The draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Article 19 of the Russian Federation Law On Minerals has been introduced by the Kaluga Region Legislative Assembly.
Under Part 3 of Article 104 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Government has examined the draft federal law, taking into account the submitted financial and economic explanation.
The draft law establishes the concept of “personal needs” under Article 19 of the Russian Federation Law On Minerals, and delegates to regions the power to approve for their personal needs the standards of extraction of common commercial minerals which are not on the state balance, at depths up to five metres, and drinking water when operating water wells on the first water-bearing horizon that does not serve for the centralised water supply.
Extraction of common commercial minerals for the personal needs of owners of land plots, land users and landholders requires no licensing. Meanwhile the law does not establish a procedure for conducting control over compliance with the aforementioned standards, and the explanatory note to the draft law does not include a sufficient foundation for adopting such standards.
It is noteworthy that on April 22, 2011, the State Duma adopted in the first reading the draft federal law No 483465-5 On Introducing Amendments to the Russian Federation Law On Minerals, and Article 263 of the Federal Law On the General Principles of Organising Regional Legislative (Representative) and Executive Bodies of State Power, which explains the concept of “personal needs.”
The State Duma also adopted in the first reading on November 21, 2012, draft federal law No 113176-6 On Introducing Amendments to the Russian Federation Law On Minerals and to Article 55 of the Russian Federation Water Code, under which the owners of land plots, land users, land tenants and landholders are granted the right to dig and operate wells at their discretion for subsurface water extraction from sources which do not serve the centralised water supply. These land users are not required to observe the procedure established by the relevant regional executive bodies.
Thus the Government believes that a discussion of the proposed initiative is premature.