LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

of May 29, 2014 No. 86

About environmental impact assessment

The Parliament adopts this organic law.

This law shifts the Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and Council of December 13, 2011 about assessment of impact of some state and private projects onto the environment (codification) (The official magazine of the European Union L 26 of January 28, 2012), with the changes made by the Directive of the European Parliament and Council 2014/52/EU of April 16, 2014 and also provisions of parts (3) and (4) Article 6 of the Directive 92/43/EEC of Council of May 21, 1992 about preserving native habitats and wild flora and fauna (The official magazine of the European Union L 206 of July 22, 1992), with the last changes made by the Directive 2013/17/EU of May 13, 2013.

Chapter I General provisions

Article 1. Purpose and subject of the law

(1) the Purpose of this law is creation of the legal basis of functioning of the mechanism of assessment of impact of some state and private types of the planned activities on the environment and the biodiversity assessment mechanism for ensuring prevention or minimizing of considerable impact on the environment and health of the population at the earliest stages, and also for accomplishment of the obligations undertaken by the Republic of Moldova at the international level.

(2) the Subject of this law are the procedures and procedure used in the course of environmental impact assessment of some types state and types of the private planned activities which can make considerable impact on the environment of the Republic of Moldova or other states.

Article 2. Basic concepts

For the purpose of this law the following basic concepts are used:

nature protection permission – the allowing document issued by the Agency of the environment which grants permission for accomplishment in certain place of the planned activities provided in appendix 1 or 2, establishes conditions and environmental measures which shall be observed within approval of development of the planned activities according to Article 24;

the planned activities – the state or private planned activities or any change or expansion of the state or private planned activities which consists in accomplishment of construction works or constructions of other installations or accomplishment of other works, and also other interventions in the environment and landscape, including activities, connected with operation of mineral resources;

development approval – the decision of authority or the bodies issuers provided in appendix 1 to the Law on regulation of business activity by permission No. 160/2011, which grants the right to the initiator on implementation of the planned activities;

the interested bodies of the central and local public authority – the central and local authorities of the public power which owing to the specific powers and obligations in the field of the environment or owing to the competences at the local level are interested or can be interested in the potential impact on the environment caused by the planned activities;

biodiversity assessment – assessment of impact of the planned activities on objects of Emerald network according to the Law on ecological network No. 94/2007;

environmental impact assessment – the procedure performed according to this law which enters:

a) development of the program of evaluating impact on the environment;

b) development of the valuation report of impact on the environment the initiator of the planned activities;

c) carrying out public consultations with the interested bodies of the central and local public authority and with the interested public at the local, national level and on circumstances in cross-border context;

d) consideration of the environment by the Agency and Technical commission of information provided in the valuation report of impact on the environment, any other information provided by the initiator in addition and also information obtained as a result of carrying out the public consultations provided in Item c);

e) removal of the environment of the motivated decision by the Agency on nature protection permission according to Article 10-5 taking into account results of the consideration provided in Item d), and in need of own additional consideration;

f) inclusion of the decision on nature protection permission and nature protection permission, in case of its issue, in approval of development of the planned activities according to Article 24;

impact on the environment – any direct or indirect impact caused by realization of the planned activities on the environment, including on the population and on health of the population, biodiversity, paying special attention to the types and habitats protected within Emerald network and also other types and habitats protected by international agreements which party is the Republic of Moldova, on lands, the soil, water, air, climate, material values, cultural heritage and landscape, or interaction between these factors, and also impact on the social and economic conditions resulting from change of these factors;

the initiator – physical person or legal entity, including state and administrative and territorial units which addresses for approval of development of the planned activities;

the mentioned party – the party(parties) of the Convention on environmental impact assessment agreeing (иеся) in cross-border context which can (gutnut) to be mentioned by impact of the planned activities planned for the territories of the party of origin;

the party of origin – the party(parties) of the Convention on environmental impact assessment agreeing (иеся) in cross-border context under which jurisdiction it is planned to perform the planned activities;

the public – one or several physical persons or legal entities and, according to the national legal system or practice, their associations, the organization or group;

the interested public – the public which interests are infringed or can be affected or which has interest in decision making process in the field of the environment, and also the non-governmental organizations promoting environmental protection;

object of Emerald network – geographically certain territory of the Emerald network provided in the Law on ecological network No. 94/2007.

Article 3. Impact valuation principles on the environment

(1) the Environmental impact assessment is performed based on the following principles:

a) principle of preventive actions;

b) principle of reliability and completeness of information;

c) principle of transparency and availability;

d) principle of participation;

e) principle of precaution;

f) the principle "pays pollutant".

(2) the Principle of preventive actions provides that the environmental impact assessment is carried out on early planning stage, designings and decision makings concerning the planned activities, based on the technical and scientific information which is available for the corresponding moment with indication of measures for decrease or the prevention of potential impact on the environment, taking into account need of sustainable development of the country.

(3) the Principle of reliability and completeness of information provides that the environmental impact assessment is carried out based on information on the planned activities provided by the initiator, information on current status of the environment and natural resources, and also information obtained from the interested bodies of the central and local public authority taking into account offers and comments of the interested public.

(4) the Principle of transparency and availability provides that the interested public has the right timely and prior to implementation of the planned activities, according to requirements of this law and with the legislation on transparency of decision making process, to obtain information on the planned activities and to represent comments and offers, and also to participate in the public discussions organized in the course of environmental impact assessment.

(5) the Principle of participation provides that assessment procedure of impact on the environment is carried out with participation of the interested public which offers and comments are considered in the appropriate order by the Agency of the environment.

(6) the Principle of precaution provides that the problem resolution, connected with potential negative impact on the environment, it is necessary to begin before receipt in full of scientific proofs about negative impact of the planned activities on the environment. In the presence of reasonable suspicions of rather potential negative impact of the planned activities on the environment precautionary measures shall be taken, and in case of considerable and irreversible impact the related activity is subject to prohibition.

(The Principle "the pollutant pays 7)" provides that the initiator of the planned activities incurs expenses on environmental impact assessment, on prevention and minimizing of negative impact of the planned activities on the environment.

Article 4. Scope of environmental impact assessment

(1) the Environmental impact assessment shall reveal, describe and estimate as appropriate in each separate case considerable direct and indirect impact of the planned activities on the following factors:

a) population and health of the population;

b) biodiversity, paying special attention to protected species and habitats based on the Law on fauna No. 439/1995, of the Law on flora No. 239/2007, of the Law on ecological network No. 94/2007 and international conventions which party is the Republic of Moldova;

c) lands, soil, water, air and climate;

d) material values, cultural heritage and landscape;

e) interaction between the factors specified in Items a) – d).

(2) among impacts on the factors specified in part (1), there is also expected impact of the planned types of activity owing to their vulnerability to risks of the major accidents and catastrophic crashes connected with the corresponding planned type of activity.

(3) the Situation of this law is not affected the obligation of the Agency of the environment to observe the restrictions set by the legislation concerning the state, trade and industrial secret including intellectual property and protection of public concerns.

(4) Assessment procedure of impact on the environment includes if necessary the biodiversity assessment in case of impact of the planned activities on objects of Emerald network appointed according to the Law on ecological network No. 94/2007.

(5) the Environmental impact assessment of the planned activities falling under operation of the Law on control of danger of emergence of the major accidents caused by dangerous substances No. 108/2020 and the Law on water No. 272/2011, is performed with observance of provisions of the specified laws.

(6) Provisions of this law are not applied to the planned activities or to parts of the planned activities which single purpose is national defense or emergency response, including nuclear and radiation emergency situations if the Agency of the environment in analysis result determines that evaluating impact on the environment can make negative impact on these purposes.

(7) Assessment procedure of impact on the environment in cross-border context is carried out in the following situations:

a) The Republic of Moldova is the party of origin if the planned activities which are subject to implementation in the Republic of Moldova can make considerable cross-border impact on the environment outside borders of the Republic of Moldova;

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