THE CODE ABOUT THE SUBSOIL OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

of November 8, 2024 No. 246

The parliament accepts this code.

This code shifts:

- The directive 94/22/EC of the European parliament and Council of May 30, 1994 about conditions of provision and use of permissions to search, the exploration and production of hydrocarbons published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 164 of June 30, 1994, CELEX: 31994L0022, with the last changes made by Regulations (EU) 2018/1999 European parliament and Council of December 11, 2018 for management of the energy union and actions in the field of climate about change of regulations (EU) No. 663/2009 and (EU) No. 715/2009 of the European parliament and Council, directives 94/22/EC, 98/70/EC, 2009/31/EC, 2009/73/EC, 2010/31/EC, 2012/27/EC and 2013/30/EC of the European parliament and Council, directives 2009/119/EU and (EU) 2015/652 Councils and about cancellation of Regulations (EU) No. 525/2013 of the European parliament and Council;

- The directive 2006/21/EC of the European parliament and Council of March 15, 2006 about waste management of mining industry and about modification of the Directive 2004/35/EC published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 102 of April 11, 2006, CELEX: 32006L0021, with the last changes made by Regulations (EU) No. 596/2009 of the European parliament and Council of June 18, 2009 adapting for the Decision 1999/468/EC of Council some acts falling under the procedure, stipulated in Article 251 Agreements concerning the procedure of regulation with check - Adaptation to the procedure of regulation with check - the Part four.

Chapter I. General provisions

Article 1. Purpose and subject of the code

(1) the code Purpose about subsoil is establishment of the regulatory base aimed at providing rational and complex use of subsoil for requirements satisfaction in mineral raw materials and other needs of national economy, safety of works when using natural resources, protection of the rights of physical persons and legal entities irrespective of type of property and form of business, prevention or decrease in any negative impact on the environment, in particular on water, air, the soil, fauna, flora and landscape and also any risk for human health as a result of the address with waste of mining industry.

(2) the Subject of this Code are the procedures and rules applied in the course of use and protection of subsoil taking into account the importance of mineral resources to ensuring economic safety of the state and sustainable development of society.

Article 2. Scope of application

(1) the Code about subsoil is the main legal base for regulation of legal relationship in the field of use and protection of subsoil.

(2) This code is applied according to provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and international treaties which party is the Republic of Moldova. If provisions of the international treaty which party is the Republic of Moldova establish other regulations, than stipulated by the legislation the Republic of Moldova about use and protection of subsoil, provisions of the international treaty are applied.

(3) the Legal relationship connected with use and protection of lands, waters, the woods, arising when using natural resources are regulated by the corresponding regulations.

(4) the Civil relations connected with use of natural resources are regulated by regulations of the civil legislation if they are not regulated by regulations of this Code.

Article 3. Subjects of legal relationship in the field of use and protection of subsoil

(1) Subjects of legal relationship in the field of use and protection of subsoil are the state, administrative and territorial units, and also legal entities and physical persons of the Republic of Moldova and other countries.

(2) on behalf of the state and administrative and territorial units bodies of the central and local public authority according to the powers established by this code participate in legal relationship in the field of use and protection of subsoil.

(3) Foreign legal entities and physical persons in the course of use and protection of subsoil have the same rights and perform the same duties, as legal entities and physical persons of the Republic of Moldova, according to the legislation.

(4) Legal entities and physical persons receive the status of the owner of permission to use of natural resources after receipt by them of permission to use of natural resources.

Article 4. Basic concepts

For the purposes of of this Code the following concepts are determined:

competent authority in the field of use and protection of subsoil - the Agency of geology and mineral resources which is the central administrative authority subordinated to the Ministry of the environment specializing in area of studying, accounting and regulation of rational use of mineral resources for the purpose of realization of state policy in the field of use and protection of subsoil;

permission to use of natural resources - the allowing document granting to its owner mineral right according to the procedure, established by this code. Permission to use of natural resources can be provided for each separate type of activity or at the same time for several types of activity, stipulated in Article 8;

mineral resources - set of the reconnoitered and previously estimated inventories of minerals and the accompanying components which can be used in different industries of national economy;

geological studying of subsoil - complex of the works which are carried out for the purpose of determination of structure of crust and proceeding in it processes, search and investigation of minerals, works on studying for the purpose of construction or operation of the underground constructions which are not connected with mining, and also the organizations in subsoil of the protected geological objects;

the cyanides dissociating in the subacidic circle - cyanides and cyanic connections which dissociate in the subacidic circle in case of certain pH level;

production waste - the waste which is formed as a result of activities for geological studying of subsoil, operation, processing and storage of mineral resources, and also as a result of development of pits, except for:

a) the waste which is formed by search, production, processing of mineral resources and development of pits, but not being direct result of these transactions;

b) the waste which is formed as a result of activities for sea geological exploration, production and processing of mineral resources;

c) pumping the water containing substances which are formed as a result of transactions on exploration and production of hydrocarbons or mining activities, and also pumping water for technical reasons in geological educations after production from them of hydrocarbons or other substances or in geological educations which for the natural reasons are finally unsuitable for other purposes. Such downloadings shall not contain other substances, except formed as a result of the above-stated transactions;

d) the return pumping the underground waters which are pumped out from mines and pits or formed as a result of construction works or works on maintenance on objects of civil engineering;

inert waste - waste which are not exposed to any essential physical, chemical or biological transformations. Inert waste does not decay, does not burn and does not enter physical or chemical reactions, is not exposed to biological decomposition and does not make negative impact on other materials contacting to them which can lead to environmental pollution or damnification to human health. The general education of filtrate and content of pollutants in waste, and also ecotoxicity of filtrate shall be insignificant and, in particular, shall not threaten quality of surface and/or underground water;

the owner of waste of production - the producer of waste of production or physical person or legal entity in which ownership they are;

dam - the construction intended for deduction or barrier of water and/or waste in pond settler;

excavation - the space on surface formed as a result of carrying out mining operations and representing cavity in subsoil;

operation - complex of the works on mining performed underground and/or on surface;

expansion of mineral resources - complex of the works on geological studying performed for the purpose of opening of new fields or new inventories (stock gain) of minerals for compensation of their reduction due to production or other factors;

The state fund of information on subsoil - set of geological information on subsoil, regulated part (1) Articles 30, and the state geological information resources;

financial guarantee of recovery of the environment - obligation and responsibility of owners of permissions to use of natural resources on providing the financial resources necessary for recovery of the environment;

mine emptiness - the space in subsoil formed as a result of mining which is structurally steady irrespective of carrying out engineering works and can be used for other purposes after the termination of mining activities;

dump - the site equipped for warehousing of solid waste on surface;

pond settler - the natural education or the site equipped for warehousing of fine-grained waste, usually tails together with different amount of free water which are formed as a result of processing of mineral resources, and also recirculation and purification of technological water;

mining industry - set of the organizations and companies participating in production of mineral resources by open or underground method for commercial purposes including by drilling or processing of the extracted material;

installation (object) for production waste management - any surface intended for accumulating or warehousing of waste of production in firm or liquid form in the form of solution or suspension during the next periods:

a) lack of the temporary period - for installations on waste management of category A and installations on waste management, characterized in the plan for production waste management as dangerous;

b) the period more than six months - for installations on management it is unforeseen by the formed dangerous wastes;

c) the period more than one year - for installations on management of harmless not inert waste;

d) the period more than three years - for the installations intended for the uncontaminated soil, harmless waste of geological exploration, the waste which is formed in case of production, processing and storage of peat, and inert waste.

Any dams or other constructions serving for content, deduction, barrier or other purposes of such installation which also include, in addition, dumps and ponds settlers belong to such installations, but do not include the developed emptiness to which waste after mining for the purpose of rehabilitation and construction moves;

the filtrate - any liquid which filters through the warehoused waste and is formed of them or contains in installation on waste management, including the contaminated drainage and which can cause environmental damage for lack of proper processing;

mineral raw materials - the extracted minerals which underwent primary conversion;

essential change - change which is made to structure of installation on waste management of production or to its operation and which, according to competent authority in the field of use and protection of subsoil, can make considerable negative impact on health of the person or the environment;

monitoring of condition of subsoil - system of regular observations of condition of subsoil for the purpose of timely identification of changes in them, estimates of these changes, the prevention and elimination of effects of negative processes and the phenomena;

the operator - any physical person or legal entity responsible for waste management of production according to the legislation in the field, including temporary storage of waste of production, including at operational phases of installation and after its closing;

branch for studying - the area corresponding to contour projection to surface of part of crust within which on certain interval of depths works on studying for the purpose of identification and assessment of mineral resources are carried out;

branch for operation - the area corresponding to contour projection to surface of part of crust within which on certain interval of depths works on operation of mineral resources, and also the surfaces necessary for implementation of activities for conversion, preparation of mineral resources and to storage of waste of mining operations are carried out;

conversion of minerals - mechanical, physical, biological, thermal or chemical process or the combinations of processes applied to minerals, including sorting, washing, crushing, and also conversion of earlier removed waste, except for processes of melting, heat treatment (except calcinating) and metallurgical processes;

water intake of underground waters - the place of production or intake of water from underground sources, including all constructions and installations. The water intake can include one or several water intaking installations;

the state program - the program developed for the purpose of application of strategy and policy in the field of rational use and protection of subsoil which is implemented at the expense of the funds allocated from the government budget;

geological exploration - search of the mineral deposits having economic value including sampling, including gross method, accomplishment of drilling and digging of trenches, except for any works necessary for development of such fields, and also any activities which are directly connected with the existing transaction on production;

rehabilitation - recovery of the parcel of land damaged by installation on production waste management for its reduction in proper condition, in particular concerning quality of the soil, the wild nature, native habitats, hydrological systems, landscape and opportunities of further use;

recultivation - recovery of the geological circle and the land ecosystems damaged by mining activities to the condition which is brought most closer to natural by application of additional and countervailing measures on ecological recovery and/or ecological reconstruction and by elimination of any substantial risk of impact on them according to category of appointment and method of use of the parcel of land;

The state geological register - the single information resource containing data on studying, use and protection of subsoil in the territory of the Republic of Moldova, created as a result of documentation within specialized information system;

the subsoil plot - the geometrizovanny block of subsoil having space borders which coordinates are fixed in tabular and/or graphical form;

the uncontaminated soil - the soil which is removed from the upper layer of the earth during activities for production and which is not considered contaminated;

tails - the solid waste or slime remaining later processings of minerals by means of separation processes (for example, crushing, crushing, sorting according to the size, flotation and other physical and chemical methods) for extraction of valuable minerals from less valuable breed;

the feasibility statement on development of minerals - the complex and detailed analysis of opportunities of operation and economic use of mineral resources. This research is directed to assessment of technical, economic, social and nature protection feasibility of the mining project or activities for production and conversion of mineral resources;

subsoil - the part of crust located below fertile layer of earth, and in its absence - below the land surface and bottom of reservoirs and water currents, stretching to depths available to geological studying and development;

minerals - the accumulations of natural minerals, hydrocarbons and underground waters containing in subsoil which chemical composition and physical properties allow to use them in the field of production of goods and consumption in natural type or after conversion. The petrified biological remaining balance (fossils) which is also in subsoil belongs to minerals;

the owner of permission to use of natural resources - any legal entity or physical person of the Republic of Moldova or other country which can perform one or several types of activity specified in Article 8;

processing of mineral resources - mechanical, physical, biological, thermal or chemical process or the combinations of processes applied to mineral resources, including arising in case of development of pits, intended for production of mineral resources, including change of the size, sorting, separation and lixiviation, and also conversion of earlier removed waste, except for processes of melting, heat treatment (except calcinating) and metallurgical processes;

the mineral deposit - natural accumulation of minerals which in the quantitative and high-quality relation can be subject of industrial development in case of the modern level of the equipment and economy that is confirmed by the corresponding entry in the State geological register.

Article 5. Principles of the legislation on subsoil

The legislation on subsoil is based on the following principles:

a) ensuring rational, complex and safe use of subsoil;

b) ensuring protection of subsoil and environment;

c) providing combination of national and local interests;

d) ensuring expansion of mineral resources;

e) ensuring equality and legitimate interests of all legal entities and physical persons when using natural resources;

f) observance of equal approach, transparency and nondiscrimination in the course of provision and operation of subsoil;

g) predictability and stability of rules of use and protection of subsoil.

Article 6. Property on subsoil, minerals and mineral raw materials

(1) All richness of subsoil of the Republic of Moldova, including the minerals containing in them, underground spaces of subsoil, and also surface and underground water constitutes object of exclusively public property, is inaliennable, on them collection cannot be turned and the term of limitation period is not applied to them.

(2) Subsoil plots cannot be alienated, they can only be provided in use. All transactions on alienation to physical persons or legal entities with private equity or to acquisition of subsoil plots by them including made by privatization and also transactions on transfer of subsoil plots to specified persons to free use are recognized insignificant.

(3) the Extracted minerals belong to the owner of permission to use of natural resources on the property right if the decision on issue of permission to use of natural resources does not provide other.

Article 7. Right of the state to requisition of mineral raw materials

(1) in case of natural disasters, technogenic catastrophes or in other cases, stipulated by the legislation about emergency situations, the Government has the right of requisition of part or all mineral raw materials necessary for needs of the state, during the entire period of emergency situation.

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