To put in place legal regulation for environmental mitigation and prevention, the Government of Georgia approves a draft law meeting the standards of the EU Environmental Responsibility Policy
All enterprises, and not only larger companies, will be obligated to mitigate and offset significant environmental impacts
The new mechanism involves compensations for damages beyond monetary penalties, namely mandatory impact mitigation/elimination work. Persons causing an environmental impact will be obligated personally to cover relevant costs and correct the consequences.
The present legislation builds fully on monetary responsibility for damage, and amounts paid in penalties have been channeled to the state budget without being targeted to be used for activities seeking to restore the damaged environment.
The new draft law prescribes depositing compensations for environmental damage in an account created just for the purpose of accumulating sums to be further used to restore the damaged environment.
High fines will be enforced against enterprises polluting the air with hazardous substances.
The adoption of the draft law will establish a system for environmental responsibility aligned with European standards and building on the polluter pays principle, ultimately seeking to prevent and eliminate/mitigate environmental impact.