The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has amended the Criteria for assessing the degree of risk from business activities and determining the frequency of scheduled inspections of enterprises by the State Environmental Inspectorate.

In particular, new criteria are established in the following areas:

• ensuring chemical safety and management of chemical products;
• waste prevention and management;
• monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions;
• management of genetically modified organisms;
• management of pesticides and agrochemicals;
• production and disposal of chemical power sources;
• management of ozone-depleting substances and fluorinated greenhouse gases.

The adoption of such amendments was necessary to:

• implement the European integration laws that have already been approved in Ukraine, such as the Law on ensuring chemical safety and management of chemical products and the Law on waste management;
• introduce a risk-based approach to environmental inspections. This will help to improve the objectivity, transparency and impartiality of such inspections, as well as make them more efficient and predictable;
• optimally redistribute the attention of the state supervisory (control) authority from less risky business entities to more risky ones.