The draft law «On Integrated Prevention and Control of Industrial Pollution» is not acceptable in its current version – Ukrmetalurgprom

On June 20, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted as a basis the draft law On Integrated Prevention and Control of Industrial Pollution No. 11355. It is almost identical to the draft law No. 6004-d «On Ensuring the Constitutional Rights of Citizens to a Safe Environment for Life and Health,» which MPs lacked only one vote to pass on June 19.

The purpose of the draft law is to implement the provisions of Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions into Ukrainian law. The document envisages the introduction of an «integrated permit» that will set specific environmental standards for emissions and waste for enterprises.

The steelmakers emphasize that the maximum possible period of 7 years from the date of application of the BAT conclusions proposed by Bill No. 11355 is not sufficient.

Metinvest’s press service notes that the draft law in its current form is not acceptable to the industry, as it does not take into account the real economic situation in Ukraine and deprives the mining and metals sector of development opportunities.

«The draft law aims to implement the provisions of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions into Ukrainian law. Article 14(3) of the Directive stipulates that BAT conclusions are a guideline for setting permit conditions and the competent authority may, in certain cases, set less stringent emission limit values. Even after 10 years of the Directive’s implementation, derogations are commonplace and widely used in EU member states,» Metinvest emphasizes.

The steelmakers add that Ukraine should adopt the European experience, as we undertook these obligations when signing the Association Agreement with the EU, but the following factors should be taken into account:

• the war in Ukraine, which has a strong impact on the operations of metallurgical enterprises;
• the European system of business support in the form of multi-billion dollar grants for environmental modernization;
• in the EU, the current level of air pollutant emissions was preceded by almost 30 years of implementation of modernization projects (funded by the state);
• EU member states’ enterprises did not face such challenges as military operations that threaten physical destruction or seizure of production facilities when implementing Directive 2010/75/EU.

In view of the above, Ukrmetalurgprom calls for the Draft Law to be finalized with due regard to the comments of the industry and other enterprises.

Also, according to the European Business Association, the European Union provided at least EUR 803.5 billion of state aid from the EU structural funds (grants, low-interest loans and long-term loans, tax benefits, etc.) to European enterprises in 2000-2022 for environmental protection and energy efficiency measures, including the introduction of BAT and the transition to new environmental requirements. Of these, almost €200 billion will be allocated in 2021-2022 alone. Domestic companies do not have access to state support for eco-modernization of industry, either at the level of Ukraine or as an EU candidate.