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Public participation in decisions on specific activities in Ukraine: state of the art and way forward

Yelyzaveta Aleksyeyeva

elni Review 2022, pp. 51-57. https://doi.org/10.46850/elni.2022.009

The article provides a critical analysis of the state of development of participatory democracy instruments in Ukraine in particular of access to information relevant to the decision-making and public participation in environmental matters. The piece explores the major regulatory shifts in these areas brought by implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and associated adoption of legal frameworks on access to public information and on environmental impact assessment. Current legislative proposals on industrial emissions soon to be considered by the Parliament of Ukraine are analysed in detail to demonstrate the continuation of the trend. This leads to a conclusion that access to information and public participation in decisions on specific activities in Ukraine are developing in conformity with the European standards and will continue to develop both in terms of further digitalisation, automatization and customisation for the needs of a specific decision-making, and in terms of covering more environmental permits and other decisions on specific activities.

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