The Constitutional Court has considered a case regarding whether environmental charges are proportional

On 31 March 2015 Sergey Pepeliaev, Ph.D., Pepeliaev Group's managing partner and Roman Bevzenko, Ph.D., Pepeliaev Group's partner and head of special projects practice, spoke in the Constitutional Court defending the rights and interests of OOO Zapolyarneft. The company challenged as disproportionate the charges imposed on it in connection with the consequences of a technology breakdown when it was transporting oil.

The company promptly performed clean up work, which removed the adverse consequences to a significant extent.

However, this was not taken into account when the amount of charges was set. The Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service and the arbitration courts took the stance that a fixed fee should be paid for pollution, and the extent of it or the results of the clean up work are legally irrelevant.

The claimant's lawyers and Pepeliaev Group believe that the existing practice discourages companies from performing clean up work and violates the constitutional right of citizens to a favourable environment. These arguments have been brought before the Constitutional Court.

It is expected that the decision of the Court will be adopted and declared within six weeks.

Additional legal information concerning this case is available on the Constitutional Court's website.