According to the Environmental code of the Republic of Kazakhstan
(with changes and additions as of 19.03.2010)
Article 20. Competence of local Executive bodies of regions in the field of environmental protection. Local Executive bodies of regions (cities of Republican significance, capitals) (hereinafter-local Executive bodies) in the field of environmental protection:
1) on the basis of the conclusions of the state environmental and sanitary-epidemiological expertise, prohibit or allow the construction or reconstruction of enterprises, structures and other objects within their competence;
2) organize and conduct, within their competence, state environmental expertise of economic activities;
3-1) issue permits for emissions to the environment within their competence;
4) attract external experts (individuals and legal entities) who have licenses to perform works and provide services in the field of environmental protection to conduct expert work;
5) carry out registration of public environmental expertise;

Objects of state environmental expertise

1. the following are subject to Mandatory state environmental expertise:

1) pre-project and project documentation of planned activities that have an impact on the environment, with accompanying materials of environmental impact assessment in accordance with the stages defined by article 37 of this Code;

2) projects of state, industry and regional programs with accompanying environmental impact assessment materials;

3) draft emission standards for the environment;

4) draft regulatory legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, normative and technical and instructive and methodological documents, the implementation of which may lead to negative impacts on the environment;

5) draft contracts for conducting subsurface use operations;

6) projects of natural-scientific and technical-economic studies on the creation and expansion of specially protected natural territories, the abolition of state nature reserves and state protected areas of national significance and the reduction of their territory;

7) biological justification for the extraction and use of animal and plant resources;

8) draft master plans for the development of cities and territories, including territories of special economic zones and territories with a special regime of economic activity;

9) materials of the survey of territories justifying the attribution of these territories to zones of ecological disaster or environmental emergency;

10) projects of economic activity that may have an impact on the environment of neighboring States or for which it is necessary to use natural objects shared with neighboring States or that affect the interests of neighboring States, including the "Baikonur" complex, as defined by international agreements of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

11) documentation on the application of technologies, equipment, except for vehicles, and equipment transported (imported) to the Republic of Kazakhstan.

2. Objects of state environmental expertise shall undergo repeated state environmental expertise in the following cases:

1) completion of the object of the state ecological expertise based on the comments of the state ecological expertise carried out earlier;

2) making changes to the project and other documentation after receiving a positive conclusion of the state environmental expertise;

3) based on a court decision.

3. the Objects of state environmental expertise specified in sub-paragraphs 1) and 3) of paragraph 1 of this article are divided into categories I, II, III, IV according to the classification of objects given in article 40 of this Code.

Projects of state, industry programs, regulatory legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, normative and technical and instructive and methodological documents, the implementation of which may lead to negative impacts on the environment, developed by Central state bodies, belong to the first category.

Projects of regional programs, normative legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, normative-technical and instructive-methodical documents developed by local government bodies belong to the II category.

Objects of state environmental expertise specified in sub-paragraphs 5)-11) of paragraph 1 of this article belong to the I category.

Pre-project and project documentation of planned activities that have an impact on the environment, specified in subparagraph 1) of paragraph 1 of this article and not classified according to the classification of objects given in article 40 of this Code, belongs to category II.