State environmental expertise of draft technical documentation

Abstract

The period between 19th—20th centuries was rich in innovations in the field of environmental protection, including the tightening of requirements for the implementation of projects that can have a negative impact on the environment. These requirements, imposed at the legislative level and aimed at the realization of citizens’ rights to a favorable environment, reliable information about it and on compensation for damage caused to health and property by an environmental offense, according to Art. 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, often have an ambiguous interpretation, which leads to the emergence of controversial situations in the implementation of the functions of control and supervisory bodies. One of these bottlenecks of Russian environmental legislation is federal law no. 174-FZ “On Environmental Expertise” of October 23, 1995 regarding the inclusion in Art. 11 objects of state environmental expertise of draft technical documentation for new equipment, technology, the use of which can have an impact on the environment. As practice shows, the norms of environmental legislation do not disclose the terms “new technology” and “new technology”, which leads to the emergence of judicial precedents in the passage of state environmental expertise related to the ambiguous interpretation of these concepts. The aim of this study is to make an attempt to assess the impact of gaps in environmental legislation on environmental law actors and suggest ways to resolve them.