Legislative regulation of powers of local government bodies in the field of environmental protection

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of legislative regulation of the powers of local governments in the field of environmental protection and the development of proposals for their improvement.
 It is noted that local governments occupy an separate and independent place in the mechanism of public administration, which indicates their special administrative and legal status.
 It is emphasized that local self-government bodies should be endowed with a sufficient amount of powers that would allow them to protect the interests of the administrative-territorial community in the field of environmental protection as effectively as possible.
 It is stated that the Constitution as the Basic Law of the state, taking into account the global importance of the issue of environmental protection should clearly and without any ambiguity in interpretation contain an article according to which local governments will be empowered to exercise primary control over environmental protection. natural environment at the local level and bringing perpetrators to justice.
 It is proposed to supplement Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine «On Environmental Protection», which defines the powers of local councils in the field of environmental protection, paragraph «й» of the following content: "decide to bring to administrative responsibility those guilty of violating legislation in the field of environmental protection environment of individuals and / or legal entities ".
 It is highlighted that based on the analysis of Part 4 of Art. 42 of the Law of Ukraine «On Local Self-Government in Ukraine», village, town, city mayor have a wide range of powers, but among these powers there are no ones that would give them the right to monitor compliance with environmental legislation in the region and bring perpetrators to justice.
 It is emphasized that local governments are given broad powers in terms of controling the activities of economic entities and they should be included as a subject of a lawsuit in accordance with Art. 16 of the Law of Ukraine "On Environmental Impact Assessment" in case of violations in the field of environmental impact assessment.