Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated February 27, 2024 No. 130 “On Amending Resolutions of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus” (hereinafter referred to as the resolution) has been adopted and comes into force on April 26, 2024.
The resolution combines 23 acts of the Government, adjusted in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated July 17, 2023 No. 294-Z “On Amending the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Environmental Protection”, and also recognizes certain provisions of a number of regulatory legal acts as invalid.
The following resolutions of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus have been brought into line with the said Law:
in particular, those regulating issues of conducting types of environmental monitoring:
- dated July 14, 2003 No. 949 “On the National Environmental Monitoring System in the Republic of Belarus”
- dated February 16, 2004 No. 161 “On Approval of the Regulation on the Procedure for Conducting Ozone Layer Monitoring and Using Its Data as Part of the National Environmental Monitoring System in the Republic of Belarus”;
- dated April 14, 2004 No. 412 “On Approval of the Regulations on the Procedure for Conducting Plant World Monitoring, Geophysical Monitoring and Using Their Data as Part of the National Environmental Monitoring System in the Republic of Belarus”;
- dated April 28, 2004 No. 482 “On Conducting Certain Types of Environmental Monitoring and Using Their Data”;
- dated May 17, 2004 No. 576 “On Conducting Radiation Monitoring and Using Its Data”;
- of March 28, 2007 No. 386 “On Approval of the Regulation on the Procedure for Conducting Land Monitoring and the Use of Its Data as Part of the National Environmental Monitoring System in the Republic of Belarus”;
- of July 25, 2013 No. 653 “On Approval of the Regulation on the Procedure for Conducting Wildlife Monitoring and the Use of Its Data”;
- of June 22, 2020 No. 358 “On Measures to Implement the Law of the Republic of Belarus of December 18, 2019 No. 272-Z “On the Protection and Use of Peatlands”;
other issues in the field of environmental protection, rational use of natural resources:
- of July 21, 2003 No. 963 “On Certain Issues of Control in the Field of Environmental Protection, Rational Use of Natural Resources, Carried Out by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and Its Territorial Bodies”;
- of May 24, 2008 No. 734 “On the State Fund of Data on the State of the Environment and Impacts on It”;
- of May 18, 2009 No. 638 “On the Treatment of Wild Animals and Wild Plants”;
- of July 12, 2013 No. 611 “On Approval of the Regulation on the Procedure for Transferring Typical and (or) Rare Natural Landscapes and Biotopes for Protection to Users of Land Plots and (or) Water Bodies”;
- of November 26, 2010 No. 1733 “On Establishing Requirements for the Contents of the National Ecological Network Scheme and Criteria for Selecting Territories for Inclusion in the National Ecological Network”;
- of December 12, 2011 No. 1677 “On Approval of the Regulation on the Procedure for Issuing Integrated Environmental Permits”;
- of June 20, 2013 No. 503 “On the Issues of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus”;
- of March 2, 2015 No. 152 “On the Implementation of the Water Code of the Republic of Belarus”;
- of May 26, 2016 No. 412 “On Approval of the Regulation on the Procedure for Conducting Environmental Audits”;
- of December 3, 2020 No. 696 “On the Procedure for Maintaining the State Waste Cadastre”;
of December 21, 2020 No. 743 “On Measures to Implement the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of September 16, 2020 No. 345”; - of March 9, 2021 No. 137 “On the Implementation of the Provisions of the Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change”;
- from September 24, 2021 No. 548 “On administrative procedures carried out in relation to business entities”;
- from November 17, 2021 No. 668 “On restoring order on the land”;
- from December 10, 2021 No. 710 “On the National Action Plan for the Development of the “green” economy in the Republic of Belarus for 2021 – 2025″.
Basically, the resolution provides for bringing the terminology in line with the aforementioned legislative acts, a different presentation of the rules without significantly changing the legal regulation of relations in this part, as well as:
- determination of the procedure for maintaining state and production records of greenhouse gas emissions from sources and their absorption by absorbers, as well as the procedure and conditions for limiting greenhouse gas emissions from sources and (or) the use of substances that contribute to their formation by business entities;
- expansion of the list of officials of the Ministry of Natural Resources and its territorial bodies who have the right to exercise control in the area of environmental protection and rational (sustainable) use of natural resources;
- determination of the procedure for the formation and maintenance of the state register of environmental information on the state of the environment and the impact on it;
- addition of purposes for which a permit is issued for the removal of wild animals and wild plants (replantation of wild plants), objects subject to removal (derivatives), as well as determining the procedure for making a decision on the termination of such permits;
- improvement of the procedure for issuing integrated environmental permits (the permit issuing authority is given the opportunity to travel to the location of the facility when reviewing documents; the validity periods of permits are set to be similar to the validity periods of permits for emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere);
- supplementing the functions of the Ministry of Natural Resources by organizing environmental audits by subordinate organizations, coordinating the implementation of the national action plan for the development of a “green” economy in the Republic of Belarus, maintaining state records of greenhouse gas emissions from sources and their absorption by absorbers, etc.
