On February 1, 2023, the government draft law # 8410 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Impact Assessment” was registered in the Verkhovna Rada. This is essentially the first systematic revision of the law on EIA since its adoption in 2017.
As indicated in the explanatory table, the draft law was developed with the aim of improving the norms of the current Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Impact Assessment” in connection with the need to implement the principles of digitalization of the permit procedure, as well as with the aim of shortening the terms of the EIA procedure and reducing the body’s discretionary powers when making decisions within the procedure. In our opinion, the proposed changes are much broader and deeper than stated, and while most of them are worth implementing, some are causing serious concern among representatives of civil society. What exactly is it all about?
