State Environmental Oversight

General Provisions

State environmental supervision is a key element of the environmental protection system in the Russian Federation, ensuring centralized control over compliance with environmental legislation. It aims to prevent, detect and eliminate violations related to the use of natural resources and impact on the environment, as well as to monitor the condition of natural objects.

The activities of state environmental supervision are carried out by federal executive authorities and executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation. They conduct planned and unplanned inspections of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and citizens, assess compliance with norms, instructions and requirements of environmental legislation, and take measures to eliminate identified violations.

The state environmental supervision covers a wide range of areas: use and protection of mineral resources, land supervision, waste management, protection of atmospheric air and water bodies, control over specially protected natural territories, forests, wildlife, and aquatic biological resources. It also applies to federal objects, activities at hazardous production facilities, and zones posing an increased ecological risk.

An important feature of the supervision is its independence, and the procedure for conducting inspections is strictly regulated by legislation. Routine inspections are carried out no more frequently than once every three years, while unscheduled inspections are initiated in cases of threats to the environment, violations of legislation, or based on citizens' complaints or requirements from prosecutorial authorities.

The development and improvement of state environmental supervision allows for increasing the effectiveness of nature protection policy, minimizing ecological risks, and stimulating enterprises to comply with environmental standards. This contributes to the sustainable use of natural resources, preservation of ecosystems, and strengthening of environmental security of the Russian Federation.

As noted by S.A. Bogolyubov, despite various incentives for public, municipal, industrial, and other forms of environmental monitoring, state control continues to prevail. This occurs both due to established traditions and because the natural resources of Russia, including due to the vastness of its territory, require centralized management, systematic study, and rational use¹.

State environmental supervision refers to the activities of authorized federal executive bodies and executive bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation aimed at preventing, detecting, and halting violations by state authorities, local self-government bodies, as well as legal entities, their managers and other officials, individual entrepreneurs, their authorized representatives, and citizens of requirements established in accordance with international agreements of the Russian Federation, the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection," other federal laws, and other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation adopted in accordance therewith, as well as laws and other normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the field of environmental protection, through organizing and conducting inspections of these persons, taking measures provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation to halt and (or) eliminate the consequences of identified violations, and the activity of authorized state authorities in systematic monitoring of the implementation of mandatory requirements, analysis and forecasting of the status of compliance with mandatory requirements during the performance of by state authorities, local self-government bodies, legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and citizens in their activities (paragraph 1 of Article 65 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection")

Among the main principles of environmental protection, the independence of state environmental supervision is provided for (Article 3 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection").

State environmental supervision includes: state supervision of geological exploration, rational use and protection of mineral resources; state land supervision; state supervision in the field of waste management; state supervision in the field of atmospheric air protection; state supervision in the field of use and protection of water objects; state environmental supervision on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation; state environmental supervision in internal waters and the territorial sea of the Russian Federation; state environmental supervision in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation; state environmental supervision in the field of Lake Baikal protection; federal state forest supervision (forest protection); federal state supervision in the field of protection, reproduction and use of wildlife objects and their habitats; federal state control (supervision) in the field of fishing and conservation of aquatic biological resources; federal state hunting supervision; supervision; state supervision in the field of protection and use of specially protected natural territories; state supervision over compliance with requirements for handling ozone-depleting substances.

The federal state environmental supervision over legal entities and individual entrepreneurs engaged in economic or other activities using objects, at least one of which is subject to federal state environmental supervision, is carried out by the authorized federal executive body.

The state environmental supervision is conducted by authorized federal executive bodies (federal state environmental supervision) and executive bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation (regional state environmental supervision) (hereinafter - state supervision bodies) within their competence in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, in the order established respectively by the Government of the Russian Federation and the highest executive body of state authority of the subject of the Russian Federation.

In the event that state construction supervision is provided for during the construction or reconstruction of capital construction objects, state environmental supervision shall be carried out within the framework of state construction supervision by executive authorities authorized to perform state construction supervision in accordance with legislation on urban development activities.

Relations related to the implementation of state environmental supervision, as well as the organization and conduct of inspections of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, are governed by the provisions of the Federal Law "On the Protection of the Rights of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs during the Implementation of State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control"² (Article 65 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection").

Scheduled inspections are conducted no more frequently than once every three years (paragraph 2 of Article 9 of the Federal Law "On the Protection of the Rights of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs in the Implementation of State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control").

The basis for conducting an unscheduled inspection is:

1) the expiry of the period during which a legal entity or individual entrepreneur has been required to comply with a previously issued order to eliminate a detected violation of mandatory requirements and (or) requirements established by municipal normative acts;

2) receipt by state control (supervision) bodies, municipal control bodies of complaints and applications from citizens, including individual entrepreneurs and legal entities, information from state authorities, local self-government bodies, or the mass media regarding the following facts:

a) emergence of a threat to life, health of citizens, harm to animals, plants, the environment, objects of cultural heritage (monuments of history and culture) of the peoples of the Russian Federation, state security, as well as threats of natural and man-made emergencies;

b) causing harm to life, health of citizens, harm to animals, plants, the environment, objects of cultural heritage (monuments of history and culture) of the peoples of the Russian Federation, state security, as well as occurrence of natural and man-made emergencies;

c) violation of consumer rights (in the case of citizens whose rights have been violated);

3) an order (directive) issued by the head of a state control (supervision) authority in accordance with instructions from the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, and based on the prosecutor's request to conduct an unscheduled inspection within the framework of supervision over law enforcement based on materials and complaints received by the prosecution authorities (paragraph 2 of Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protecting the Rights of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs in the Exercise of State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control").

According to Article 65 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection," state environmental supervision is organized and carried out taking into account the categories of objects of economic and other activities conducted by legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, and citizens, as well as taking into account the list of violations of Russian Federation legislation in the field of environmental protection that pose a threat of causing harm to the environment.

The criteria and (or) indicators of negative impact of objects of economic and other activities on the environment, based on which categories of economic and other activities carried out by legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and citizens are established for the purposes of state environmental supervision, and the list of violations of Russian Federation legislation in the field of environmental protection that pose a threat of causing harm to the environment, are determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.

At present, in force is the Government Decree of the Russian Federation dated 31.03.2009 No. 285 "On the List of Objects Subject to Federal State Environmental Control"³. In accordance with the aforementioned decree, objects subject to federal state environmental control are:

1. Objects of economic and other activities regardless of the form of ownership under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation: a) objects related to federal energy systems, federal transport, communication lines, including telecommunications networks, as well as linear objects ensuring the operation of subjects of natural monopolies; b) objects associated with the use of atomic energy, ensuring defense and state security, relating to defense production, including objects located within internal controlled and (or) prohibited zones, as well as those providing space activities; c) objects related to the production of toxic substances and narcotic drugs; d) objects located on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation and (or) within the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation; e) objects exerting a negative impact on objects requiring special protection: objects included in the World Heritage List for cultural heritage and the World Heritage List for natural heritage, specially protected areas natural territories of federal significance, as well as natural complexes subject to the provisions of international agreements of the Russian Federation; natural objects of the Baikal Natural Territory.
2. Objects of economic and other activities that contribute to transboundary pollution of the environment and have a negative impact on the environment.
3. Objects subject to federal state control and supervision over the use and protection of water bodies in accordance with the criteria established by Government Decree of the Russian Federation dated November 4, 2006, No. 640⁴.
4. Objects subject to state forest control and supervision carried out by federal executive authorities in accordance with the Regulation on the Implementation of State Forest Control and Supervision, approved by Government Decree of the Russian Federation dated June 22, 2007, No. 394⁵.
5. Objects subject to state land supervision carried out by federal executive authorities in accordance with the Regulation on State Land Supervision, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation Decree dated 02.01.2015 No. 1⁶.
6. Objects subject to state control over geological exploration, rational use and protection of mineral resources carried out by federal executive authorities in accordance with the Regulation on State Control over Geological Exploration, Rational Use and Protection of Mineral Resources, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation Decree dated May 12, 2005 No. 293⁷.
7. Objects of economic and other activities that have a negative impact on the environment, not listed in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this list, which are classified by the Federal Law "On Industrial Safety of Hazardous Production Facilities" as hazardous production facilities.

It is important to note that as of January 1, 2019, paragraph 9 of Article 65 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" comes into force, according to which routine inspections are not conducted in relation to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs carrying out economic and (or) other activities on objects of category IV (low-risk hazardous production facilities)⁸⁹.

By the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation¹⁰, a list of violations of environmental legislation that pose a threat of causing harm to the environment for the purposes of state ecological oversight has been approved. This list includes the following violations:

1. Carrying out economic and other activities without permits, which are required for the conduct of such activities within established environmental impact norms, the presence of which is mandatory in accordance with environmental protection legislation.
2. Carrying out economic and other activities on the basis of permits specified in paragraph 1 of this list, exceeding the established environmental impact norms, the presence of which is mandatory in accordance with environmental protection legislation.
3. Violation of prohibitions regarding the conduct of economic and other activities having a negative impact on the environment, or failure to perform obligations to carry out environmental protection measures during such activities, as stipulated by environmental protection legislation.

Judicial Practice

The federal environmental supervision authority and the corresponding state authority of a subject of the Russian Federation, acting in the public interest, have the right to file a claim for compensation for damage caused to the environment, regardless of which government body conducted the environmental supervision (control) activities with respect to the subsoil user.

The Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources filed a claim against the joint-stock company for monetary compensation for damage caused to a water object - a river - as a result of violations of water legislation.

In support of the claim, the service referred to the results of a planned on-site inspection, during which it was established that, in the course of its business activities, the party uses a surface water object - a river - by discharging wastewater at concentrations exceeding the established limits, leading to secondary pollution of water and gradual degradation of the existing ecological system in the water body.

In response to the claim, the defendant stated that the claim was filed by an unauthorized person.

In satisfying the plaintiff's claims, the court rejected the argument presented by the company, noting the following.

According to the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 65 of the Law on Environmental Protection, state environmental monitoring (supervision) is carried out through federal state environmental monitoring (supervision), conducted by Rosprirodnadzor and its territorial bodies, as well as through regional state environmental monitoring (supervision), conducted by authorized executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with Articles 5 and 6 of the Law on Environmental Protection, filing lawsuits for compensation of damage to the environment caused as a result of violations of legislation in the field of environmental protection falls within the competence of both federal government bodies responsible for relations related to environmental protection and government bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

When bringing claims for compensation of damage, the bodies carrying out state environmental supervision (oversight) act not in their own interest, but in the public interest; therefore, their procedural position is determined according to the rules of Article 53 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of the Russian Federation and Article 46 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

As a federal executive body, Rosprirodnadzor and its territorial (interregional) bodies carry out federal state environmental oversight. As follows from the provisions in force at the time of filing the claim regarding the territorial body of Rosprirodnadzor (the plaintiff), this body performs certain functions of the federal body within the territory of the Siberian Federal District, within internal waters, in the territorial sea, in the exclusive economic zone and on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation, and also serves as a regional-level territorial body of Rosprirodnadzor performing certain functions of Rosprirodnadzor within the territories of Novosibirsk and Omsk regions.

Since the object causing a negative impact on the environment was subject to federal environmental supervision, the authority was lawfully entitled to file a claim for compensation of damage, acting in the public interest.

Rejecting the arguments that only the regional state environmental monitoring (supervision) authority which identified the relevant violation could be the proper plaintiff in a claim for compensation of damage, the court also noted that making claims against the subject of federal supervision who caused damage to an object under regional supervision cannot lead to adverse legal consequences, since according to the meaning of paragraph 22 of Article 46 of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation, payments from claims for compensation of damage to the environment, as well as payments made in connection with voluntary compensation of damage to the environment, are at least to be credited to the corresponding budget regardless of who submitted the claim.

Source: Overview of judicial practice on issues of applying environmental protection legislation (approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on 24.06.2022)

20. Art. 1885.

• hazardous production facilities of high hazard; III hazard class - hazardous production facilities of medium hazard; IV hazard class - hazardous production facilities of low hazard" (paragraph 3 of article 2 of the Federal Law dated 21.07.1997 No. 116-FZ "On Industrial Safety of Hazardous Production Facilities").