Environmental protection service will be created in Armenia.
In today's session, the Executive Committee approved the package of drafts of the Law "On the Adoption of the Law on Environmental Protection Service of the Republic of Armenia and Amendments and Additions to Related Laws" developed by the Ministry of Environment.
Minister Hakob Simidyan presented the main changes planned by the legislative reform.
Article 26 of the current Forestry Code stipulates that forest protection is carried out by the state forest service operating in the system of the authorized body of state administration. At the same time, part 5 of Article 26 of the Forestry Code stipulates that the order of activity of the State Forestry Service shall be established by law.
The need for the establishment of the Environmental Protection Service carrying out round-the-clock monitoring is stipulated in the annex of the Government of the Republic of Armenia dated November 18, 2021 "On approving the program of activities of the Government of the Republic of Armenia for the years 2021-2026", in the 7th of the 3rd objective of the "Ministry of the Environment" section: " "Increasing the efficiency of the forest protection process in the Forestry Committee" event.
According to the results of the analysis, it was considered appropriate that proper control of the protection of forests and specially protected areas of nature is not possible with the small number of employees carrying out protection and the working hours (8 hours), because the task of the employees is not only to detect violations of forest legislation within the limits of the jurisdiction defined by the law, but also to prevent, prevent is the provision that is possible only in the case of round-the-clock duty, 24/7.
Now the service will regulate the implementation of control over the powers assigned by the legislation.
The main changes proposed by the project are:
- The Forestry Committee is renamed the Environmental Protection Service,
- the functions of protection and protection of forests are separated,
- the employee has the right to draw up records of administrative violations and initiate administrative proceedings in cases of violations of the legislation recorded during the service, and in cases of violations involving criminal offenses, to submit a petition to the relevant authorized body regarding the criminal prosecution of persons,
- the employee has the right to make a decision on responsibility in cases of administrative violations,
- the service will also carry out prevention and preventive works.
With the creation of the Environmental Protection Service, it is planned to reduce the posts of foresters (506) and inspectors (345) of specially protected natural areas of "Hayantar" SNCO, in particular, instead of 506 foresters and 345 inspectors, it is planned to create an Environmental Protection Service consisting of 1176 staff units 24 hours of working time.