Ministry of Economy and Environment: Fewer administrative barriers and proper environmental control – EU practices studied

European approaches to issuing environmental permits, control of industrial emissions, and digitalization of environmental services were among the topics studied by representatives of Ukrainian state bodies during a study trip to Estonia and Finland. The visit took place as part of the industrial pollution prevention reform, with support from the "Best Available Techniques (BAT) for Ukraine" project implemented by GIZ.

The delegation included representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Environment of Ukraine, the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine, the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine, the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine, and the project team.

Participants studied how EU countries organize environmental regulation for businesses of different sizes.

In particular, they learned about Estonia's and Finland's experience in introducing unified permits for enterprises not covered by the EU Industrial Emissions Directive. They also looked in detail at simplified, declaration-based procedures for registering small enterprises.

A separate focus was on control of industrial emissions, namely practices of continuous emissions monitoring directly at the source and the organization of state supervision of compliance with environmental requirements.

Another area was the digitalization of environmental administration. Participants were shown the information systems used to issue integrated and unified environmental permits, and to register small enterprises on a declaration basis.

The experience gained will help Ukraine improve its environmental permitting system. It is planned to be used when introducing unified permits, to make procedures clearer and simpler for business while ensuring proper control of enterprises' environmental impact.

"Our goal is to build an effective and clear system of environmental regulation that will help prevent industrial pollution while taking into account how enterprises of different sizes operate. The experience of Estonia and Finland is important for Ukraine, as it lets us study practical solutions that can be adapted to our conditions. This is another step towards bringing Ukraine's environmental regulation system closer to European standards," said Deputy Minister of Economy and Environment of Ukraine Iryna Ovcharenko.