Russian Federation Law on Environmental Protection and Land Code

Author: Ma Xiangcong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: In the past decade, Russia has been continuously strengthening its environmental and resource legislation, formulating a series of environmental and resource laws. On October 25, 2001, and January 10, 2002, the President of Russia successively promulgated the new Land Code and the Environmental Protection Law, replacing the Land Code and the Law on Nature Protection of 1991. By then, Russia's environmental and resource legislation was basically complete, forming a new system. The newly promulgated Environmental Protection Law and the Land Code are Russia's new achievements in environmental and resource legislation. They reflect Russia's new concepts, guiding principles, and value orientations in environmental and resource protection and management, stipulate the basic principles and systems of environmental and resource protection, and indicate the development trends of Russia's environmental and resource management. Russia is a great country and our friendly neighbor. Due to its unique historical and cultural background, its environmental and resource laws, like all its laws, have many distinctive features. Understanding and researching Russia's environmental and resource laws is of great significance. In the 1950s, I had the privilege of studying at the Law Department of Leningrad State University for five years. The beautiful Russia, Leningrad, and its great and warm-hearted people left me unforgettable impressions that lasted a lifetime. Russia and its laws have always been important matters of my concern. With great enthusiasm, I translated legal documents such as the Civil Code of the Soviet Union, the Code of Marriage and Family, and the Code of Administrative Violations, as well as relevant legal and academic works. After shifting my focus to environmental and resource law in the late 1970s, I translated legal documents such as the General Principles of Water Legislation of the Soviet Union, the Law on Air Protection, the Law on Wildlife Protection, and the Law on Nature Protection of the Soviet Union. In 1990, I published a monograph titled Environmental Protection Laws of the Soviet Union and Eastern European Countries. Now, I have translated the aforementioned two important Russian laws for everyone's reference and research, and at the same time, I hereby express my respect and gratitude to the Russian people, Leningrad State University, which nurtured me, as well as all my teachers and Russian friends.