The legal framework of site remediation
Site remediation — bringing a contaminated or damaged plot back to a safe state through clean-up and restoration works — rests in Georgia on several institutions of the law on environmental protection: the obligations of the owner of a privatized facility, the ecological requirements towards waste, and the environmental requirements established upon transfer into operation and upon liquidation. Together these norms constitute the rules by which it is decided who bears the obligations connected with the condition of a site and at which stage the clean-up measures must be secured.
Privatization and environmental obligations
Article 21 of the law contains the decisive norm for a buyer of a site: the owner of a privatized economic facility is not released from the performance of those environmental obligations that were imposed on the former owner of the facility. Moreover, the obligation to compensate damage caused by activity carried out in violation of the environmental legislation before the privatization of the facility is imposed on every new owner of the privatized facility, unless the law provides otherwise. In practice this means that acquiring a plot on the territory of a former enterprise brings the buyer a historical burden along with the land.
The same article provides the instrument of the environmental audit: for the purpose of assessing the ecological condition existing at privatized economic facilities, determining the ecological risk of the activity and establishing the value of the clean-up and restoration works to be carried out, an environmental audit may be conducted on the basis of a decision of the ministry. Conducting an audit before acquisition gives the buyer a quantitative assessment of the risks.
Ecological requirements towards waste
Under Article 34 of the law, the subject of an activity must ensure the prevention, collection, recovery and placement of waste in compliance with environmental, sanitary-hygienic and epidemiological norms and rules. The placement and burial of waste provided for by legislation is permitted only in specially designated places; radioactive and other hazardous waste is placed only in specially designated places; and the placement of any waste in the sea and other water objects is prohibited. In a remediation project these prohibitions must be taken into account, since clean-up works are often accompanied by the movement and temporary placement of waste.
Transfer into operation and liquidation
Article 40 of the law governs the conditions for putting an economic facility into operation: it is impermissible to transfer a facility into operation unless the proper operation of devices for the utilization and neutralization of hazardous waste, of treatment structures and of means of control over the condition of the environment is secured, and unless the means for implementing the environmental measures provided for by the project exist. Article 41 concerns liquidation: upon partial or complete liquidation of a facility, the subject of the activity must comply with the requirements provided by this law and by other legislation — this is the stage at which the final settlement of the remaining burden of the site is decided.
Practical conclusions
In planning site remediation three stages stand out. First — the assessment of the condition, where the environmental audit is the primary instrument. Second — the design and performance of clean-up and restoration works in compliance with the waste requirements. Third — the transfer of the facility into operation or its liquidation under the corresponding requirements. At each stage the question of costs arises indirectly, and it is precisely the privatization norms that determine that this burden passes to the new owner.
The economics of a remediation project depend almost entirely on the historical burden of the site, and this is precisely why the audit should be conducted before the decision and not after it. The results of the audit most often answer three questions: what the existing ecological condition is, what risk it creates for the planned activity, and how much the clean-up and restoration works cost. Without these three answers the purchase price does not reflect the real value.
The results of the audit also become an instrument of negotiation: the established value is reflected in the purchase price or in the distribution of clean-up obligations, and what is decisive here is how substantiated each figure is. In court dispute the exact calculation becomes the basis of both parties' positions, so the methodology of the audit should from the outset be directed against contestation.
The second practical rule concerns the planning of the clean-up works: since these works are accompanied by the movement of waste, their logistics must be reconciled with the waste requirements — specially designated places, environmental and sanitary-hygienic rules. A mistake at this stage often turns an enterprise's own remediation into a new violation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to frequent questions about site remediation.
Who performs the environmental obligations of a privatized facility?
The new owner — it is not released from the former owner’s obligations, and pre-privatization damage is compensated by every new owner.
What is the environmental audit of a facility?
An instrument assessing the ecological condition, the risk and the value of the clean-up works; conducted on the basis of a ministry decision.
Where may waste be placed?
Only in specially designated places; placing any waste in the sea and water objects is prohibited.
What counts as a condition for transfer into operation?
Proper operation of waste utilization and neutralization devices, treatment structures and control means, plus the means for the project’s measures.
How We Help on Legal.ge
Our team assists in assessing ecological risk before acquisition, in organizing the environmental audit, in the legal sequence of clean-up and restoration works, and in calculating the requirements of operation and liquidation, so that the historical burden of the site becomes an expected cost for you rather than an unexpected problem.