On June 18, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada supported a proposed law #3438 on Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Impact Assessment” to prevent the occurrence and spread of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The introduced changes concern public hearings and provide for their holding exclusively in the form of written comments and propositions, incl. in electronic form. This must be stated in the environmental impact assessment report. The corresponding change will be valid during the quarantine period in Ukraine and until its cancellation and within the next 30 days after its completion. The explanatory note of the proposed law states that holding actual public hearings poses a threat to the spread of coronavirus disease.
In addition, no new public hearing dates are set for the duration of the above measures. Scheduled public hearings the date of which falls on the period of validity of these events, are considered not to have taken place and are not held again.
We remind you that the law on EIA came into force on December 18, 2017 in fulfillment of one of the requirements of the signed Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement. Involvement the public at the initial stage of the planned activity will allow forming and considering issues related to a specific area and determine the scope of survey needed to determine the impacts of the business entity and take measures to minimize them.