Special regime may be introduced to combat illegal amber production

"If our efforts prove to be inefficient in the near future, we are discussing an option to suggest the National Security and Defense Council together with the Cabinet of Ministers to come up with proposals for consideration by the president of recognizing those territories as the ecological disaster area, which envisages different regime of operating in such area,"  Kolomiets said, noting that the Ministry is now working on developing a transparent mechanism of amber production.

According to the deputy minister, such areas are located in Rivne, Volyn and a part of Zhytomyr regions, where illegal production of amber persists.

At the same time, Kolomiets noted that such activity causes enormous damage not only to the environment due to so-called "lunar landscapes", but also to health and lives of people who are involved in this process. Moreover, amber production is carried out with the participation of criminal groups.

However, Kolomiets stressed that once a special regime in such territories is introduced, there will be a restriction of movement, more stringent enforcement measures, as well as a number of other measures aimed at tackling the problem of illegal extraction of precious stones.

"I hope that this will not happen and our coordinated work will lead to positive results as early as in autumn," Kolomiets said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Parliament adopted in the first reading a draft law "On production and sale of amber" in April, 2015.

Adopting this bill will allow for improving the criminogenic situation in Zhytomyr, Rivne, and Volyn regions of Ukraine, contributing to the decrease in illegal amber production.

Ukraine has the world`s second largest amber deposits, with the best percentage of gem-quality amber.