Legal regime of zones of emergency situations

General Provisions

The legal regime of emergency situations zones represents a set of norms regulating the order of protecting the population, territories, and the environment in the event of natural and man-made threats.

It is based on a number of federal laws and defines rules of behavior for government bodies, organizations, and citizens under conditions of increased danger.

The key role in implementing state policy in this area is played by the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry (MCHS Russia), coordinating the prevention and elimination of emergency situations.

Zone of Emergency Situations is characterized as territory where threats to human life and health, the environment, and infrastructure objects have arisen.

Legislation establishes procedures for determining the boundaries of such zones, their classification by the scale of consequences, as well as response levels – from object-level to federal.

The special importance lies in the functioning of a unified state system for preventing and eliminating emergency situations, ensuring operational response, protection of the population, and minimization of damage.

Introducing special regimes allows for restrictive measures aimed at ensuring safety and restoring the disrupted environment.

Among the main federal laws defining the legal regime of emergency situation zones, the following can be highlighted: Federal Law "On Environmental Protection"; Federal law "On Protecting the Population and Territories from Natural and Technological Emergencies"; Federal Law "On Industrial Safety of Hazardous Production Facilities".

Environmental protection in zones of emergency situations is established by the federal law on protecting the population and territories from natural and man-made emergencies, other federal laws, and other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation, as well as laws and other normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation¹.

Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies, and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (MChS Russia) is a federal executive body performing the functions for developing and implementing state policy, normative regulation, as well as supervision and control in the field of civil defense, protection of population and territories from emergencies of natural and

of a technological nature, ensuring fire safety and the safety of people on water bodies².

In order to fully study the legal regime of emergency situation zones, we will consider: conceptual apparatus; classification of emergency situations; determination of boundaries of emergency situation zones; unified state system for prevention and elimination of emergency situations.

Zone of an emergency situation - this is territory, on which an emergency situation³. Emergency situation is a condition on a specific territory, which has arisen as a result of an accident, dangerous natural phenomenon, catastrophe, natural or other

disasters that may have caused or caused human casualties, damage to people's health or the environment, significant material losses and violation of living conditions of people⁴.

Definition of boundaries of emergency situations zones

The boundaries of emergency situations zones are determined by the heads of emergency situation liquidation operations appointed in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the legislation of the subjects of the Russian Federation, based on the classification of emergency situations established by the Government of the Russian Federation, and in coordination with executive bodies of state authority and local self-government bodies within whose territories emergency situations have arisen⁵.

Classification of emergency situations of natural and man-made nature

By the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation «On the Classification of Emergency Situations of Natural and Man-Made Nature»⁶, it is established that emergency situations of natural and man-made nature are divided into:

a) an emergency situation of local character, as a result of which territory, on which the emergency situation has arisen and the conditions for human life activities are violated (hereinafter referred to as zone of emergency situation), does not extend beyond the territory of the object, while the quantity

the number of people who died or sustained damage to their health (hereinafter - number of victims) does not exceed 10 people or the amount of damage to the environment and material losses (hereinafter - the amount of material damage) does not exceed 100,000 rubles;

b) an emergency situation of municipal character, as a result of which zone of the emergency situation does not extend beyond the territory of one settlement or intra-city territory of a federal-level city, provided that quantity of victims does not exceed 50 persons or the amount of material damage does not exceed 5 million rubles, and this emergency situation cannot be classified as an emergency situation of local character.

character;

c) an extraordinary situation of inter-municipal character, as a result of which zone of extraordinary situation affects the territory of two or more settlements, intra-city territories of federal cities, or inter-settlement territory, provided that the number of victims does not exceed 50 people or the amount of material damage does not exceed 5 million rubles;

d) an emergency situation of regional character, as a result of which zone of the emergency situation does not extend beyond the territory of one subject of the Russian Federation, provided that the number of affected persons exceeds 50 but does not exceed 500 or the amount of material damage exceeds 5 million rubles but does not exceed 500 million rubles;

d) an emergency situation of interregional character, resulting in the affected area covering the territory of two or more subjects of the Russian Federation, provided that the number of victims exceeds 50 people but does not exceed 500 people, or the amount of material damage exceeds 5 million rubles but does not exceed 500 million rubles;

e) an emergency situation of federal character, resulting in the number of victims exceeding 500 people or the amount of material damage exceeding 500 million rubles⁷.

The Unified State System for Preventing and Eliminating Emergencies (/enc/33866/ "Definition of the term 'Unified State System for Preventing and Eliminating Emergencies' in the legal encyclopedia") combines organs of management (/enc/32200/ "Definition of the term 'organs of management' in the legal encyclopedia"), forces and means (/enc/33277/ "Definition of the term 'Means' in the legal encyclopedia") of federal executive authorities, executive authorities of subjects of the Russian Federation, local self-government bodies, organizations, in authority (/enc/33218/ "Definition of the term 'authority' in the legal

(encyclopedias) which include addressing issues related to protecting populations and territories from emergency situations, including ensuring the safety of people on water objects⁸.

The main tasks of the unified state system for prevention and elimination of emergency situations are: development and implementation of legal and economic norms aimed at ensuring protection of population and territories from emergency situations, including ensuring safety of people on water objects; carrying out targeted and scientific-technical programs aimed at prevention of emergency situations and enhancing resilience of organizational operations, as well as

ensuring the readiness of management bodies, forces, and resources designated and allocated for preventing and eliminating emergency situations; collection, processing, exchange, and issuance of information in the field of protecting population and territories from emergency situations; preparation of the population for actions in emergency situations, including [organization](/enc/9492/ "Definition of the term

"Organization" in the legal encyclopedia) explanatory and preventive work among the population aimed at preventing the occurrence of emergency situations on water bodies; organization of notifying the population about emergency situations and informing the population about emergency situations, including urgent notification of the population; forecasting and assessment of social and economic consequences of emergency situations; creation of reserves of financial and material resources for elimination

management of emergency situations; conduct of state expertise, supervision, and control in the field of population and territory protection from emergency situations; liquidation of emergency situations; implementation of measures for social protection of the population affected by emergency situations, conducting humanitarian actions; realization of the rights and obligations of the population in the field of protection from emergency situations, as well as persons directly involved in their liquidation; international cooperation in the field of population and territory protection from emergency situations,

including ensuring the safety of persons on water bodies.

The principles of building, composition of forces and means, procedure for carrying out tasks, interaction of main components, as well as other issues related to functioning of the unified state system for preventing and eliminating emergency situations are determined by legislation of the Russian Federation, decrees and orders of the Government of the Russian Federation⁹.

Management bodies and forces of the unified state system for prevention and elimination of emergency situations operate in the following modes: routine operations - in the absence of a threat of an emergency situation; enhanced readiness - in the event of a threat of an emergency situation; emergency situation - during the occurrence and elimination of an emergency situation¹⁰.

When introducing a mode of heightened readiness or an emergency situation, depending on the consequences of the emergency situation, the forces and resources involved in preventing and eliminating the emergency situation, the classification of emergency situations, the nature of the development of the emergency situation, as well as other factors affecting safety of population activities and requiring additional measures to protect the population and territories from the emergency situation, one of

the following levels of response: object level of response; local level of response; regional (inter-municipal) level of response; federal level of response¹¹.

The object-level response is established by the decision of the organization's head during the elimination of an emergency situation using the forces and means of the organization located within the emergency zone, if the emergency zone is within the territory of this organization¹².

The local level of response is established: by the decision of the head of the settlement when liquidating an emergency situation using the forces and means of organizations and local government bodies located in the area of the emergency situation affecting the territory of one settlement; by the decision of the head of the municipal district when liquidating an emergency situation using the forces and means of organizations and local government bodies located in the area of the emergency situation affecting inter-settlement territory, or the territories of two or more settlements, or the territories of settlements and inter-settlement territory

the territory, if the emergency situation zone is within the territory of one municipal district; by the decision of the head of the urban district during the liquidation of an emergency situation by the forces and means of organizations and local government bodies located in the emergency situation zone, if the emergency situation zone is within the territory of the urban district; by the decision of officials determined by the laws of the subjects of the Russian Federation – the cities of federal significance Moscow and St. Petersburg, during the liquidation of an emergency situation on intra-city territories of the cities of federal significance Moscow and St. Petersburg¹³.

The regional (inter-municipal) level of response is established by a decision of the highest-ranking official [person](/enc/31941/ "Definition of the term 'Person' in the legal encyclopedia) of the subject of the Russian Federation (head of the highest executive body of state authority of the subject of the Russian Federation) during the liquidation of an emergency situation by the forces and means of organizations, local government bodies, and executive authorities of the subject of the Russian Federation located in the area of the emergency situation, which affects the territories of two or more municipal districts or the territory of a municipal district and a city district, if the zone

An emergency situation occurs within the territory of one subject of the Russian Federation¹⁴.

The federal level of response is established by the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation during the elimination of an emergency situation using forces and means of executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation located in the area of the emergency situation affecting the territories of two or more subjects of the Russian Federation¹⁵.

By a decision of the President of the Russian Federation, during the liquidation of an emergency situation with the involvement in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation of forces and means of federal executive authorities, including specially trained forces and means of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops and military formations, a special response level is established.*¹⁶

When introducing a state of enhanced readiness or an emergency situation, as well as when establishing the response level for relevant management bodies and forces of the unified state system for emergency prevention and liquidation authorized body of state authority, official of the state authority body (local self-government body), may appoint a head of operations for emergency situation liquidation, who bears responsibility for conducting

these works in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the legislation of the subjects of the Russian Federation, and take additional measures to protect the population and territories from emergency situations:¹⁷

a) restrict access of persons and vehicles to the territory where there exists a threat of an emergency situation arising, as well as to the area of the emergency situation;

b) determine the procedure for releasing material reserves located in the area of the emergency situation, except for the state material reserve;

c) determine procedures for the use of transport vehicles, communication and alerting equipment, as well as other property belonging to state authorities, local self-government bodies, and organizations;

d) suspend operations of an organization located in an emergency zone if there is a threat to the safety of life activities of employees of that organization and other citizens present on its territory;

d) implement measures conditioned by the development of an emergency situation, which do not restrict the rights and freedoms of individuals and citizens, aimed at protecting the population and territories from an emergency situation, creating necessary conditions for prevention and elimination of an emergency situation and minimization of its negative impact.

In accordance with legislation on environmental protection and legislation on protecting the population from natural and man-made emergency situations, zones of ecological disaster and emergency zones may be declared as water bodies and river basins where changes occur as a result of man-made and natural phenomena posing a threat to human health or life, objects of the animal and plant world, other environmental objects.

At the same time, it should be taken into account that the owner of a water body is obliged to implement measures to prevent negative impact from waters and eliminate its consequences. Measures to prevent negative impact from waters and eliminate its consequences in relation to water bodies belonging to federal ownership, ownership of subjects of the Russian Federation, or municipal formations are implemented by executive authorities of state power or local self-government bodies within their powers in accordance with Articles 24–27 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation (VKK RF).

The boundaries of territories prone to flooding and waterlogging, and the regime for conducting economic and other activities on these territories depending on the frequency of their flooding and waterlogging, are established in accordance with legislation on urban planning.

On territories prone to flooding, the establishment of new populated areas, cemeteries, livestock burial grounds, and the construction of capital buildings, structures, and facilities without conducting special protective measures to prevent negative impact from water are prohibited (Article 67 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation (Vodnyy Kodeks RF)).

1. Paragraph 2 of Article 57 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection". ↩
2. Paragraph 1 of the provisions on the Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters of the Russian Federation (approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 11.07.2004 No. 868 // Collection of Laws of the Russian Federation. 2004. No. 28. P. 2882.) ↩
3. Paragraph 4 of Article 1 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Population and Territories from Natural and Technogenic Emergencies". ↩
4. Paragraph 4 of Article 1 of the Federal Law "On Protection

of the population and territories from emergency situations of natural and technological nature». ↩
5. Article 5 of the Federal Law «On Protection of the Population and Territories from Emergency Situations of Natural and Technological Nature». ↩
6. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 21, 2007 No. 304 «On Classification of Emergency Situations of Natural and Technological Nature» // RSZ RF. 2007. No. 22. Art. 2640. ↩
7. Point 1 Decree of the Government

Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated 21.05.2007 No. 304 "On the Classification of Natural and Technological Emergency Situations". ↩
8. Paragraph 1 of Article 4 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Population and Territories from Natural and Technological Emergency Situations". ↩
9. Article 4 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Population and Territories from Natural and Technological Emergency Situations". ↩
10. Item 1 of Article 4.1 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Population and Territories from Natural and

of natural and technological nature». ↩ 11. Paragraph 3 of Article 4.1 of the Federal Law «On Protection of Population and Territories from Emergencies of Natural and Technological Nature». ↩ 12. Paragraph 3 of Article 4.1 of the Federal Law «On Protection of Population and Territories from Emergencies of Natural and Technological Nature». ↩ 13. Paragraph 3 of Article 4.1 of the Federal Law «On Protection of Population and Territories from Emergencies of Natural and Technological Nature». ↩ 14. Paragraph 3 of Article 4.1 of the Federal Law «On Protection of Population and Territories from Emergencies of Natural and Technological Nature». ↩ 15. Paragraph 3 of Article 4.1 of the Federal

of the Federal Law "On Protecting the Population and Territories from Emergencies of a Natural and Technological Nature". ↩
16. Paragraph 4 of Article 4.1 of the Federal Law "On Protecting the Population and Territories from Emergencies of a Natural and Technological Nature". ↩
17. Paragraph 5 of Article 4.1 of the Federal Law "On Protecting the Population and Territories from Emergencies of a Natural and Technological Nature". ↩