The District Administrative Court of Kyiv and Zhytomyr Administrative Court have opened proceedings on three claims of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the interests of the state represented by the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine against three companies regarding the cancellation of subsoil use licenses.
“The law enforcement bodies of the autonomy have established the fact of violation of the requirements of environmental legislation in terms of compliance with the procedure for the use of subsoil in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. In particular, it was established that prior to the occupation of the peninsula, subsoil use licenses were issued to two Ukrainian and one Russian companies. In 2014, after the occupation of the peninsula, the companies re-registered in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, continuing their activities and exploration as Russian business entities, using the specified licenses,” the press service of the prosecutor’s office said.
At the same time, these companies did not submit mandatory reports and did not inform the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine about the status of the work program, thereby violating the conditions for the use of subsoil provided for by the current legislation.
Legal relations in the field of subsoil use should be aimed at the effective use of the resource and investment potential of deposits, as well as at filling the state budget of Ukraine with funds from their industrial production. In this regard, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol filed claims seeking the cancellation of subsoil use licenses of these companies.
