New payment rates have been set for the negative impact on the environment

The enactment "On payment rates for the negative impact on the environment and additional coefficients" was adopted to ensure implementation of new legislative regulation in the nature protection field, as it is reported on the official website of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation. No increase in the financial burden on business entities is expected after adoption of the enactment. On the contrary, the companies will be able to adjust the amount to be paid subtracting the expenditures for the nature protection events. Moreover, they will be able to apply incentive coefficients to the payment related to waste placement, for instance, during waste deactivation, recovery of earlier placed waste and so on. At present, the annual budget revenue from the payments for the negative impact on the environment in the Russian Federation amounts to about 27 billion rubles (in 2014 – 27.7 billion rubles, in 2015 – 26.8 billion rubles), which makes up 0.04 – 0.05% of the GDP. According to the expert estimates, the amount of payments can decrease by 1.5-2 times or even more as compared to 2015 owing to the application of benefits.

As a reminder, the Federal Law No. 219-FZ "On amending the Federal Law 'On nature protection' and individual legislative acts of the Russian Federation" was adopted on July 21, 2014. The document envisages significant changes in the mechanism of calculation and collection of payments for the negative impact on the environment. The mechanism provides for the introduction of payment rates. The document replaces the Enactment of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 12, 2003 No. 344 that will be canceled, since it does not meet the new requirements of the Federal Law "On nature protection". A series of other documents will also be canceled if they relate to the Enactment of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 12, 2003 No. 344, including the Enactment of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 19, 2014 No. 1219 "On coefficients to the standard fee rates for exhausts into the air" envisaging adjustment of the fee rates for the period from 2015 to 2017. The adjustment coefficient rates envisaged by this Enactment are taken into consideration in the new document on new fee rates. The fee rates have been set with regard to every pollutant, and they have also been set for production and consumption waste placement depending on the hazard class. The list of pollutants which envisage payment was established by the Order of the Government of the Russian Federation of July 8, 2015 No. 1316-р. The fee rates for the pollutants that have not been included in the Enactment No. 344, but that are covered in the Order No. 1316-р have been set based on the conventional approach depending on the extent of their hazard for the environment and health of the population. Fee rates for the negative impact on the environment will be applied with an additional coefficient 2 with regard to the territories and facilities under special protection in compliance with the federal laws, including nature reserves and national parks, as well as the Baikal Natural Area and Lake Baikal. An analogous coefficient is currently envisaged in the Enactment of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 344. The coefficient 0.3 envisaged by the given enactment will remain in force, and it can be applied by the payers who place waste at their proper waste placement facilities. The document was subject to the procedure of public discussions at the portal regulations.gov.ru, and it was coordinated with the federal executive authorities. It takes into consideration the decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation on prevention of increases in non-tax payments within the next few years.

Press Service of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan