A draft regulation has been developed by the Ministry of Environment. It will provide a regulatory framework for the protection and restoration of the environment after mining operations and transposition of the rules for the establishment of a financial guarantee in accordance with the EU Directive on the management of waste from extractive industries.
Types of financial guarantees
According to the draft, the formation and transfer of the financial guarantee will be possible for the entrepreneur to carry out at his choice through a bank guarantee issued by a licensed financial institution or an insurance policy. Or through a special accounting account opened by the holder of a subsoil use permit.
The document will be created and maintained by the holder of the subsoil use permit for the entire term of its validity in one of these forms.
In this case, the special account will be a current account opened by the user in a financial and banking institution and intended solely for the accumulation and management of funds related to the guarantee of environmental restoration. It will be used to carry out reclamation works on lands affected by mining operations.
As previously reported by Logos Press, due to the high cost of remediation works, companies often postpone or avoid carrying them out. To solve this problem, a special mechanism is being introduced. Companies will be obliged to annually transfer 0.25% of the amount of the financial guarantee to a treasury account administered by the state.
These funds will be used when companies fail to fulfill their obligations.
It is proposed that the provisions of the regulations will come into force simultaneously with the Subsoil Code, i.e. from May 29, 2026.
