Ukraine must adopt 643 intl standards in environmental protection – ministry

With the support of the OSCE Support Program for Ukraine, the need to adopt 643 European and international standards in the field of environmental protection has been determined, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine said.

"Lists of European and international standards have been compiled that require adoption in Ukraine for the implementation of standardized methods of monitoring and control and equipping the relevant laboratories of the State Environmental Inspectorate. The total number of standards for adoption is 643 documents," the ministry said in the Telegram channel on Wednesday.

In November 2022, Ukraine received the status of an affiliate member of CEN-CENELEC, which came into force on January 1, 2023. This status is granted to any national standardization organization of a country officially recognized as a candidate or potential candidate for EU membership, to facilitate the harmonization of the national standards base of the candidate state for EU membership with European standards. Given this status, Ukraine is obliged to adopt European standards (EN, EN ISO), as well as to eliminate discrepancies between national standards and EU standards.

As part of the implementation of the project "Environmental Monitoring of the Consequences of the War against Ukraine and the Recovery Strategy" at the request of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, studies of European, international and national standards for environmental monitoring were conducted. The results of the study revealed a low level of harmonization of the national system of environmental protection and environmental safety standards with the relevant international and European ones.

Based on the results of the aforementioned study, lists of European and international standards requiring adoption in Ukraine were formed. At the same time, it is noted that the process of their implementation requires a systematic approach.