TO MAIN

First, let's consider the current environmental legislation of the Russian Federation. 

One of the reasons for the negative environmental trends in Russia is the imperfection of legal instruments. It is distinguished by fragmentation and an indirect nature of action, which, coupled with frequent restructuring of environmental authorities, does not contribute to improving the quality of the environment. The growth of production planned for the near future can significantly worsen the environmental situation due to the presence of at least two negative trends: the natural resource intensity of traditional Russian technologies and the equally traditional extensiveness of management.

It is clear that the efforts made in some area of law (improving criminal liability for environmental crimes, legislation on administrative offenses, environmental insurance, environmental licensing) are unlikely to be effective in the long term. But their usefulness will increase many times over if each such effort is an integral (and consistent) part of some mechanism working for one goal - maintaining a favorable quality of the environment.

Each ecologized legal prescription of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, documents on environmental audit, planning, regulation should not only be necessary in itself and situationally correct, but also included as an integral part of the environmental quality management mechanism.

1.2.1. Legislation in the field of environmental protection, nature management and environmental safety

Legal framework for state policy in the field of environmental protection, ensuring a balanced solution of socio-economic problems, maintaining a favorable environment, biological diversity and natural resources in order to meet the needs of present and future generations, strengthening the rule of law in the field of environmental protection and ensuring environmental safety , defines the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" dated 10.01.2002 No. 7-FZ. It regulates relations in the field of interaction between society and nature arising from the implementation of economic and other activities related to the impact on the natural environment within the Russian Federation, as well as on the continental shelf and in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation.

The federal law "On Environmental Protection" is the basic law on the basis of which all environmental legislation of the Russian Federation is based.

Legal relations in the field of environmental protection, environmental safety, rational use of natural resources are defined in the following laws in force, which can be conditionally divided into four groups.

General bills.

1. Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" dated January 10, 2002 No. 7-FZ.

2. Federal Law No. 174-FZ of November 23, 1995, “On Ecological Expertise” (as amended on April 15, 1998).

3. Federal Law "On the Hydrometeorological Service" dated July 9, 1998 No. 113-FZ.

4. Federal Law "On the protection of the rights of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs during state control (supervision)" dated 08.08.2001 No. 134-FZ.

Block of bills on environmental safety.

1. Federal Law "On the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population" dated March 30, 1999 No. 52-FZ.

2. Federal Law "On the protection of the population of territories from natural and man-made emergencies" dated December 21, 1994 No. b8-FZ.

3. Federal Law "On State Regulation in the Field of Genetic Engineering Activities" No. 86-FZ dated June 5, 1996, as amended on July 12, 2000 No. 96-FZ.

4. Federal Law "On the Ratification of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal" dated November 25, 1994 No. 49-FZ.

5. Federal Law "On the safe handling of pesticides and agrochemicals" dated July 19, 1997 No. 109-FZ.

6. Federal Law No. 117-FZ of July 21, 1997, On the Safety of Hydraulic Structures (as amended on December 30, 2001).

7. Federal Law No. 89-FZ dated June 24, 1998 “On production waste and consumption” (as amended on December 29, 2000 No. 169-FZ).

Block of bills on radiation safety of the population.

1. Federal Law "On the Use of Atomic Energy" dated November 21, 1995 No. 170-FZ (as amended on March 28, 2002 No. 33-FZ).

2. Federal Law "On radiation safety of the population" dated 09.01.96 No. 3-FZ.

3. Federal Law No. 29-FZ dated April 3, 1996 “On Financing Particularly Radiation-Hazardous and Nuclear-Hazardous Production and Facilities”

4. Federal Law No. 92-FZ dated July 10, 2001 “On special environmental programs for the rehabilitation of radioactively contaminated areas of the territory”.

Block of bills on natural resources.

1. Federal Law "On the Protection of Atmospheric Air" dated 04.09.99 No. 96-FZ.

2. Federal Law "Water Code of the Russian Federation" dated November 16, 1995 No. 167-FZ.

3. Federal Law "On the state for the use of water bodies" dated 06.09.98 No. 71-FZ (as amended on 07.08.01 No. 111-FZ).

4. Federal Law "On the protection of Lake Baikal" dated May 1, 1999 No. 94-FZ (as amended on December 30, 2000).

5. Federal Law "Land Code of the Russian Federation" dated October 25, 2001 No. 136-FZ.

6. Federal Law No. 163-FZ dated December 14, 2001 “On indexation of land tax rates”.

7. Federal Law "On the delimitation of state ownership of land" dated July 17, 2001 No. 101-FZ.

8. Federal Law "On Land Reclamation" dated 10.01.96 No. 4-FZ.

9. Federal Law "On Subsoil" No. 27-FZ of March 3, 1995 (as amended on August 8, 2001).

10. Federal Law No. 112-FZ dated July 21, 1997 “On subsoil plots, the right to use which may be granted under production sharing conditions”.

11. Federal Law "Forest Code of the Russian Federation" dated January 29, 1997 No. 22-FZ.

12. Federal Law No. 26-FZ dated December 23, 1995 “On natural healing resources, health-improving areas and resorts”.

13. Federal Law "On Specially Protected Natural Territories" dated March 14, 1995 No. 169-FZ.

14. Federal Law "On the Fauna" dated April 24, 1995 No. 52-FZ.

15. Federal Law No. 155-FZ dated July 31, 1998 “On Inland Sea Waters, the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of the Russian Federation”.

16. Federal Law “On the Continental Shelf of the Russian Federation” dated November 30, 1995 No. 187-FZ (as amended on August 8, 2001).

17. Federal Law No. 49-FZ dated 07.05.01 “On the Territories of Traditional Nature Management of the Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation”.

Legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of environmental information

The system of legal protection of nature in Russia includes four groups of legal measures:

1) legal regulation of relations on the use, conservation and renewal of natural resources;

2) organization of education and training of personnel, financing and logistical support of environmental activities;

3) state and public control over the fulfillment of the requirements of nature protection;

4) legal liability of offenders.

In accordance with environmental legislation, the object of legal protection is the natural environment - an objective reality that exists outside of a person and regardless of his consciousness, serving as a habitat, condition and means of his existence.

Sources of environmental law are legal acts that contain legal norms governing environmental relations. These include laws, decrees, resolutions and orders, regulations of ministries and departments, laws and regulations of the subjects of the Federation. Finally, among the sources of environmental law, a large place is occupied by international legal acts that regulate internal environmental relations on the basis of the primacy of international law.

The system of environmental legislation, guided by the ideas of fundamental constitutional acts, includes two subsystems:

• environmental

• natural resource legislation.

The environmental legislation includes the Federal Law of January 10, 2002 No. 7-FZ “On Environmental Protection” and other legislative acts of complex legal regulation.

The subsystem of natural resource legislation includes: the Land Code of the Russian Federation (FZ No. 136 of October 25, 2001), the Law of the Russian Federation of February 21, 1992 No. 2395-1 “On Subsoil”, the Forest Code of the Russian Federation (FZ No. 200 of December 4, 2006 .), the Water Code of the Russian Federation (FZ No. 74 of 03.06.2006), Federal Law of April 24, 1995 No. 52-FZ “On the Fauna”,  as well as other laws and regulations.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation reflects the main provisions of the state's environmental strategy and the main directions for strengthening the environmental law and order. The Constitution of the Russian Federation introduces into scientific circulation the definition of human environmental activity in the field of interaction between society and nature: nature management, environmental protection, ensuring environmental safety.

Part 1 of Art. 9, which states that land and other natural resources in the Russian Federation are used and protected as the basis for the life and activities of the peoples living in the respective territory.

There are two very important norms in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, one of which (Article 42) enshrines the right of every person to a favorable environment, reliable information about its condition and compensation for damage caused to his health or property, and the other proclaims the right of citizens and legal entities for private ownership of land and other natural resources (Part 2, Article 9). The first concerns the biological principles of man, the second - his material foundations of existence.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation also formalizes the organizational and legal relations between the Federation and the subjects of the Federation. According to Art. 72 the use, possession and disposal of land, subsoil, water and other natural resources, nature management, environmental protection and ensuring environmental safety are the joint competence of the Federation and the subjects of the Federation.

On the subject of its jurisdiction, the Russian Federation adopts federal laws that are binding throughout the country. The subjects of the Federation have the right to their own regulation of environmental relations, including the adoption of laws and other regulations. The Constitution of the Russian Federation enshrines the general rule: laws and other legal acts of the subjects of the Federation must not contradict federal laws. The provision of the Constitution of the Russian Federation is specified in the sources of environmental law.

The Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" defines the legal framework for state policy in the field of environmental protection, ensuring a balanced solution of socio-economic problems, maintaining a favorable environment, biological diversity and natural resources in order to meet the needs of current and future generations, strengthening the rule of law in the field of environmental protection and environmental safety.

The following legal provisions are fixed in 16 chapters of the Law:

• fundamentals of management in the field of environmental protection;

• rights and obligations of citizens, public and other non-profit associations in the field of environmental protection;

• economic regulation in the field of environmental protection;

• standardization in the field of environmental protection;

• environmental impact assessment and ecological expertise;

• requirements in the field of environmental protection in the course of economic activity;

• zones of ecological disaster, zones of emergency situations;

• state environmental monitoring (state environmental monitoring);

• control in the field of environmental protection (environmental control);

• scientific research in the field of environmental protection;

• bases of formation of ecological culture;

• international cooperation in the field of environmental protection.

Protecting human health and well-being is the ultimate goal of protecting the natural environment. Therefore, in legislative acts aimed at protecting the health of citizens, environmental requirements occupy a leading place. In this sense, the source of environmental law is the Federal Law of March 30, 1999 No. 52-FZ "On the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population." It regulates sanitary relations related to the protection of health from the adverse effects of the external environment - industrial, domestic, natural. Environmental requirements expressed in the articles of the Law are at the same time sources of environmental law. For example, the norms of Art. 18 of the Law on burial, processing, neutralization and disposal of industrial and domestic waste, etc.

Another source of environmental law is the Federal Law “On the Basics of Protecting the Health of Citizens in the Russian Federation” dated November 21, 2011 No. 323-FZ. It has a norm that ensures the environmental rights of citizens. Yes, Art. 18 states that: “Everyone has the right to health care. The right to health protection is ensured by the protection of the environment…”

Legal norms on nature protection and rational use of natural resources are also contained in other acts of Russian natural resource legislation. These include the Forest Code of the Russian Federation, the Water Code of the Russian Federation, the Federal Law "On the Wildlife", etc.

The range of environmental issues on which decrees and orders of the President of the Russian Federation can be issued is practically unlimited. Among them is the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 4, 1994 No. 238 "On the state strategy of the Russian Federation for environmental protection and sustainable development."

Based on and in pursuance of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws, regulatory decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation issues resolutions and orders, being also responsible for their implementation. The Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation is also a regulatory legal act. In accordance with Art. 114 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation The Government of the Russian Federation ensures the implementation in the Russian Federation of a unified state policy in the field of science, culture, education, healthcare, social security, and ecology.

An important role is played by regulatory rules - sanitary, construction, technical and economic, technological, etc. These include environmental quality standards: norms for permissible radiation, noise levels, vibration, etc. These standards are technical rules, and in In this form, they are not considered as sources of law. Departmental normative acts may be canceled by the Government of the Russian Federation if they contradict the law. Acts come into force only after registration with the Ministry of Justice and publication in the Rossiyskiye Vesti newspaper. According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the subjects of the Federation also have the right to adopt laws and other regulatory legal acts on issues within their jurisdiction.

Thus, the Law of the Russian Federation of February 7, 1992 No. 2300-1 “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” (Article 7) gives the consumer the right to demand that goods be safe for his life. It also gives the authorities the right to suspend the sale of goods if there is a threat to the health of citizens or the state of the environment. The laws on local self-government, taxation of legal entities reflect various benefits for reducing emissions, using clean technologies, etc.