Law No. 54 on ecological expertise.

The current Law regulates legal relationships in the field of ecological expertise being aimed at exercising rights of citizens for prolific environment by means of prevention of negative ecological consequences originating from fulfilment of economic and other activities. Goals of the ecological expertise are as follows: 1) prevention of negative impacts from realization of planned management, economic or other activities on human health and the environment; 2) assessment of compliance of planned management, economic, investment or other activities with ecological requirements at stages preceding decision making about their implementation, as well as during their construction and realization. The ecological expertise is based on the following principles: 1) compulsory realization of the state ecological expertise before making a decision on execution of the project; 2) presumption of potential ecological risk arising from any planned economic or other activity; 3) integrated impact and consequence assessment of the activity under expertise on the environment and taking into consideration ecological safety requirements; 4) adequacy of information submitted for the ecological expertise; 5) independency of expert bodies and experts while acting by their authority in the field of ecological expertise; 6) openness; 7) taking into account public opinion; 8) responsibility of the parties involved for organization, realization, quality of ecological expertise, and implementation of its recommendations. The Law consists of 8 Sections composed of 25 articles. Section 1 (arts. 1-5) lays down general provisions. Section 2 (arts. 6-8) regards authority of state bodies in the field of ecological enterprise. Section 3 (arts. 9-13) specifies the modalities of state ecological enterprise. Section 4 (arts. 14-17) regards public ecological enterprise. Section 5 (arts. 18-20) establishes rights and duties of initiators and designers of project and other documentation. Section 6 (arts. 21 and 22) regards funding of ecological expertise. Section 7 (art. 23) establishes liability for the infringement of legislation on ecological expertise. Section 8 (arts. 24 and 25) lays down final provisions.