Nino Tandilashvili, First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, met with business sector representatives at the Georgian Business Association.

During the meeting, the parties focused on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Environmental Assessment Code and the planned amendments to the Law on Industrial Emissions.

Tandilashvili highlighted the objectives of the proposed legislative changes, noting that the new regulations are intended not only to improve environmental standards but also to enhance the quality of services provided to businesses and streamline administrative procedures.

"The Amendments we are introducing to the legislation serve environmental interests on the one hand, while on the other hand, they aim to reduce bureaucratic barriers and improve administrative procedures. Moreover, the amendments to the Environmental Assessment Code introduced last year, along with the experience gained from their implementation, have demonstrated a clear demand among businesses for expedited services. Our objective is to safeguard environmental interests while supporting the development of economic activity", - said the Deputy Minister.

The draft law envisages revising the service fees applicable to environmental assessment procedures. The proposed amendments also clarify procedural timeframes for standard and expedited proceedings and update existing regulations in waste management. These changes include defining daily capacity limits for waste recovery and disposal facilities and further specifying the concept of "pre-treatment of waste".

The meeting also addressed the planned amendments to the Law on Industrial Emissions. The draft legislation establishes a service fee for the issuance of an integrated environmental permit. The fee will be set at the same level as the service fee for the issuance of an environmental decision.

For activities that are simultaneously subject to both an integrated environmental permit and an environmental impact assessment, businesses will be required to pay only one service fee. At the same time, the state fee for an integrated environmental permit will remain unchanged at GEL 5,000.

The Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Zurab Ezugbaia, the Head of the National Environmental Agency, Elene Ghubianuri, and the Executive Director of the Business Association, Levan Vepkhvadze, also attended the meeting.