Ukraine's Cabinet eases procedure for subsoil use to attract investors

Ukraine's Energy and Environmental Protection Ministry says the Cabinet of Ministers has adopted a resolution to amend the procedure for granting special permits for the subsoil use, which will make it easier to attract investment in mining.

"Our goal is to create more transparent conditions and reduce the administrative burden on investors, so now we are eliminating the procedure for obtaining approval with regional councils for the subsoils of national importance from the special permits procedure. This created additional corruption risks and blocked the development of subsoil resources management," Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection Oleksiy Orzhel said, as reported by the ministry's press service on February 19.

Read alsoPM Honcharuk: Mining licenses in Ukraine to be sold via ProZorro

Moreover, the resolution provides for the creation of a database to enable the submission of documents online and to remove non-transparent mechanisms for obtaining permits for subsoil use outside auctions.

"But it's critical to abide by environmental law, hence investors are banned from launching operations in areas unless the procedure has been conducted and the [positive] opinion of the environmental impact assessment has been obtained," the minister added.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk in late January said licenses for the extraction of mineral resources in Ukraine would be sold exclusively via auctions in the ProZorro.Sale electronic procurement system.