34
Volume 04 Issue 01-2022
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
VOLUME
04
I
SSUE
01
Pages:
34-40
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2020:
5.
453
)
(2021:
5.
952
)
OCLC
–
1176274523
METADATA
IF
–
7.659
Publisher:
The USA Journals
ABSTRACT
The importance and relevance of environmental expertise of draft regulatory legal acts in the context of a significant
increase in the impact of environmental problems on the life of each state, society and person is revealed. In particular,
the legislation and experience of foreign countries were analyzed. In the Republic of Uzbekistan, several proposals
have been put forward to improve the organizational and legal mechanisms for conducting environmental expertise
of draft regulatory legal acts.
KEYWORDS
Environmental threats, extinction, environmentally safe, knowledgeable from experience, rules of the game.
INTRODUCTION
The world economy has changed dramatically over the
past century, and economic growth has been
increasing from year to year. This, in turn, ensured the
growth of the world's population. If in 1950 there were
2.5 billion people in the world, today this figure is
approaching 8 billion, and by 2050 it is predicted that
the world population will reach 10 billion people.
Currently, as a result of high global economic growth
and inadequate attitude to nature, the negative impact
Research Article
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTISE OF DRAFT REGULATORY DOCUMENTS:
COMPARATIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS
Submission Date:
January 09, 2022,
Accepted Date:
January 20, 2022,
Published Date:
January 30, 2022
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume04Issue01-06
Sherzod Bahronov
Independent researcher at Tashkent State University of Law, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://theamericanjou
rnals.com/index.php/ta
jpslc
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
35
Volume 04 Issue 01-2022
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
VOLUME
04
I
SSUE
01
Pages:
34-40
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2020:
5.
453
)
(2021:
5.
952
)
OCLC
–
1176274523
METADATA
IF
–
7.659
Publisher:
The USA Journals
of environmental threats on the environment is sharply
increasing.
The rapid development of industry and the increasing
influence of the human factor on nature have given rise
to global environmental problems associated with
climate change, degradation of biodiversity, and
desertification.
According to the UN, the impact of human activity has
led to a complete change in 75% of the Earth's land
area, 1 million species of flora and fauna are under the
threat of extinction.
1
The aggravation of environmental problems poses a
real threat to the life and future of mankind. Therefore,
the fact that out of the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals adopted by the UN until 2030, 3 are aimed
directly at preserving the world's ecosystems,
indicates how important the process of nature
conservation has become.
Our future in many ways depends on the discovery of
ways and means of optimal solution of the relationship
between nature and society. It is of urgent importance
that every state with the help of national political
instruments introduces organizational and legal
mechanisms of Environmental Protection.
Currently, almost all countries of the world use
environmental impact assessment systems for planned
activities. The environmental impact assessment is
based on a simple principle: prevention of the negative
impact of an activity or a regulatory document on the
1
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ru/biodiversit
y
2
Vladimirov, V.A. Katastrofi i ekologiya / V.A. Vladimirov, V.I. I
zmalkov. – Moskva, 2000. –P. 379.
environment at the drafting and planning stage, rather
than detection and correction at the implementation
stage. This makes it possible to take into account,
along with economic development, environmental
factors at the stage of setting goals, planning and
making decisions on the implementation of a particular
activity.
Environmental impact assessment is aimed at a
comprehensive analysis of the impact of the proposed
activity or draft regulatory document on the
environment and the use of the results of this analysis
to prevent or reduce environmental damage.
2
Regulatory legal acts or investment projects
developed in accordance with environmental
requirements and based on an environmental impact
assessment are considered “
environmentally safe
”.
The origin of project environmental impact assessment
activities goes back to the legislation of the Great
Britain, Germany and the United States on land and
mining.
3
Currently, the main content of the problem of ensuring
environmental safety in developed countries is
considered to be issues related to the prevention of
man-made disasters and the organization of
environmental monitoring. For example,
in Germany
,
the Ministry of Environmental Protection conducts the
necessary analysis of possible impacts when licensing
the main aspects of the proposed activity.
4
3
Bogolyubov, S.A. Ekologicheskoye pravo: uchebnik. – Mosk
va, 2004. –P. 430.
4
Ekologicheskaya ekspertiza: uchebnoye posobiye. –
Moskva: Akademiya, 2004. –P. 475.
36
Volume 04 Issue 01-2022
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
VOLUME
04
I
SSUE
01
Pages:
34-40
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2020:
5.
453
)
(2021:
5.
952
)
OCLC
–
1176274523
METADATA
IF
–
7.659
Publisher:
The USA Journals
Environmental impact assessment in Germany follows
three basic principles. These are: 1) prevention of harm
to nature; 2) joint consideration of the interests of man
and nature when approving projects; 3) characteristics
of damage to natural resources.
As a result of such an assessment, the necessary
environmental protection measures are determined in
advance. The desire to improve natural conditions,
according to the Germans, is, first of all, a contribution
to the quality of life, human health, biodiversity
conservation and ecosystem sustainability.
5
The modern system of environmental impact
assessment -Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
has been introduced into practice in most developed
countries. For example,
in
China
, 2 types of
environmental
assessment
are
carried
out:
environmental impact assessment of projects (EIA)
and strategic environmental assessment (SEA).
Another feature of foreign experience is that public
participation in environmental assessment (public
participation) is considered as one of the most
important forms of realization of citizens' rights to a
clean environment.
As a state-legal means of reducing the negative impact
on the environment in the CIS countries, along with the
environmental
impact
assessment
procedure,
environmental expertise is widely used.
In particular, in the
Republic of Kazakhstan
, an
additional article was introduced into the law “On legal
acts” concerning the specifics of the preparation and
adoption in 2021 of regulatory legal acts affecting
5
Dyakonov, K.N. Ekologicheskoye proyektirovaniye i eksperti
za: uchebnik. –Moskva, 2005. –P. 383.
environmental safety, and it was established that draft
regulatory legal acts, the implementation of which may
have a negative impact on the environment, are
subject to mandatory state environmental expertise.
6
The procedure for conducting state environmental
expertise of draft regulatory legal acts is provided for
by the Environmental Code of the Republic of
Kazakhstan, where the range of objects of state
environmental expertise separately includes draft
regulatory legal acts developed by authorized bodies.
In accordance with the Law of the
Kyrgyz Republic
“On
Regulatory Legal Acts”, draft regulatory legal acts
related to environmental safety issues are subject to
environmental expertise. According to the legislation
of this country, environmental expertise as a type of
scientific expertise is tasked with identifying and
assessing the negative environmental consequences
of a draft regulatory legal act.
7
In the
Republic of Azerbaijan
, the Constitutional Law
“On Normative Legal Acts” establishes that
amendments to a normative legal act no later than six
months after its adoption are allowed only on the basis
of a normative legal act having the higher legal force or
conclusions
of
legal,
linguistic,
economic,
environmental
and criminological expertise.
Consistency is important when improving legislation.
Legislative acts should be adopted in accordance with
the current state of society and the directions of its
further development. In this regard, all draft regulatory
legal acts are subject to appropriate expertise, taking
into account modern challenges.
6
https://online.zakon.kz.
37
Volume 04 Issue 01-2022
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
VOLUME
04
I
SSUE
01
Pages:
34-40
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2020:
5.
453
)
(2021:
5.
952
)
OCLC
–
1176274523
METADATA
IF
–
7.659
Publisher:
The USA Journals
The lexical meaning of the concept of Expertise is
defined in the legal literature as “expertise” (from
“Expert” – “experienced”, “knowledgeable from
experience”) by a specialist or a group of specialists”
research of issues requiring qualified solutions in a
particular area”.
8
Analyzing the place of expertise in lawmaking, it is
possible to evaluate expertise as an integral and
inseparable part of this process. A lot of research and
scientific research has been conducted on this issue,
during which specific and general conclusions were
drawn related to the fact that the examination serves
to improve the quality of the adopted regulatory legal
acts.
The expertise of draft legislative acts is one of the
components of the law-making process, which is
important for ensuring the perfect preparation of
legislative acts, the mechanism for regulating social
and legal relations and strengthening the legal basis for
large-scale reforms in the political, socio-economic,
cultural and educational spheres.
9
Environmental expertise of draft regulatory legal acts
is the determination of compliance of the draft
regulatory legal act with the relevant standards in the
field of environmental protection.
In accordance with the Law of the Republic of
Uzbekistan
“On
Environmental
expertise”,
environmental expertise refers to the establishment of
compliance of planned or ongoing economic and other
activities with environmental requirements and the
8
Uzbekiston
yuridik
ensiklopediyasi.
–
Tashkent: Adolat, 2009. – P. 545-546.
9
Fayziyev,
Sh.H.
Qonun
ijodkorligi
jarayonini takomillashtirish: milliy va xorijiy tajriba. –
T.:Adolat, 2020. –P.160.
determination of the feasibility of the object of
environmental expertise.
10
In accordance with the current legislation, the projects
of normative legal acts are being excluded from the
scope of the environmental expertise. However, article
25 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On
Normative Legal Acts” establishes that a draft
regulatory legal act may be subjected to economic,
financial,
scientific,
linguistic,
environmental
expertise
, as well as other types of expertise by the
decision of the developer or the div authorized to
adopt a regulatory legal act.
11
Nevertheless, in practice, environmental expertise is
limited to the study of compliance of production or
other economic activities with environmental
requirements that may have a negative impact on the
environment. At the same time, the procedure for
conducting an environmental review of draft
regulatory legal acts has not been developed so far.
This, in turn, creates conditions for the occurrence of
cases of negative impact on the environment by many
legislative acts adopted throughout the country.
Many countries are aware of the need to conduct
environmental expertise of draft regulatory legal acts
aimed primarily at regulating public relations in a
particular
area
and
capable
of
establishing
disproportionate “
rules of the game
”in relation to the
environment.
Our national legislation establishes that draft
regulatory legal acts can be subjected to
environmental
expertise.
But
currently, draft
10
https://lex.uz/docs/32955.
11
https://lex.uz/docs/5378966
38
Volume 04 Issue 01-2022
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
VOLUME
04
I
SSUE
01
Pages:
34-40
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2020:
5.
453
)
(2021:
5.
952
)
OCLC
–
1176274523
METADATA
IF
–
7.659
Publisher:
The USA Journals
regulatory legal acts do not undergo environmental
expertise due to the fact that organizational and legal
mechanisms of expertise in this area have not been
implemented.
The establishment of rules and requirements that
establish the procedure for conducting environmental
expertise of draft regulatory legal acts in order to
protect the environment and ensure environmental
safety is a very relevant issue.
In our country, the necessary measures are being taken
to protect the environment and reduce environmental
threats. In particular, on the initiative of the Head of
our state Sh.M. Mirziyoyev, the nationwide project
“Green Space” is being implemented. As part of this
project, it is planned to plant 200 million saplings of
trees and shrubs annually, thereby increasing green
spaces in cities from the current 8 to 30 percent.
Time itself dictates the need to introduce all effective
legal instruments to mitigate environmental problems
of a global, regional and national nature, which today
pose a real threat to the sustainable socio-economic
development of our country.
In this regard, we consider it necessary to improve the
organizational and legal mechanisms for conducting
environmental expertise of draft regulatory legal acts
in national legislation.
In order to further improve national legislation in this
area and ensure the “environmental safety” of
legislative acts,
it is proposed
:
Firstly
, in the law “On Normative Legal Acts” it is
necessary to establish that, along with legal and anti-
corruption expertise of the draft regulatory legal act,
environmental expertise is mandatory.
Concurrently, this law should clearly state in which
cases the environmental expertise of the draft
regulatory legal act should be conducted and its
purpose must be clearly indicated.
Notably, the purpose of conducting projects of
normative legal acts on environmental expertise
should be the following:
*
Prevention of negative impact on the environment
of draft regulatory legal acts being developed in
the Republic of Uzbekistan;
*
improving
the
quality
of
regulation
of
environmental issues through the introduction of
an integrated environmental approach in the
process of rulemaking.
Secondly,
the development and approval of the
procedure for conducting environmental expertise of
draft regulatory legal acts is relevant.
This procedure should fully cover the entire process
related to the environmental expertise of draft
regulatory legal acts, in particular, such issues as the
concept and principles of environmental expertise of
draft regulatory legal acts, stages of the examination,
functions, rights and obligations of the div carrying
out the expertise, preparation of the expert opinion
should be reflected in detail.
Environmental expertise of draft regulatory legal acts
involves a systematic and step-by-step process. This
process should begin, first of all, with the definition of
the subject of regulation of the draft legislative act and
cover such stages as the assessment of compliance of
the project with national legislation and international
standards in the field of environmental protection and
environmental safety, the identification of threats to
the negative impact on the environment in the project
39
Volume 04 Issue 01-2022
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
VOLUME
04
I
SSUE
01
Pages:
34-40
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2020:
5.
453
)
(2021:
5.
952
)
OCLC
–
1176274523
METADATA
IF
–
7.659
Publisher:
The USA Journals
and the preparation of an expert opinion containing
relevant recommendations.
Thirdly,
it is very important to systematize the national
legislation on environmental protection and bring into
the state of a single code many laws and by-laws
regulating this area.
By Decree of the President of the Republic of
Uzbekistan No. 5863 dated October 30, 2019, the
Concept of Environmental Protection of the Republic
of Uzbekistan for the period up to 2030 was approved,
which determined the priority directions of state policy
in the field of environmental protection for the
specified period.
The systematization of the regulatory framework was
also envisaged as one of the main directions of the
implementation of the concept.
Environmental protection is an activity regulated by
many legislative acts. During the analysis of the
regulatory framework, it became apparent that this
activity has a legal basis consisting of
about 200
legislative acts.
Consecutively, it significantly complicates the
application of these documents, at the same time it
may lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of
environmental expertise of draft regulatory legal acts
in the future.
Therefore, taking into account the experience of a
number of foreign countries, today an urgent task is to
systematize the legal foundations of environmental
protection by combining them into a single regulatory
legal act, that is, the Environmental Code, which, in
turn, will contribute to improving the process of
environmental expertise of draft regulatory legal acts.
Fourthly,
it is necessary to determine the relevant
powers of the State Committee of the Republic of
Uzbekistan for Ecology and Environmental Protection,
which is a specially authorized div in the field of state
environmental expertise, to conduct environmental
expertise of draft regulatory legal acts and further
increase its independence and responsibility in this
area.
It is expedient to use for solving such problems as the
creation of a special subdivision in the committee for
environmental expertise of draft regulatory legal acts,
the involvement of experienced national and
international experts in this area, control over the
implementation of the recommendations of the expert
opinion by the developers of draft regulatory legal
acts.
Training and retraining of highly qualified experts in
conducting environmental expertise of draft legislative
acts is under great importance. After all, the following
important requirements are imposed on experts
conducting environmental expertise:
theoretical
knowledge
in
the
field
of
environmental
protection,
sustainable
development and environmental safety;
Study of national legislation in the field of
environmental
protection
and
sustainable
development in the Republic of Uzbekistan and
generally recognized principles and norms of
international law in this area, international treaties;
constantly improve their knowledge and practical
skills in the field of law enforcement and ecology
by mitigating the environmental crisis, solving
environmental
problems
and
familiarizing
themselves with national and international
experience in environmental protection, etc.
40
Volume 04 Issue 01-2022
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
VOLUME
04
I
SSUE
01
Pages:
34-40
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2020:
5.
453
)
(2021:
5.
952
)
OCLC
–
1176274523
METADATA
IF
–
7.659
Publisher:
The USA Journals
Fifthly,
it is necessary to conduct a full review of the
current legislative acts for their compliance with
modern environmental standards and requirements.
According to the national database of legislation of the
Republic of Uzbekistan, today there are more than
50
thousand
existing regulatory legal acts (except for
decisions of local government authorities). In order to
assess the impact of these documents on the
environment and identify environmental threats in
them, a Government resolution must approve a 5-year
plan and conduct a full review of all regulatory legal
acts. In this regard, it is especially important that the
Ministry of Justice and the State Committee of the
Republic of Uzbekistan on Ecology and Environmental
Protection create expert groups on legislative areas,
widely involve experienced lawyers and international
specialists in this process, and prepare appropriate
proposals based on the results of review.
Today, consistent reforms in all spheres are being
implemented in our country on the basis of the new
development strategy of Uzbekistan. This is a
requirement of the time when we must radically
change our attitude to the environment, widely
introduce effective legal instruments so that future
generations can enjoy the fruits of these reforms in a
healthy and eco-friendly environment.
It is essential to note that it is important to effectively
establish the practice of conducting environmental
expertise of draft legislative acts in the lawmaking
process, which, firstly, serves as a high-quality
preparation of legislative acts, and secondly, ensures
environmental protection, rational use of natural
resources and environmental safety of the population.
REFERENCES
1.
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ru/bi
odiversity
2.
Vladimirov, V.A. Katastrofi i ekologiya / V.A.
Vladimirov, V.I. Izmalkov. – Moskva, 2000. –P. 379.
3.
Bogolyubov,
S.A.
Ekologicheskoye
pravo:
uchebnik. – Moskva, 2004. –P. 430.
4.
Ekologicheskaya ekspertiza: uchebnoye posobiye.
–Moskva: Akademiya, 2004. –P. 475.
5.
Dyakonov, K.N. Ekologicheskoye proyektirovaniye
i ekspertiza: uchebnik. –Moskva, 2005. –P. 383.
6.
https://online.zakon.kz.
7.
http://cbd.minjust.gov.kg/act/view/ru-ru/202591
8.
Uzbekiston yuridik ensiklopediyasi. –Tashkent:
Adolat, 2009. – P. 545-546.
9.
Fayziyev, Sh.H. Qonun ijodkorligi jarayonini
takomillashtirish: milliy va xorijiy tajriba. –
T.:Adolat, 2020. –P.160.
10.
https://lex.uz/docs/32955.
11.
https://lex.uz/docs/5378966
