Changing the category or profile of a protected natural area of regional significance requires coordination with an authorized federal body
The question of changing the category and (or) profile of a protected natural territory of regional significance must be coordinated with the authorized federal executive body in the field of environmental protection.
Citizen filed a claim with the Court requesting that certain provisions of the order, approved by a regional normative legal act regulating decisions on the establishment of protected natural areas of regional significance (hereinafter referred to as "order" in this section), be declared not in force from the date of adoption of those provisions.
Software according to the citizen's opinion, the disputed provisions of the procedure allow state authorities of the region, in case of a situation leading to negative impact on the environment, not to take measures aimed at preserving endangered particularly protected natural diversity, but instead by changing the category, profile, and special protection regime of specially protected natural territories, exclude objects of particular natural value from the area of special protection, thereby violating his right to
favorable environment
The Court satisfied the citizen's claim based on the fact that the absence in the disputed provisions of a procedure requiring coordination with the authorized federal executive authority in the field of environmental protection regarding the project decision on changing the category and (or) profile of a protected natural area of regional significance contradicts the requirements of paragraph 6 of Article 2 of the Law on Protected Natural Areas.
The Court also noted that the disputed provisions effectively exclude the sphere of contentious legal relations from the subject matter of joint jurisdiction between the subject of the Russian Federation and the Russian Federation itself, thereby enabling regional state authorities to resolve the issue of losing such status in a simplified manner compared to the establishment of a protected natural territory and the determination of its conservation boundaries, without coordination with the authorized federal executive body responsible for environmental protection.
Source: Thematic Review by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 11/2026. On the consideration by courts of cases related to land rights for certain categories of land removed from circulation and restricted in circulation, and the use of such plots