Today, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Andrei Khudyk took part and made reports on two draft laws in the field of ecology at a meeting of the eleventh session of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus of the seventh convocation.
The draft laws of the Republic of Belarus “On the handling of genetic resources” and “On amendments to laws” were submitted for approval to members of the upper house of Parliament. Both draft laws were supported by senators.
The Law “On the Handling of Genetic Resources” is a new legislative act for the Republic of Belarus; its preparation was carried out on the basis of the concept approved in 2022 by the Head of State.
The draft law takes into account the main provisions of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, to which Belarus has become a party since 2014, as well as the established practice in the republic of enforcing the provisions of the Nagoya Protocol.
The draft law will establish national legal regulation of relations related to access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits from their use.
The conceptual apparatus, basic principles, powers of state bodies, a list of conditions of a civil law contract concluded between suppliers and users of genetic resources, their rights and obligations, the procedure for monitoring, responsibility and distribution of monetary and non-monetary benefits from the use of genetic resources will be defined.
The draft law also defines a mechanism for ensuring access to genetic resources on the basis of an internationally recognized certificate, which will be issued by the National Coordination Center at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.
The Law “On Amending Laws” was developed to ensure the implementation of the President’s order to reduce the administrative burden on business in the country by reducing and simplifying administrative procedures.
The bill includes adjustments to the laws “On Hydrometeorological Activities”, “On Renewable Energy Sources”, and the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Subsoil.
Thus, in the sphere of hydrometeorological activities, due to lack of demand, the administrative procedure for obtaining permission to perform work on active influence on meteorological and other geophysical processes is abolished.
Changes to the Law “On Renewable Energy Sources” will eliminate the need for business entities to apply for a new certificate confirming the origin of energy for the same installation after its expiration (10 years), as well as to obtain a certificate before accepting the facility into operation.
Considering the fact that previously it was allowed to use previously operated installations for the production of energy from renewable energy sources, most of those in operation have already exhausted their service life and may soon lose their consumer properties. In connection with this, the draft Law establishes the obligation of energy producers to ensure the disposal of installations unsuitable for operation.
In the field of protection and use of subsoil, the procedure for obtaining approvals for projects for the conservation, de-conservation and liquidation of mine workings and mining enterprises is simplified.
Currently, approvals for such projects are issued in the areas of activity of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the State Industrial Supervision Authority, the local executive and administrative body, and the State Institution “Administration of the China-Belarus Industrial Park “Great Stone”.
After amendments are made to the Subsoil Code of the Republic of Belarus, approval of projects for the conservation, re-conservation and liquidation of mine workings and mining enterprises will be carried out by the Ministry of Natural Resources or its territorial body (depending on the type of mineral), which will independently request the necessary information from other state bodies and organizations.
In addition, the procedure for obtaining mining and geological allotments by legal entities has been revised (the list of documents provided by the subsoil user for the implementation of the administrative procedure has been reduced), as well as the terms for the state geological examination of project documentation for geological study (from 2 months to 30 working days) and the registration of work on the geological study of the subsoil (from 10 to 5 days).
