Requirements and Issues with Implementing SEA as a Sustainable Development Instrument in Ukraine - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 144

• other types of environmental expertise (specialised environmental expertises).
Moreover, environmental expertise can be carried out at the national, regional and
local levels, including state-level environmental assessment and environmental re-
views as part of public inquiries. However, only actions upon the conclusions of
SEE are compulsory, unlike the conclusions of PEE and other types of environ-
mental expertise, which have the form of recommendations only and are not bind-
ing, i.e. may or may not be taken into consideration during decision-making (Art.
12 of the Law of Ukraine “On environmental expertise”; Art. 28, 30 of the Law of
Ukraine “On environmental protection”).
The structure of state environmental expertise (SEE) includes two interrelated
stages: 1) OVNS 5 - assessment of impacts on the environment, and 2) expert re-
view of the project documentation, including impact assessment report.
Under the Ukrainian legislation, SEE is a prerequisite for initiation of any pro-
jects or strategic actions 6 . According to the Laws of Ukraine “On environmental
protection” (Art. 27) and “On environmental expertise” (Art. 7), SEE applies to
draft strategic decisions and any project documentation, economic systems and fa-
cilities, normative acts and documents regulating economic activity; documenta-
tion for the introduction of new equipment, technologies, materials and sub-
stances; and implementation or production thereof, which could lead to violation
of environmental safety standards and cause negative environmental impacts. Un-
der Ukrainian legislation, all investment programmes and projects are subject to
the Complex State Expertise, which includes SEE and other sectoral expertises.
Therefore, from this broad perspective, the SEE process includes the assess-
ment of development policies, plans and programmes that have spatial and physi-
cal relevance (including urban and regional plans, regional programmes, etc.), i.e.
assessment of strategic actions should be carried out within the SEE. In practice,
however, SEE applies mainly to project documentation; it is a prerequisite for ini-
tiating any industrial project (e.g. capital construction and renovation projects; de-
velopment of a new equipment, technologies, etc.). Application of SEE for strate-
gic actions, i.e. policies, plans and programmes is very limited.
The main problem of Ukrainian environmental assessment system is that it has
no relevant procedure adjusted for the assessment of strategic decisions. Legisla-
tion provides for the application of a common procedure for proposals at all deci-
5 OVNS is the anglicised Ukrainian acronym for the procedure of 'assessment of impacts
on the environment' (in Ukrainian: Otsinka Vplyvu na Navkolyshne Seredovyshe ).
6 In most post-Soviet countries legislation makes no distinction between environmental as-
sessment at the project and programme level. For instance, according to Art. 14 of the
Law of Ukraine “On environmental expertise” (1995), the state environmental expertise
applies to a broad spectrum of development actions, including state investment pro-
grammes; plans and programmes for territorial and sectoral development; draft settle-
ment master plans; project documentation for construction, expansion and renovation of
enterprises and other facilities that may have negative environmental impacts; draft legis-
lation and other regulatory acts that may have negative environmental impacts; documen-
tation for the introduction of new equipment, technologies, materials and substances that
potentially pose environmental risks; etc.