"The measures proposed by the new Environmental Code will reduce the negative impact on the environment and human health" - Yermek Umarov

Today, Deputy Chairman of the Environmental Regulation and Control Committee Yermek Umarov presented the key principles of the draft new Environmental Code aimed at improving the environmental situation in the country at the XXIII Corporate Meeting of NAC Kazatomprom JSC on Industrial safety for 2020 and tasks for 2021.
Thus, he noted new approaches to environmental impact assessment (EIA).
The new Environmental Code proposes to apply the requirement to pass the EIA procedure only to enterprises of the 1st category (about 2.6 thousand nature users).
The mandatory nature of the EIA for the objects of the 2nd category will be determined by the results of the screening.
Objects of the third category will be transferred to the notification nature, the fourth category-completely exempt from obtaining permits.
The EIA system itself has also been revised. Taking into account the participation of state bodies, the public and other interested parties, it will take 69 working days.
It is also important that public participation is provided at every stage of the EIA procedure.
The law also provides for mandatory financing of environmental protection measures at the expense of incoming environmental payments in the amount of 100%. Prior to this, local executive bodies distributed only 45% of the incoming funds,or even less.

From January 1, 2025, the mandatory transition of new large enterprises of the 1st category to comprehensive environmental permits associated with the use of the best available technologies will be implemented.
When switching to BAT, enterprises will be exempt from paying for emissions, otherwise the rates will increase. Accordingly, BAT is a motivational mechanism.
If the company does not implement BAT within the prescribed period, the integrated environmental permit will be revoked, additional fees and penalties will be charged for the entire period.
These measures provide not so much a prohibitive as a motivational mechanism.
"As the analysis shows, the main violations by nature users are committed on a systematic basis. It is often more profitable for them to pay a fine than to implement cleaning equipment and reduce the impact on the environment.
In the framework of the accompanying draft law, the administrative penalty for violating the standards of emissions into the environment is increased by 10 times. In case of repeated violations – 20 times, " - said Yermek Kasymgalievich.

In addition, according to him, it provides for tougher sanctions for violating the requirements for the treatment of production and consumption waste.
For example, JSC "Ust-Kamenogorsk TMK" was held liable for the amount of 1.68 million tenge following the results of the audit. In the event of an increase in the amount of the fine, the company will pay 16.8 million tenge.
For exceeding the established standards, a fine of 3.2 million tenge was imposed on JSC "ArcelorMittal Temirtau". With the increase, the fine will amount to 32.8 million tenge.
The term of bringing to administrative responsibility for a violation in the field of environmental protection may increase from 1 to 3 years from the date of the violation. Also, in order to cover all organized sources and obtain the results of laboratory tests, the verification period is extended by an additional 10 days.

According to the Ermek Kasymalieva, a major problem in the country is municipal solid waste and their low processing. Investors do not go to this industry. In fact, the country has sorting, but there is no recycling.
It is proposed to introduce the "Waste to Energy" mechanism, which provides for the incineration of waste with the subsequent generation of electricity and transmission to the grid by analogy with renewable energy sources. This mechanism is well established in Europe. This will reduce the volume of waste by up to 30% by 2025 and attract investments worth more than 180 billion tenge.
However, the current legislation does not regulate the activities of enterprises engaged in waste management.
Therefore, the new Environmental Code provides for the licensing of hazardous waste activities and the notification procedure for the collection and transportation of waste.
This will allow you to keep a register of specialized enterprises engaged in the collection, transportation, processing and disposal of waste.
The new version of the Environmental Code also proposes to move away from the waste hazard levels developed in accordance with the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, moving to the European Waste Catalog. The advantage of the catalog is the fundamental division of waste into hazardous and non-hazardous.
"The proposed measures to improve the management of production and consumption waste will ultimately reduce budget expenditures on the elimination of natural landfills, the construction of landfills, as well as reduce the negative impact on the environment and human health," Yermek Umarov added.