New Environmental Code In Kazakhstan

1. What shortcomings the current Environmental Code has? Why was a new Environmental Code needed?

It is already 14 years since the current Environmental Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan was adopted. It played an important role in ensuring environmental protection, while many of its provisions, however, proved to be ineffective. In particular, while applying the Code, the goals and objectives of environmental protection we actually substituted with the goals of replenishing the state budget.

Among the shortcomings of the current Environmental Code, I would like to highlight the low efficiency of environmental impact assessment and environmental permits; backwardness and irrelevance of legislative regulation of waste; limited public participation in environmental control and settling other issues; inappropriate procedure for the economic assessment of environmental damage.