In the era of globalization, international cooperation becomes more
important since no country in the world can solve the problem of global climate change
or pollution of the World Ocean on its own. However, the interpenetration of the most
successful legal rules and institutions of other countries into national legal systems is a
no less significant trend. The study of this comparative aspect makes it possible to
better understand the advantages and disadvantages of Russian environmental
legislation, formulate constructive suggestions for the Russian legislator, and identify
possible ways of bilateral cooperation in environmental issues that are understood in
the national legislation of two or more countries.
Russian environmental legislation is more closely linked to the CIS countries both for
the geographical reason (as neighbors) and because these countries were part of the
USSR for many years, and the approaches to the legal regulation of environmental (and
many other) social relations that were established during that period of our joint history
are still used today. The environmental laws of the Russian Federation, the Republic of
Kazakhstan, and the Republic of Belarus can be compared as an example. The criterion
for comparison is the content of the main environmental legal institutions included in
these laws. The relevant environmental legal institutions in Russia and these countries
can coincide completely, partially, or don’t not coincide at all. The main focus in this
chapter is not so much on comparing the laws of the Republics of Kazakhstan and
Belarus with each other but comparing them with the basic institutions of Russian
environmental law. The fundamental difference between environmental law of the
European Union and the Russian Federation is not only the supranational nature of EU
directives but also the fact that the EU almost does not regulate natural resource
management issues e.g., in terms of the procedure for the provision of natural resources
based on the right of ownership or other rights. This is the scope of national legislation
of the member countries.
Both in Russia and the environmental law of the EU, we can observe a trend of
ecologization of related legislation: it means environmental rules are introduced into
the regulatory acts governing related areas of social relations (transport, power
industry, fight against unemployment, etc.). Moreover, in this chapter, the authors point
out several characteristics of not only the environmental law of the United States but of
Russia, China, the European Union, or many other countries and consider the current
distinctive features of the nature protection policy of China.
Keywords: Acid rains, Agency, Belarus, Experience, China, Directive, Drinking water, Federation, Flint, Government, Greenhouse gases, Legislation, Kazakhstan, Principle, Quotas, Russia, State, Superfund, United States, Waste.
