Legal Regulation of Environmental Expertise

General Provisions

The legal regulation of environmental expertise plays a key role in ensuring environmental protection and preventing negative consequences of economic activities. It establishes the legal basis for evaluating projects, documents, and decisions capable of affecting the ecological condition of territories. Legislation regulates the procedure for conducting the expertise, the authority of experts, and the mandatory consideration of its results when implementing projects and programs.

Environmental expertise represents a legal mechanism aimed at determining the compliance of planned economic and other activities with requirements for environmental safety. State expertise ensures the legal validity of conclusions mandatory for project implementation, while public expertise allows citizens and environmental organizations to participate in monitoring and assessing the impact on the environment. Such a comprehensive approach contributes to increasing transparency and accountability in decision-making.

The legal regulation establishes principles of environmental expertise, including the mandatory conduct of the expertise before implementing objects, comprehensive impact assessment, independence of experts, reliability of presented information, and transparency of procedures. These principles are aimed at ensuring a reliable and objective analysis of environmental risks, reducing negative impact on nature, and protecting citizens' rights to a favorable environment.

The State Environmental Expertise is conducted by federal authorities and authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation in accordance with established laws and regulatory acts. The conclusion of the state expertise may be positive or negative, determining the possibility of financing and implementation of objects. A positive conclusion becomes a mandatory condition for the commencement of project implementation, while a negative one prohibits their implementation until the elimination of identified violations.

Public ecological expertise is conducted at the initiative of citizens and public organizations, as well as local self-government bodies. It allows society to participate in the processes of assessing and controlling environmental risks, with the results being taken into account during state expertise and acquiring legal force after approval by the relevant authorities. Such a system ensures the combination of state control and public participation, increasing the effectiveness of the legal regulation of ecological expertise.

According to S.A. Bogolyubov, ecological expertise, along with the assessment of environmental impact of any economic decision and project, serves as a basis for preventing anti-ecological legislative decisions¹. Considering the relationship between EIA and ecological expertise, M.M. Brinchuk notes that if state ecological expertise represents a legal means of ensuring consideration and implementation of environmental requirements at the stage of adoption of economic, managerial, and other decisions, then EIA is the main legal means of ensuring consideration and implementation of these requirements at the preparation stage

the corresponding economic decision². The legal basis for environmental expertise consists of: Federal Law «On Environmental Protection»; Federal Law «On Environmental Expertise». The aforementioned Federal Law regulates relations in the field of environmental expertise, aims at implementing the constitutional right of citizens of the Russian Federation to a favorable environment through prevention of negative impacts of economic and other activities on the environment.

In Article 1 of the Federal Law «On Environmental Expertise», environmental expertise is defined as establishing compliance of documents and (or) documentation justifying planned economic and other activities in connection with the implementation of the object of environmental expertise, with ecological requirements established by technical regulations and legislation in the field of environmental protection, in order to prevent negative impact of such activities on the environment.

The principles of environmental expertise are: 1) presumption of potential environmental hazards for any planned economic and other activities; 2) mandatory conduct of state environmental expertise before decisions are made on the implementation of objects under environmental expertise; 3) comprehensiveness in assessing the impact of economic and other activities on the environment and their consequences; 4) mandatory consideration of environmental safety requirements during the conduct of environmental expertise; 5) reliability and completeness of information submitted for environmental expertise; 6) independence of environmental expertise experts when

implementation of their powers in the field of environmental expertise; 7) scientific validity, objectivity, and legality of conclusions of environmental expertise; 8) publicity, participation of public organizations (associations), consideration of public opinion; 9) liability of participants in environmental expertise and interested parties for the organization, conduct, and quality of environmental expertise³. In the Russian Federation, state environmental expertise and public environmental expertise are carried out (Article 4 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise"). As noted by M.M. Brinchuk, there are two significant differences between state and public environmental expertise. The first relates to the fact that public expertise is initiative-based, while state expertise is mandatory. The second difference concerns the legal force of the expert opinion. The conclusion of public environmental expertise acquires validity after its approval by a specialized state authority in the field

environmental expertise⁴. At the same time, according to N.V. Kichigin, despite differences in the subjects participating in the expertise, both state and public environmental expertise share one very important element – objects of environmental expertise⁵. M.V. Ponomarev notes that other types of environmental expertise (departmental, scientific) may be conducted as well, however they do not entail legal consequences, in contrast to state environmental expertise in particular⁶. ### State Environmental Expertise

State environmental expertise is organized and conducted by federal executive authorities in the field of environmental expertise and by state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation in accordance with the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise," other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation, laws and other normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation (Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise").

Objects of federal-level state environmental expertise include: 1) projects of normative-technical and instructive-methodological documents in the field of environmental protection, approved by the bodies of state authority of the Russian Federation; 2) projects of federal target programs providing for the construction and operation of facilities of economic activity affecting the environment, in terms of locating such facilities taking into account the protection regime of natural objects; 3) agreements on product sharing; 4) materials for the justification of licenses for certain types of activities,

which have a negative impact on the environment and whose licensing is carried out in accordance with the Federal Law "On Licensing Certain Types of Activities"⁷ (excluding materials justifying licenses for activities related to collection, use, disposal, transportation, and placement of waste) and legislation on the use of atomic energy by federal executive authorities; 5) projects of technical documentation for new equipment and technologies whose use may have an impact on the environment, as well as technical 6) materials of comprehensive environmental surveys justifying the assignment of these territories the legal status of federal-level specially protected natural territories, zones of ecological disaster or zones of extraordinary environmental situations (Article 11 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Impact Assessment").

According to Article 12 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise," state environmental expertise of regional-level objects is conducted by state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation in accordance with the procedures established by this Federal Law and other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation.

Objects of state environmental expertise at the regional level include: 1) projects of regulatory and technical, as well as instructional-methodological documents in the field of environmental protection, approved by the state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation; 2) projects of targeted programs of the subjects of the Russian Federation providing for the construction and operation of objects of economic activity affecting the environment, in terms of locating such objects taking into account the protection regime for natural objects; 3) materials justifying licenses for engaging in certain types of activities,

licensing of which is carried out in accordance with the Federal Law "On Licensing Certain Types of Activities" by executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation (excluding materials justifying licenses for activities related to the collection, use, neutralization, transportation, and disposal of waste); 4) materials of comprehensive environmental surveys of territory areas, justifying the granting of these territories the legal status of specially protected natural areas of regional significance; 5) object of state environmental expertise at the regional level, specified in in this article and previously received a positive conclusion of state environmental expertise, in the case: revising such an object based on comments from the previously conducted state environmental expertise; implementing such an object with deviations from the documentation that received a positive conclusion of state environmental expertise, and (or) in the case of making changes to the aforementioned documentation; expiration of the validity period of the positive conclusion of state environmental expertise; making changes to the documentation for which there is a positive conclusion of state environmental expertise.

According to Article 18 of the Federal Law «On Environmental Expertise», the conclusion of state environmental expertise is a document prepared by the expert commission of state environmental expertise containing substantiated conclusions on compliance of documents and (or) documentation justifying the economic and other activities planned in connection with the implementation of the object of environmental expertise with ecological requirements established by technical regulations and legislation in the field of environmental protection, approved by a qualified majority of the roster composition of the aforementioned expert commission and corresponding to the assignment for conducting an environmental assessment issued by a federal executive authority in the field of environmental assessment or by state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation. To the conclusion prepared by the expert commission of the state environmental assessment, special reasoned opinions of its experts who disagree with the conclusion adopted by this expert commission are attached. The conclusion prepared by the expert commission of the state environmental assessment is signed by the head of this expert commission, its responsible secretary, and all its members and cannot be

The conclusion prepared by the expert commission of state environmental expertise, after its approval by the federal executive authority in the field of environmental expertise or by authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, acquires the status of a state environmental expertise conclusion. The approval of the conclusion prepared by the expert commission of state environmental expertise is an act confirming compliance with the procedure for conducting state environmental expertise as required by the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise" and other regulatory legal acts.

of the Russian Federation. The conclusion of state environmental expertise for objects of federal and regional level environmental expertise, except for projects of normative legal acts of the Russian Federation, may be positive or negative.

A positive conclusion of state environmental expertise is one of the mandatory conditions for financing and implementation of an object subject to state environmental expertise. A positive conclusion of state environmental expertise has legal force for a period determined by the federal executive authority in the field of environmental expertise or by the state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation conducting a specific state environmental expertise.

A positive conclusion of state environmental expertise loses its legal force in the case: revision of the subject of state environmental expertise in accordance with the observations from the previously conducted state environmental expertise; changes to the terms of natural resource use by a federal executive authority in the field of environmental protection; implementation of the subject of state environmental expertise with deviations from the documentation that received a positive conclusion of state environmental expertise and/or in the case of amendments to this documentation; expiration of the validity period of the positive conclusion

state environmental expertise; making changes to project documentation and other documents after receiving a positive conclusion of state environmental expertise.

The legal consequence of a negative conclusion from the state environmental expertise is a prohibition on implementing the object of the state environmental expertise. Non-compliance with the requirement for mandatory conduct of state environmental expertise for an international treaty project serves as grounds for declaring it invalid. Conclusions of the state environmental expertise regarding projects of normative legal acts of the Russian Federation are considered by governmental authorities adopting these acts.

The conclusion of the state environmental expertise is sent to the client. For the purpose of performing the relevant supervisory functions, information on the conclusion of the state environmental expertise is transmitted to territorial bodies of the federal executive authority in the field of environmental protection (in the case when the state environmental expertise is conducted by the federal executive authority in the field of environmental expertise), executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local government bodies, and in cases determined by the federal executive authority in the field...

environmental assessment, - credit institutions that carry out the financing of the implementation of the object of state environmental assessment.

In the case of a negative conclusion of the state environmental expertise, the client may resubmit the materials for repeat state environmental expertise provided that they are revised taking into account the comments set out in this negative conclusion. Conclusions of the state environmental expertise may be challenged in court.

Public Environmental Expertise

Public environmental expertise is organized and conducted at the initiative of citizens and public organizations (associations), as well as at the initiative of local government bodies by public organizations (associations) whose primary activity, in accordance with their charters, is the protection of the environment, including the organization and conduct of environmental expertise, and which are registered in accordance with procedures established by Russian Federation legislation (Article 20 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise"). Public environmental expertise may be conducted in relation to objects

state environmental expertise, except for objects of environmental expertise, information about which constitutes state, commercial, and (or) other classified information protected by law (Article 21 of the Federal Law «On Environmental Expertise»).

Public environmental expertise is conducted prior to the state environmental expertise or simultaneously with it. Public environmental expertise may be conducted independently of the state environmental expertise for the same objects of environmental expertise.

Public organizations (associations) conducting public environmental expertise in accordance with the procedure established by the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise" have the right: to receive from the client documentation subject to environmental expertise in the scope specified in paragraph 1 of Article 14 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise"⁸; to familiarize themselves with normative-technical documentation establishing requirements for conducting state environmental expertise; to participate as observers through their representatives in meetings of expert commissions on state

The requirements provided in paragraph 2⁹ and the second[^10], third[^11], fifth[^12], seventh[^13] paragraphs of paragraph 5 of Article 16 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise" (Article 22 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise") apply to experts involved in conducting public environmental expertise when they perform environmental expertise.

Public environmental expertise is conducted upon condition of state registration of applications by public organizations (associations) for its conduct. If there are applications from two or more public organizations (associations) regarding the conduct of public environmental expertise for one object of environmental expertise, creation of a single expert commission is allowed. The local authority is obliged to register or refuse registration of the application for conducting public environmental expertise within a seven-day period from the date of submission of the application. Application for conducting public environmental expertise, in registration

which was not denied within the specified period is deemed to be registered.

In the statement of public organizations (associations) regarding the conduct of public environmental expertise, the following must be included: the name, legal address, and location (place of residence), the nature of activities stipulated by the charter, information about the composition of the expert commission for public environmental expertise, details on the object of public environmental expertise, and deadlines for conducting the public environmental expertise. Public organizations (associations) organizing public environmental expertise are required to inform the population about the commencement and results of its conduct (Article 23 of the Federal Law «On Environmental»

"expertise"). The state registration of an application for conducting a public environmental expertise may be refused in cases where: public environmental expertise has previously been conducted twice with respect to the object of public environmental expertise; the application for conducting public environmental expertise was submitted regarding an object, information about which constitutes a state, commercial, or other legally protected secret; and the public organization (association) is not registered in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation[^14] on the day of application for state registration

statements on the conduct of public environmental expertise; the charter of the public organization (association) conducting and carrying out public environmental expertise does not comply with the requirements of Article 20 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise"[^15]; the requirements for the content of statements on the conduct of public environmental expertise, provided by Article 23 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise"[^16], are not met. The list of grounds for refusal of state registration of an application for conducting public environmental expertise provided above is exhaustive. Officials of local self-government bodies are responsible for unlawful refusal of state registration of an application for conducting public environmental expertise (Article 24 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise").

The conclusion of the public environmental expertise is sent to the federal executive authority in the field of environmental expertise or to the state authority of a subject of the Russian Federation responsible for conducting state environmental expertise, the client of the documentation subject to public environmental expertise, the bodies making decisions on the implementation of objects of environmental expertise, local government bodies and may be transmitted to other interested parties.

The conclusion of a public environmental expert opinion acquires legal force after its approval by a federal executive authority in the field of environmental expertise or by an organ of state power of a subject of the Russian Federation. When conducting state environmental expertise, the conclusion of a public environmental expert opinion is taken into account if the public environmental expert opinion was conducted with respect to the same object before the day of the expiry of the period for conducting state environmental expertise.

If the conclusion of public environmental expertise is granted legal force, the head and members of the expert commission conducting the public environmental expertise shall be subject to the requirements of Articles 30 - 34 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise" regarding criminal, administrative, material, and civil liability. Conclusions of public environmental expertise may be published in mass media, transmitted to local self-government bodies, state environmental expertise authorities, clients of documentation subject to public environmental expertise, and others to interested parties (Article 25 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Expertise").

environmental expertise»). [^10]: «Conduct a comprehensive, thorough, objective, and integrated analysis of materials submitted for state environmental expertise, taking into account advanced achievements in domestic and foreign science and technology, determine their compliance with normative legal acts of the Russian Federation in the field of environmental protection, normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the field of environmental protection, technical regulations, and provide conclusions on such materials;» (second paragraph of point 5 of Article 16 of the Federal Law «On Environmental Expertise») [^11]: «comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on environmental impact assessment and the legislation of the subjects of the Russian Federation on environmental impact assessment;» (third paragraph of point 5 of article 16 of the Federal Law «On Environmental Impact Assessment»). [^12]: «ensure the objectivity and validity of conclusions in their opinion;» (fifth paragraph of point 5 of article 16 of the Federal Law «On Environmental Impact Assessment»). [^13]: «to ensure preservation of materials and confidentiality of information submitted for state environmental expertise.» (seventh paragraph of point 5 of article 16 of the Federal Law «On Environmental Expertise»). [^14]: See, article 21 of the Federal Law dated May 19, 1995 No. 82-FZ «On Public Organizations» // Collection of Laws of the Russian Federation (Sbornik zakonov RF). 1995. No. 21. Article 1930. [^15]: «Public environmental expertise is organized and conducted on the initiative of citizens and public organizations (associations), as well as on the initiative of local self-government bodies by public organizations (associations) whose primary direction of activities, in accordance with their charters, is environmental protection, including the organization and conduct of environmental expertise, and which are registered in accordance with the procedures established by Russian Federation legislation» (Article 20 of the Federal Law «On Environmental Expertise»). [^16]: «In statements by public organizations (associations) requesting a public environmental expertise, the following must be included: the name, legal address and place of location, nature of activities as stipulated in the charter, information on the composition of the expert commission for public environmental expertise, details regarding the object of public environmental expertise, and timelines for conducting the public environmental expertise» (paragraph 3 of Article 23 of the Federal Law «On Environmental Expertise»).