Russian State Duma Committee on Energy proposes a three-year moratorium on environmental inspections of mining enterprises, unless it is a threat to the health and life of citizens.
Also, the State Duma offers to suspend for two years the inspections of Rosprirodnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources) on the fulfillment of the obligations of the licenses for deposits development. These measures are aimed to support the industry amid international sanctions.
However, the Ministry of Natural Resources considers the recommendations of the State Duma to be excessive, since business is already supported by the government. For example, from March 10 until the end of 2022 there is a ban on scheduled inspections, as well as unscheduled control measures, except in cases of an immediate threat or harm to the life and health of citizens.
Rosprirodnadzor cancelled about 6,000 scheduled inspections. In addition, the government approved a number of concessions for subsoil users, including suspension of the license for up to two years at the request of the company, one-year extension of the period to eliminate violations of license conditions and others.
Large-scale safety inspections at underground and open-pit mines after the explosion at the Listvyazhnaya mine (SDS), led to the suspension of more than 20 mines in Kuzbass within January-April 2022.
In 2021, federal services conducted 1,452 scheduled and 4,304 unscheduled inspections and 3,368 raids. Also, there were issued about 6,000 orders to eliminate violations of environmental legislation.
Source: CAA
