environmental taxes, etc. should be used only in the environmental area), raising environmental awareness of population.

2. Successes of the reform since 2014

In 2014, a moratorium on scheduled inspections of business entities was introduced as a transitional period during which environmental control issues, including corruption risks and excessive pressures on business, should have been solved. During 2016-2017, the Concept of reforming the system of state supervision (control) in the field of environmental protection was developed and adopted. Although the Concept envisages liquidation of the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine (DEI of Ukraine), alongside with the approval of the Concept, the government adopted a new provision on the DEI of Ukraine. Since the beginning of 2018, the government has adopted decisions on implementation of the Concept, which, however, contradict its provisions:

1. New territorial bodies should belong to the new environment protection body. What the government did:

• Created them as part of the DEI of Ukraine.

2. Territorial bodies of environmental control should be created on the level of regions and oblasts. What the government did:

• Cancelled part of oblast territorial bodies and created only interregional ones.

3. The reform of control envisages changes of the procedure of performing it. What the government did:

• Changed the system of bodies but not the procedure of performing control.

At the end of 2018, there was registered a draft law «On the State Environmental Protection Service of Ukraine”¹ developed by the Ministry of Environment and the Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Environment. The draft law creates a new body and endows it with monitoring functions but it does not change the procedure of performing control and the body remains subordinated to the Ministry of Environment. In view of this, the public developed and registered an alternative draft law “On the State Inspectorate of Environmental Protection of Ukraine²».

Transparency and effectiveness of control primarily depends not on the name of the body or its structure, but on the principles and procedures of control that are approved at the state level. In fact, during 2014-2018, no decisions were adopted to address the challenges faced by environmental control.

3. Next steps in reformation of the sector

The challenges faced by the reform in 2014 are still actual today. The next steps in the reform of eco-control should be: the creation of an independent environmental control body with simultaneous changing the procedure of implementing environmental control³, providing it with the necessary material and technical base, and changing the goal of the control. In addition, there should be reformed monitoring of the state of the environment, environmental liability, the use of funds received as compensation for environmental impacts, as well as measures taken to increase the environmental awareness of the population.

During the implementation of the reform it is necessary to take into account the influence of the following stakeholders:
– authorities (the government, the Ministry of Environment, the Parliament, the DEI of Ukraine and its territorial bodies, other bodies that perform control in the field of environmental protection, bodies of local self-government);
– the population (suffering from environmental pollution or causing environmental damage, for example is engaged in poaching, etc.);
– business (those representatives who suffer from excessive number of inspections, corruption cases, and those that cause damage to the environment by their activities, operate without the necessary permits, filters, etc.).

4. The cost of non-doing (non-implementation of the reform)

Non-implementation of the aforementioned steps will lead to further pollution of the environment. This will impact lives and health of the population as well as financial situation of the state. For instance, according to the 2016 WHO data, Ukraine is rated the fourth in Europe by the number of deaths per 100 thousand persons (137 deaths) as a result of air pollution, while economic assessmen of social value of premature deaths⁴ from diseases caused by air pollution in Ukraine is USD 94 201 million ⁵. Moreover, the control will remain non-operational. Environmental protection will be performed post-factum when irreparable damage has already been done and it entails adverse consequences for the population and the state in general while it is not possible to identify those who bear the responsibility.

5. Impact of the proposed changes on each citizen as “final consumer”

Both virtuous citizens and violators of environmental norms get benefits from the control reform. Implementation of the changes will allow to effectively protect their environmental rights, ensure accessibility of the data on the state of various elements of the environment, etc. The influence on the violators will be in the form of bringing the latter to justice. In addition, those who voluntarily use natural resources will lose their source of income, or will incur additional costs for legal stocking up of timber or other resources. In the long term perspective, due to the control reform, there will be significantly less negative impact on the environment, and, accordingly, on the state of health and life of all categories of the population.