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The main participants of the environmental assessment process are as follows:
- Initiator / Customer of the planned activities, who entrusts (concludes the agreement with) the developer of the project and the developer of the EIA with a task to prepare the relevant project documentation, including the environmental impact assessment.
- Specially authorized state agency of environmental expertise (at present this is the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation and its territorial authorities at the level of the constituents of the Russian Federation). The aforementioned territorial authorities are centrally accountable; they are separate from the environmental departments of the regional authorities and local self-government bodies (provincial (oblast), municipal or district (rayon)). These units are subordinated to the relevant regional and local executive power bodies.
- Public authorities of the constituents of the Russian Federation and local self-government bodies. These authorities establish and co-ordinate the project technical specifications for implementation, conclude the agreement for the allotment of land with the project initiator, grant permission for construction of the project and organize public hearings.
- General public / Population. The general public may participate in the process of environmental impact assessment and the environmental review.
The state environmental review is carried out by the commission of experts of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation (at the federal level) and by the expert subdivisions of its territorial authorities, which are present in each constituent of the Russian Federation.
Environmental impact assessment is conducted by the initiator of the project and precedes the stage of making a decision on the development consent.
The Ministry and its territorial authorities do not supervise or manage the preparation of terms of reference for the environmental impact assessment, which is the connecting link between the EIA developer and the expert authority in most of the national environmental assessment systems, in order to ensure the compliance of the content of the EIA materials with the requirements of the review (see Annex 2).
The proponent (project initiator) is responsible for conducting all stages of the environmental impact assessment, right up to the stage of preparation of the rationale for the project development and submission of this documentation for state environmental review. He has to ensure the proper completeness and quality of the environmental impact assessment. The developer of the project is entitled to nominate the EIA assessor at his own discretion.
The specially authorized state agency of environmental expertise and the other interested ministries and departments (or their territorial authorities if the project is subject to a state environmental review at the level of a constituent of the Russian Federation) examine the project.
The exclusive right to conduct the state environmental review is delegated to the specially authorized state agency of environmental expertise. The aforementioned state agency realizes its exclusive right to conduct state environmental review through the specialized expert units of central authorities and, in the territory of the constituents of the Russian Federation. These bodies have to ensure the compliance of the procedure of state environmental review with the legislation currently in force, the requirements of normative – technical, instructive and methodological documents and, on the demand of the mass media, to make public the results of the state environmental review.
State environmental review is carried out by the expert commission consisting of independent experts, who possess the necessary scientific and practical knowledge with respect to the issues in question. The participation of these experts should ensure the objective character and validity of the findings for the conclusion of the state environmental expertise.
Individuals and non-government organizations have the right to participate in the Russian national procedure of environmental impact assessment. This right is secured by the mechanisms of public hearings, public environmental review and the possibility of direct participation of general public representatives in the process of state environmental review in the role of observers.
Public environmental review is organized and conducted by non-government organizations (associations) entitled to do this job (the corresponding record should be in the statute of the given non-government organization). The results of public environmental review are taken into consideration in the process of state environmental review.
Positive conclusion of state environmental review is one of the conditions for the financing of the planned project.
The design estimates are approved by the State Committee for Building of the Russian Federation.
After completion of the above mentioned procedures, the executive power body or local self-government body makes its decision about the allotment of land in compliance with the procedure established by “The Land Code” of the Russian Federation (No. 136-FZ of October 25, 2001).
