The practice of conducting public discussions. Changes and features of new requirements

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issues of changing the legislation of the Russian Federation in terms of informing the public about new projects — conducting public discussions of projects. Significant changes that have occurred in the practices and requirements of legislation, including in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, have made changes, including in the ways of informing the public — it has become possible to hold public discussions and inform the public remotely. With a low level of interest of the general public in the results of the impact assessment, the remote format of public discussions did not make fundamental changes. The main changes of 2021–2022 that occurred in terms of public discussions are presented in the Order of the Ministry of natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation dated December 1, 2020. no. 999 "On approval of requirements for environmental impact Assessment Materials", and the permissibility of using the remote format of public discussions is given in the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 3, 2020 no. 440 "On the extension of permits and other features in relation to permitting activities in 2020–2022". At the same time, it is still not clear whether the possibility of holding public discussions in a remote format will remain after December 31, 2022. The article concludes that the changes that have occurred are insignificant in terms of conducting an environmental impact assessment and informing the public about the results of such an assessment.