On March 28, the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Improvement of Legislation in the Field of Subsoil Use” dated December 1, 2022 No. 2805-IX entered into force. This law creates new rules in the field of subsoil use and effectively restarts the industry in order to develop and attract investment.
Prior to this law, regulation in the field of subsoil use was complex, confusing and burdensome for businesses. This did not allow the industry to develop, and Ukraine – to provide the needs of the economy with its own mining of minerals. Thus, in 2019, only about 35% of over 9,000 industrially important mineral deposits were developed.
In order to obtain a special permit for the use of subsoil, the investor had to prepare dozens of documents, obtain impractical and burdensome approvals and permits.
Law No. 2805 corrects this situation and creates a transparent, convenient and understandable subsoil use system, in particular by cancelдing outdated and obsolete regulatory instruments, including:
- the need to obtain approval for the provision of subsoil for use in the regional, Kyiv and Sevastopol city councils;
- the need to obtain approval for the provision of subsoil for use in village, settlement, city, district councils and councils of united territorial communities;
- the need to obtain the approval of the Ministry of Environment for the provision of subsoil for use without an auction;
- the need to agree on the provision of subsoil for use for the extraction of underground water (except for mineral water) and the development of peat deposits
- with the State Labor Service and the State Production and Consumption Service;
- the need for approval of the mineral deposit development project and processing of mineral raw materials from the State Geological Survey;the need to approve
- the plan for the development of mineral deposits and the processing of mineral raw materials from the State Geodesy;
- the need to obtain annual approval of the company’s mining development plan from the State Labor Office;
- the need to obtain an Act on the granting of a mining right-of-way for the purpose of developing minerals of local importance;
- the need to agree on the issue of providing a land plot during the design of mining facilities.
A number of these regulatory instruments were considered at the meeting of the IWG on deregulation and recommended for cancellation – in particular, those that belong to the sphere of competence of the Ministry of Environment. When making the decision, the criteria for conformity of regulatory instruments with European and international obligations were taken into account. It was proposed to cancel 45% of regulatory instruments from the Ministry of Environment, and another 45% of instruments – licenses, permits, approvals – to be modernized or digitised.
The IWG on deregulation is headed by First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko and Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. The meetings are also attended by representatives of leading analytical centres, in particular the BRDO.