The Ukrainian Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources’ order No. 82, which defines the term "segregated ballast" and abolishes control of ships’ segregated ballast, was registered in the Ministry of Justice on 30 March.
The order, which amends the existing provisions on environmental control at state border crossings and customs posts, finally eliminates the corruption scheme that environmental inspectors have used for many years, which was based on illegal control of segregated ballast of ships in Ukrainian ports.
The adoption of this normative act was the result of active work by the Ministry of Infrastructure and public organizations to eliminate this illegal scheme, which prevents the number of ships calling at Ukrainian ports from increasing and limits the increase of cargo traffic at Ukrainian ports.
In addition, Minister of Infrastructure Andrii Pyvovarskyi recently blocked an attempt by ecologists to create a similar corrupt scheme by transferring the function of control over segregated ballast from the State Ecological Inspectorate (the Ministry of Ecology) to the State Sea and River Transport Safety Inspectorate (the Ministry of Infrastructure), thus preventing a "reborn" of the corruption scheme involving performance of this type of control in his ministry.
"The abolition of illegal control of segregated ballast is an effective example of a real fight against corruption among government officials, in which the law is used to block a scheme that serves as a tool for corrupt enrichment,” said Serhii Vovk, the director of the Center for Transport Strategies. “If there are no schemes, there will be no corruption. This is the essence of reform and not just demonstrative repression of officials and ‘showpiece’ anti-corruption raids that, at best, achieve only short-term results."
