EIA REGISTER IN UKRAINE –NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR PUBLIC

PARTICIPATION

Geneva, 2018

THE FULFILLMENT BY UKRAINE OF INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE AARHUS CONVENTION For 14 years, Ukraine remained in non-compliance with article 4,

paragraph 1, of the Convention on Access to Information, numerous provisions of Article 6 concerning public participation in the decision-making process, and Article 3, paragraph 1, requiring a clear, transparent and consistent framework for the implementation of the Convention

- Decision II/5b on Compliance by Ukraine, Second Meeting of the Parties, Almaty, Kazakhstan, 2005

- Decision III/6f on compliance by Ukraine with its obligations under the Convention (Ref. Decision II/5b), Third session of Meeting of the Parties, Riga, Latvia, 2008

- Decision IV/9h on compliance by Ukraine with its obligations under the Convention , Fourth session of the Meeting of the Parties, Chisinau (Republic of Moldova), 2011

- Decision V/9m on compliance by Ukraine, Fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties, Maastricht, the Netherlands, 2014

SIGNING THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENTIn 2014 Ukraine has made commitments to implement

EU environmental legislation within the 8 sectors according to 29 EU Directives, including

Horizontal EU Directives• Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to environmental information• Directive 2001/42/EC on SEA• Directive 2003/35/EC on public participation• Directive 2011/92/EC on EIA

THE LAW OF UKRAINE “ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT” from December 18, 2017, after the adoption of the by-laws, the

practical implementation of the law has started (9 months)- over 1600 procedures have been initiated all over the country- about 600 procedures are performed by MENR, the rest at the regional level - over 200 regional public hearing procedures (MENR)- over 200 procedures completed and EIA findings obtained

EIA Registerhttp://eia.menr.gov.ua/provides for the implementation of the procedure online, without

direct contact between the developer and the authority(anti-corruption measure)

the procedure is opened by submitting a notification to the register (the system immediately assigns the case a unique number)

publication of the date of official registration of documents in the register

EIA RegisterAll documents submitted by developer, public or produced by the

authority are available in the Register:• Scoping conditions• All comments from the public (early participation)• EIA REPORT - which is unprecedented(but! The developer has the right to withdraw commercial information)• Announcement on the public consultations on planned activity and

the EIA Report indicating the time and place of the public hearings• EIA Conclusion (decision) and the Report on the results of public

consultations -after completion of the procedure (sometimes these are documents 200 or more pages)

EIA Register

EIA Register

EIA Register

EIA Register - new opportunities for public

• The registry functions in the test mode, but work is underway to improve it and develop additional features and better functionality

• access to all documents - through the Register, the public has the assess to ALL documents within the EIA procedure and which are at the disposal of the authorities as soon as they become available (appear in the Register)

EIA Register - new level of public involvement• awareness raising on EIA among various stakeholders -

successful case on the EIA procedure intensified community initiatives

• NGO SaveDnipro created a mobile application on TELEGRAM “SaveEcobot”, which allows you to receive notifications through the EIA procedure :

- in a specific region- specific project submitted for EIA

As soon as any document appears in the Register subscriber receives notification and can see this document directly in the application. It also allows to send comments, as the application has forms and templates

EIA Register - new level of public involvement

EIA Register - further steps Register improvement - expanding the functionality development of the Transboundary part (module) strengthening the institutional capacity of the authority strengthening the coordination of regional environmental

authorities and the Ministry of Environmentimprovement of the provisions of the Law on EIA after the

year of its implementationIntegration register with other open data portals

Thank you for your attention!Hope for further cooperation!

Maryna SHIMKUS, Head of EIA Assessment Division, MENRGalyna SIEROVA, Director Aarhus information awareness centre