Improving the legal regulation of relations arising in connection with the geological study of subsoil and the extraction of mineral resources

⚡️ The draft Law "On Amendments to Laws on Subsoil Use" has been adopted in the second reading.

For reference. The draft Law, in particular, provides for:

• establishing the competence of the President of the Republic of Belarus to determine the specifics of legal regulation of relations governed by the Subsoil Code;
• granting the Council of Ministers the authority to determine the procedure for the placement, development, reclamation, and accounting of intra-farm quarries, extraction of minerals from surface water bodies (watercourses), as well as to establish the procedure for conducting state expertise of geological information, including requirements for the conclusion of such expertise and the procedure for its approval;
• assigning to local authorities the responsibility for the conservation, liquidation of mining enterprises and workings, underground structures not related to mineral extraction, and reclamation of disturbed lands in case the subsoil user cannot be identified;
• establishing obligations for subsoil users to keep records of minerals extracted by open-pit mining, using weighing devices located at the extraction sites, and to submit reports to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection on the progress of geological exploration and mineral reserve growth;
• improving the procedure for the emergence, suspension, and termination of the right to use subsoil, and the extension of this period of use;
• establishing the competence of basic-level executive committees to make decisions authorizing the sale of common minerals extracted from intra-farm quarries.

?? The President of Belarus has repeatedly emphasized the special importance of its own mineral and raw material resources, setting the task to intensively develop deposits, and efficiently extract and process raw materials.

❗️ As noted by the Chairman of the House of Representatives, Igor Sergeenko, the bill "On Amendments to Laws on Subsoil Use" was developed to improve the legal regulation of issues related to geological study of subsoil, extraction and processing of minerals, taking into account law enforcement practice.