Changes to the rules for the use of subsoil have entered into force in Ukraine

In Ukraine, at the end of March 2023, the Law “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on improving legislation in the field of subsoil use” 2805-IX entered into force. It is stated in a message on the website of the Ministry of Economy.

According to the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Economy Yulia Svyridenko, an active process of deregulation is taking place in the country to create favorable conditions for doing business, reduce the administrative burden and detinize the economy.

“The new law creates a convenient and transparent system of subsoil use thanks to the cancellation of outdated and irrelevant regulatory instruments. Such a decision will contribute to the attraction of investments and the development of the field of subsoil use,” said Svyridenko.

The law, in particular, abolishes the need to obtain consent:

• provision of subsoil for use in regional, Kyiv and Sevastopol city councils;
• provision of subsoil for use in village, settlement, city, district councils and councils of united territorial communities;
• the Ministry of Environment on provision of subsoil for use without an auction.

Among other things, the need for approval of the project for the development of a mineral deposit and processing of mineral raw materials from the State Geological Survey, the need to obtain annual approval of the enterprise’s mining development plan from the State Labor Department was also abolished.

“From now on, entrepreneurs no longer need to draw up dozens of documents and obtain burdensome approvals in order to obtain a special permit for subsoil use. This process is simplified as much as possible, which will allow the industry to work and provide the country’s needs with its own mineral extraction,” the Minister of Economy noted.

A number of decisions, which formed the basis of this law, were adopted through the work of the Interdepartmental Working Group (IWG) on issues of accelerated revision of instruments of state regulation of economic activity.

As GMK Center reported earlier, at the end of January 2023, the government started work on the significant expansion of economic freedoms in Ukraine through mass deregulation of business. The IWG on deregulation proposed to the Cabinet of Ministers to cancel 47% of licenses and permits. The corresponding decision was made at the first meeting of the Working Group on January 26.