A Green Paper produced by the Better Regulation Delivery Office, with the support of the EU4Business FORBIZ project, on the state of regulations for new constructions on heritage sites.
The Green Paper finds that under the current regulatory regime, applications must be made to the cultural heritage protection authorities between 4 and 10 times for the construction of any project on cultural heritage sites.
There are 401 historical settlements listed in Ukraine, including all regional capitals, and historical and architectural key plans have only been approved in 86 settlements, in other words, only 20% of historical settlements in Ukraine. There are no plans in almost 50% of regional capitals, in the cities of Kyiv, Lviv and Sevastopol, which are national centres of international and domestic tourism and home to UNESCO World Heritage sites. This has a negative impact on both the preservation capacities for national and global heritage and effective regulation for new builds.
The BRDO analysis of government regulation shows that the current regulatory framework constrains the development of historic cities, puts a significant burden on business, and at the same time does not guarantee the protection of cultural heritage.
The report includes a number of recommendations to ‘fix’ the market, including:
- Implement in Ukrainian law the provisions of international conventions on the protection of the world heritage.
- Carry out a revision of the regulatory framework in the sector, with the further implementation of norms that actually meet the requirements of both businesses and the state.
Reform in this direction would lead to:
- Optimised regulation of new construction on cultural heritage sites;
- Reduced risks of corruption in the provision of public services by the cultural heritage protection authorities;
- Cost savings for businesses during new construction;
- Encouraging the development of historic areas;
- Pre-conditions for Ukraine to properly honour its international obligations and preserve its cultural heritage.
The Better Regulation Delivery Office, together with the Ministry for Economic Development and Trade and the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine, with the support of the FORBIZ project, has launched the ProDialogue under the EU4Business initiative. It aims to involve all stakeholders in reviewing regulatory solutions and working out ways to address them. As a result, a series of Green Papers has been developed, which analyse the current state of market issues and potential ways to improve the regulatory environment. A further set of White Papers represents a consolidated product of the groundwork by the business community and expert environment in the form of practical recommendations and suggestions for the authorities in order to improve the regulatory framework.
