Article 17. Competence of the Environment Protection Authority

The environment protection authority shall:

1) pursue a uniform national environmental policy and organise the implementation of environmental protection programmes;

2) to the extent it comes within its competence, coordinate the activities of central and local executive agencies in relation to environmental protection;

3) exercise public administration in the area of protection of climate and ozone layer of the Earth;

4) to the extent it comes within its competence, coordinate the activities of individuals and legal entities in the area of protection of climate and ozone layer of the Earth, preservation of biodiversity, desertification and degradation of land;

5) to the extent it comes within its competence, approve or consent to environmental standards and environmental requirements with regard to business and other activities;

6) develop programmes for achieving environmental quality goals;

7) consent to regional programmes and plans of action as to environmental protection;

8) issue environmental permits specifying emission limits;

9) exercise the government environmental control;

10) issue licenses to perform environmental protection-related work or services;

11) to the extent it comes within its competence, consent to licenses, permits, agreements/contracts in relation to natural resource use;

12) to the extent it comes within its competence, carry out the state environmental review, and also coordinate, and exercise systematic supervision of, the environmental review in the Republic of Kazakhstan;

13) exercise control over activities of officials of local executive agencies involving the organisation and conduct of the state environmental review; provided, however, that the environment protection authority may withdraw or cancel an opinion of the state environmental review in the event of violations of the environmental legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

14) decide to conduct the mandatory environmental audit, and approve a form of opinion on such environmental audit;

15) organise the state monitoring of the environmental condition and certain special types of monitoring, and also coordinate the maintenance of the Unified State Environmental and Natural Resource Monitoring System;

16) organise maintenance of the Unified System of Natural Resource Register;

17) organise maintenance of the State Registry of Industrial and Consumption Waste;

18) organise maintenance of the State Registry of Burial of Hazardous Substances and Radioactive Waste, and Disposal of Waste Water into Subsoil, and approve instructional and procedural documents regarding such maintenance;

19) organise keeping of state accounting records of polluted areas;

20) organise maintaining of the State Greenhouse Gases Inventory and the State Consumption of Ozone-Depleting Substances Inventory;

21) issue permits to import/export ozone-depleting substances and products containing the same, to perform work using ozone-depleting substances, and to repair, assemble and servicing equipment containing ozone-depleting substances;

22) maintain the State Register of Nature Users and Environmental Pollution Sources, and establish a procedure for keeping records of accounting thereof;

23) organise maintenance of the State Pool of Environment-Related Information, establish timing and procedure for granting access to environment-related information with regard to the procedure for environmental impact assessment and making decisions on proposed business or other activities;

24) develop lists of best available technologies and organise maintenance of a register thereof;

25) determine lists of waste to be placed in landfills of various types;

26) develop technical regulations on environmental protection;

27) develop and approve forms of documents relating to the organisation and conduct of the government environmental control;

28) develop and approve instructional and procedural documents regarding the conduct of the environmental impact assessment and state environmental review, including a procedure for conducting the state environmental review;

29) approve:

– a method of determining emission standards;

– a waste classification index;

– a form of a hazardous waste report;

– a procedure for inclusion of nature use conditions into emission permits; forms of documents for issuing emission permits and a procedure for filling out the same;

– a model list of environment-protection measures;

– a method of calculation of charge for emissions;

– rules for exercising control over activities of officials of local executive agencies in the area of environmental review;

– a form of an opinion of the state environmental review;

– a composition of and regulations on the expert board for technical regulation;

– lists, forms and timing for information exchange regarding the maintenance of the Unified State Environmental and Mineral Resource Monitoring System;

– maximum permissible concentrations of chemical substances in the soil; and

– a procedure for approving programmes for environmental production control, and establish requirements to reports on the results of such environmental production control;

30) establish:

– a procedure for holding public consultations;

– a procedure for determining and approving levels of maximum permissible greenhouse gas emissions and consumption of ozone-depleting substances; and

– a procedure for inventorying emissions of greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances;

31) improve the activities of laboratory and analytical control services within the system of government environmental regulatory agencies;

32) participate in approving basin schemes of integrated use and protection of water bodies, drafting basin agreements, developing national (regional and basin) programmes for use, reproduction and protection of water bodies, and, to the extent it comes within its competence, in implementing the basin principle of water resource management;

33) cooperate internationally in the area of environmental protection;

34) enter into agreements and memoranda in relation to environmental protection;

35) organise the development and publication of the National Ecological Atlas;

36) maintain a register of draft laws, which have passed the state environmental review; and

37) exercise other powers prescribed by this Code.