CIS MPs Approved a Number of Draft Laws in Field of Agrarian Policy, Natural Resources and Ecology

The IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Agrarian Policy, Natural Resources and Ecology held its session in the Tavricheskiy Palace. The event was held in a mixed (online and offline) format.

The meeting was attended by the MPs from the Azerbaijan Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as the plenipotentiary representatives of the Azerbaijan Republic – Aidyn Jafarov, the Republic of Belarus – Viktor Kogut, the Russian Federation – Irina Sokolova, other IPA CIS Council Secretariat staff members, academia and experts.

The meeting was presided by Chair of the Commission, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova on Ecology and Territorial Development Radu Mudreac.

The MPs elected Deputy Chairs of the Permanent Commission: Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management Sergey Belousov and Member of the Committee of the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic on Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology, Member of the Committee of the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic on Culture Mikhail Zabelin.

The meeting also discussed the draft Modal Law on Elimination of Accumulated Environmental Damage. Sergey Belousov reminded that this draft model law had been included in the Long-Term Plan of Model Law-Making of the CIS for 2020-2022 and aimed at the improvement of national legal framework of the CIS countries in order to decrease the pollution accumulated on their territories as a result of the past economic and other activity.

The Model Law provides for the mechanisms of elimination of the accumulated environmental damage, defines the powers of the public authorities, unifies terminology database, and identifies the tools of public-private partnership in this area.

The Commission considered the forth amended version, which had taken into consideration the comments and offers received from the relevant committees and commissions of the CIS countries. Representative of the developer – Deputy Director of the Ural State Research Institute of Regional Environmental Problems Mikhail Khodyashev briefed the members of the commission on the amendments.

The Model Law on Development and Protection of Mountainous Areas was presented by its initiator, Chair of the Liquidation Commission of the Ministry of the Russian Federation of North Caucasus Affairs Oleg Khatsayev. He drew attention of the colleagues to the high vulnerability of the mountainous areas and peoples in the face of environmental, political and geopolitical changes. He said that the sustainable management of the natural resources, including the water and forest ones, preservation of biological and cultural diversity, harmonious and responsible tourism development played a key role in development strategy for the mountainous areas.

Leading research associate of the Department of Environmental and Agrarian Legislation of the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation Elena Galinovskaya, leading research associate of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuriy Badenkov and senior research associate of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences Aleksey Gunya commended the relevance of the Model Law on Development and Protection of Mountainous Areas.

The draft Model Laws on Elimination of Accumulated Environmental Damage, on Development and Protection of Mountainous Areas and on State Information Systems in the Field of Environment, Nature Management and Environmental Safety were approved by the MPs. The members of the Commission decided to submit it to the IPA CIS Council for the subsequent consideration at the regular IPA CIS plenary session.

The Permanent Commission also considered the Model Law on Grain, on Legal Regime of Areas Affected by Radioactive Contamination. It was decided to submit them to the relevant committees (commissions) of the CIS parliaments to obtain expert opinion.

The Commission members also discussed the implementation of the Long-Term Plan of Model Law-Making of the CIS for 2020-2022, specified the jurisdiction of the Commission and got acquainted with the presentation on the development of the legislation of the Republic of Moldova in the field of agrarian policy, natural resources and ecology and on the use of the model laws adopted by the IPA CIS on the initiative of the Commission.