Requirements and Issues with Implementing SEA as a Sustainable Development Instrument in Ukraine - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 142

almost only assessments at a project level and has the form of Environmental Ex-
pertise (in Ukrainian: Ekologichna Expertysa ) 1 or State Environmental Expertise
(SEE). The SEE procedure is compulsory for all development proposals and
“serves not only as an element in the environmental assessment process, but also
as a universal environmental-permit and pollution-control procedure” (Cherp
2001a, pp. 344-345). This type of environmental assessment system was deter-
mined by the distinctive features of the soviet planning system.
Since the beginning of the 1970s the soviet planning system included coordina-
tion of project and planning documentation with the numerous expert committees
- expert reviews or expertizas . Expert committees were part of the Gosstroy of the
USSR and Gosplan of the USSR 2 , other ministries and regional authorities. Each of
the committees carried out assessments of project and planning documentation in
a specific field. Projects for construction and reconstruction of industrial facilities
and enterprises, high-level planning decisions (allocation schemes for productive
forces, spatial development plans etc.) could only be implemented after the appro-
priate expert committee gave its consent. For most of the development proposals,
conforming to the planning and design rules and norms was the precondition for
such consent. Only for some of the large-scale projects were potential impacts on
the environment estimated. As a consequence, three decision alternatives were
possible: 1) a project was authorised; 2) a project was rejected; 3) a project pro-
posal was sent for revision to identify additional measures for environmental pro-
tection.
Cherp and Lee (1997) highlighted that the process of environmental assessment
by expert committees was facilitated by the requirement, introduced in the 1970s,
to include in the majority of planning documentation a section entitled “The pro-
tection of the natural environment”. Its purpose was to describe the proposed
measures for protection of the natural environment.
Worsening of environmental problems in the 1980s brought the realisation that
the current methods of administration were inadequate for the conservation and ef-
fective protection of the environment. To combat this, the Soviet government
made the decision to further develop the expert review procedures, while at the
same time searching for new instruments for the prevention of environmental
problems. In 1985 the Gosstroy of the USSR adopted the “Instruction on develop-
ment of project documentation for constructing industrial enterprises, residential
1 The term Ekologichna Expertysa is translated typically as 'Environmental Expertise'
(e.g. Dalal-Clayton and Sadler (1998), Grachev (2007), et al.). Other commonly used
translations are 'Ecological Expertise', 'Ecological Examination', 'Environmental
Examination' or 'Environmental Expert Review' (e.g. Cherp (2001a), Cherp (2001b),
Cherp and Laevskaya (2009), et al.).
2 Gosstroy of the USSR - State committee of the USSR for construction; Gosplan of the
USSR - State committee of the USSR for planning.