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Environmental assessment is intended to exert influence on: (i) the projects preparation process in view of the close connection between the EIA and the cycle of project development and the rationale documentation; (ii) the decision-making process on development consent because of the fact that the conclusion of state expertise can be negative (financing or implementation of projects is prohibited in the absence of positive conclusion of state expertise).
Environmental impact assessment is a mandatory requirement for all kinds of planned economic activities or some other types of activities, which in case of its realization can have an adverse impact on the environment.
The content and the scope of the environmental information for the EIA, the stages of planning (development of the rationale documentation) as well as the level of state environmental review depend upon the complexity of the project, degree and the scale of possible effects as well as a number of other characteristics.
The mandatory list of objects and kinds of activities which always require environmental impact assessment is established by the Federal Law “On Environmental Review” and some other legal acts.
State environmental review conducted by the expert unit of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation is a mandatory procedure for:
- Draft legal acts of the Russian Federation of a normative and non-normative nature if: realization of these acts can lead to an adverse impact on the environment and, normative-technical, instructive and methodological documents which are approved by the state authorities of the Russian Federation and which regulate economic and other types of activities, which can have impact on the natural environment, including the use of natural resources and environmental protection;
- Materials, which are subject to approval by the state authorities of the Russian Federation and precede the working out of development projections and allocation of productive forces in the territory of the Russian Federation, including:
- Drafts of complex and targeted federal social and economic, scientific and technical and other federal programmes if realization of these programmes can have an impact on the natural environment;
1. Draft master plans for the development of territories of free economic zones and territories with a special mode for management of nature and economic activity;
2. Draft schemes for the development of branches of the national economy of the Russian Federation, including industry;
3. Draft master plans for land settlement, nature management and territorial organization of productive forces of the Russian Federation;
4. Draft schemes for land settlement, nature management and territorial organization of productive forces of large regions and nation-state formations;
5. Draft intergovernmental investment programmes with participation of the Russian Federation federal investment programmes, and;
6.Draft complex schemes of environmental protection in the Russian Federation.
Feasibility studies and projects entailing construction, reconstruction, enlargement, technical re-equipment, conservation of structures and liquidation of organizations and other projects of economic activity of the Russian Federation as well as some other projects irrespective of their construction budget, departmental belonging and forms of ownership if realization of the above-mentioned can have an impact on the environment within the territory of two or more constituents of the Russian Federation. These include materials for establishment of organizations by individuals of legal entities of the Russian Federation with participation of foreign citizens or foreign legal entities if the volume of foreign investments in these organizations exceeds USD 500 000;
Feasibility studies and economic activity projects, which can have an effect on the natural environment of neighboring states or in the event that realization of this activity needs the use of transboundary natural resources, or affects interests of neighboring countries (according to the “Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context”);
Materials on the establishment of organizations of mineral resource industry or processing industry with respect to the use of natural resources, which are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation;
Drafts of international agreements;
Documentation in regard to the rationale for the output-sharing agreements and concessions as well as the other agreements, which stipulate the use of natural resources and (or) wastage, which are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation;
Materials in regard to the rationale for granting licenses for the realization of an activity, which can have an impact on the environment if the issue of these licenses is within the competence of the federal executive power bodies according to the laws of the Russian Federation;
Draft technical documentation for new techniques, technology, materials, substances, certified goods and services presented in the list, which is approved by federal specially authorized state agency of environmental expertise (including draft technical documentation for wares supplied from abroad);
Materials of complex environmental investigation of the sections of territories substantiating their legal status as environmentally protected areas of federal significance, areas of environmental disaster or zones of extraordinary environmental circumstances as well as rehabilitation programmes of these territories;
Draft schemes for the protection and use of water, forest, land and other natural resources, which are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation;
Documentation for modification of functional status, kinds and pattern of use of the territories of federal significance, including materials, which substantiate the transfer of timberland into non-timberland;
Other kinds of documentation with the rationale for economic or some other activities, which can have direct or indirect impact on natural environment within the territories of two or more constituents of the Russian Federation;
The objects of the state environmental review mentioned in the given article, which earlier have already obtained positive conclusion of the state environmental expertise in the event of:
1. Revision of the object of the state environmental review in view of critical remarks made as a result of the state environmental review conducted earlier;
2. Modification of the terms of nature management by the specially authorized state environmental authorities;
3. Realization of the object of the state environmental review with deviations from the documentation which was the basis for the earlier positive conclusion obtained from the state environmental expertise and (or) in the event of the introduction of changes to the above-mentioned documentation;
4. Expiration of the positive conclusion of state environmental expertise;
5. Introduction of changes to the project documentation and any other documents after receiving of a positive conclusion from the state environmental expertise.
State environmental review conducted by the expert unit of territorial authorities of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation is a mandatory procedure for:
Draft legal acts of the constituents of the Russian Federation if realization of these acts can lead to an adverse impact on the environment, normative-technical, instructive and methodological documents approved by state authorities of the constituents of the Russian Federation and regulating economic activities, including the use of natural resources and environmental protection, as well as the other activities;
Materials, which precede formulation of development projections and allocation of productive forces in the territory of constituents of the Russian Federation, including:
1. Drafts of complex and targeted social and economic, scientific and technical and other programmes of the constituents of the Russian Federation if realization of these programmes can have an impact on the natural environment;
2. Draft schemes of the development of branches of national economy of the constituents of the Russian Federation, including industry;
3. Draft master plans of land settlement, nature management and territorial organization of productive forces of the constituents of the Russian Federation;
4. Draft territorial complex schemes of environmental protection and nature management, and;
5. Draft investment programmes of the constituents of the Russian Federation and local self-government bodies.
Materials of complex environmental investigation of the sections of territories within the territory of the constituent of the Russian Federation in order to assign them subsequently the legal status of environmentally protected areas of the constituents of the Russian Federation and local significance;
Documentation regarding the rationale for the output-sharing agreements and concessions as well as the other agreements, which stipulate the use of natural resources and (or) wastage, which are under the jurisdiction of the constituents of the Russian Federation and local self-government bodies;
All types of town-planning documentation, including:
1. Schemes and projects of the rayon (district) planning of territorial-administrative formations;
2. Master plans of the cities, other settlements and their systems;
3. Plans of the administrative zones of the cities, settlements and villages;
4. Master plans of the territories within the jurisdiction of local self-government bodies as well as built-up, industrial, recreational and other functional zones;
5. Projects regarding detailed lay-out of public centre, residential areas, highways of the cities;
6. Projects regarding housing construction projects, estates of the cities and other settlements;
7. Projects of land revegetation which have been disturbed as a result of exploration works, mining, blasting operations and other works;
Feasibility studies and projects regarding construction, reconstruction, enlargement, technical re-equipment, conservation of structures and liquidation of organizations and other objects of economic activity irrespective of their construction budget, departmental belonging and forms of ownership located in the territory of corresponding constituent of the Russian Federation with the exception of objects of economic activity, which are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, including materials regarding the establishment of organizations by individuals of legal entities of the Russian Federation with participation of foreign citizens or foreign legal entities if the volume of foreign investments in these organizations does not exceed USD 500 000;
Documentation of the rationale for the output-sharing agreements with economic agents, when they use natural resources of regional and local significance;
Draft schemes for the protection and use of water, forest, land and other natural resources, which are under the jurisdiction of the constituents of the Russian Federation as well as other project documentation in this area, including programmes for forest management, land use and management of hunting grounds;
Materials regarding the rationale for granting licenses for the realization of activity, which can have an impact on the environment if the issue of these licenses is not within the competence of federal executive power bodies;
Other kinds of documentation with the rationale for economic or some other activities, which can have direct or indirect impact on natural environment within the territory of the constituent of the Russian Federation;
The objects of state environmental review mentioned in the given article, which earlier have already obtained positive conclusion of state environmental review in case of:
1. Revision of the object of the state environmental review in view of critical remarks made as a result of the state environmental review conducted earlier;
2. Modification of the terms of nature management by the specially authorized state environmental authorities;
3. Realization of the object of the state environmental review with deviations from documentation which was the basis for the earlier positive conclusion obtained from the state environmental review and (or) in case of introduction of changes to the above-mentioned documentation;
4. Expiration of the positive conclusion of state environmental review;
5. Introduction of changes to the project documentation after receiving of a positive conclusion from the state environmental review.
The list of documents prepared within the framework of the national procedure of environmental impact assessment of the planned economic and other activities to be submitted for state environmental review includes:
Materials on the environmental impact assessment;
Documentation – rationale for the planned activity, developed in compliance with legal requirements;
Positive conclusions and/or approval of the relevant supervisory and control authorities;
Public consultation materials related to the object of the environmental review, including the conclusion of the public environmental review (in the event that it took place);
Conclusion of the state environmental review.
In case of investment projects the initiator of the planned activity prepares one after another the following documents: Notification of Intent, Investment Rationale and Feasibility Study (project).
The completeness and detailed documentation of materials for the environmental impact assessment progressively increase at each stage of planning (development of rationale) and depend upon pre-project and project works.
Public consultations relative to the object of the environmental review including the materials of the environmental impact assessment of the planned economic and some other activities are organized by the project initiator jointly with the local self-government bodies in accordance with the legislation currently in force.
Public environmental review is conducted prior to state environmental review or simultaneously with the latter.
