Resolution No. 541 of the Cabinet of Ministers “On further improvement of the environmental impact assessment mechanism.”

This Resolution establishes that proposals shall be submitted to hold public hearings to discuss the ongoing negative impacts on the environment and public health of activities with planned high and medium environmental impacts. Following risk classification as: (a) high (belonging to category I); (b) medium (belonging to category II); and (c) low risk (belonging to category III), as well as locally impacting (belonging to category IV) and a list of activities carried out by the State Environmental Audit in accordance with Appendix 1. State environmental audit of activities related to categories I, II, III and IV of environmental impact assessment shall be organized, prepared and materials submitted for the examination, determining the conditions for conducting the examination, establishing the rights and obligations of participants in conducting the examination, as well as the status of the conclusion of the examination in accordance with the Appendix 2. EIA drafts that determine the procedure for organizing and conducting public hearings to discuss among the population and the public the negative impact on the environment of planned, proposed or ongoing activities related to categories I and II of environmental impact, as well as the legal status of participants in public hearings, shall be approved in accordance with Appendix 3. The State Committee on Ecology shall be designated as a specially authorized state body in the field of state environmental impact assessment and assigned the following functions when conducting state environmental impact assessment: (a) organization and conduct of state environmental impact assessment; (b) development and approval of regulatory, technical and educational documents on state and public environmental impact assessment; (c) attracting experts and specialists, including foreign and international experts, to conduct state environmental impact assessments; (d) send proposals to banks and other credit organizations for financing facilities that have not received a positive conclusion from the state environmental impact assessment, providing them with loans and suspending (terminating) other financial transactions; (e) monitoring and control of the implementation of the conclusions of the state environmental impact assessment; (f) cooperation with environmental organizations of other countries and international organizations in order to exchange experience on issues of conducting state environmental impact assessment; and (g) assessment of the quality of materials and projects developed by organizations developing material projects, and environmental standards for assessing the impact on the environment and forming a rating of development organizations.