About Payments for Environmental Pollution

The issues of timely collection and removal of household waste in rural areas were resolved after the adoption in 2018 of amendments to the Law "On payments for environmental pollution and the use of natural resources" in many ways. The new norm of the law gave the owners of private houses a certain choice - to conclude an agreement with a specialized organization for the removal of household waste and pay according to the tariff, or to pay a tax payment for the disposal of solid household waste, the amount of which significantly exceeded the payment under the contract.

Most of the home owners have concluded garbage collection contracts now. The payment arrears that had accumulated by that time were not collected after the agreement conclusion. According to the tax authorities, the owners of the houses abused this state of affairs, because they understood that no matter what debt accumulated, after the conclusion of the contract it would not have to be paid. The Government proposed to change the wording in the law, replacing the words “not levy” with the words “not charge”. This would allow the tax authorities, even after the owner of the house has concluded an agreement on the removal of solid household waste, to collect the debt that has accumulated by that time. Deputies of the profile committee do not agree with this formulation of the issue.

The deputy chairman of the profile committee considers that the main goal that was set when the law was adopted in 2018 has been achieved. Most households have concluded contracts for the removal of solid waste and pay for this service.

The profile committee will recommend to the Supreme Council to adopt the law-in-draft in the first reading and continue work on it, taking into account the comments and suggestions made.