Legal aspects of ensuring environmental safety in agriculture

Ivleva Yuliya Ivanovna Junior Researcher; Department of Constitutional Law and Constitutional Justice; Institute of State and Law of Russian Academy of Science 10 Znamenka str., Moscow, 119019, Russia ivleva.julia@mail.ru

Agriculture, which is the basis of food production, as well as raw materials for various industries, should be considered in close relationship with environmental principles, requirements and norms. The proposed provision is due to the need to prevent the occurrence of adverse environmental consequences, achieve decent quality of the raw materials produced, maintain safe living conditions for the population, reproduction of the animal and plant world. The analysis of documents, as well as normative legal acts in force in the Ancient Russian state and in subsequent periods of development of our country, shows that historically consideration of environmental issues, attention to environmental protection were conditioned by the need to preserve and further consumption of natural resources. Russian Russian Pravda (in Short and Spatial editions (Article 36 of the Short Edition of Russian Pravda), in the Cathedral Code (Articles 217 and 218, 220 and 221, 223-225, 239), as well as in the acts of Peter the Great, in accordance with which the protection takes place forest plantations located in certain areas. The need to protect the forest is caused by the high demand for wood during the period of large-scale shipbuilding, in turn, the adoption of such a protectionist act reflects the ruler's understanding of the need to protect the forest to ensure its reproduction. In the future, the acts regulating the protection of agricultural facilities from environmentally unfavorable factors have undergone a transformation. The direct consumption of natural resources by humans (deforestation, river drainage, hunting, fishing, etc.) was replaced by the development of industry, which caused the deterioration of the global environmental situation. Following the use of organic fertilizers, chemicals and mineral fertilizers that are dangerous to human life, plants and animals were introduced.

An urgent direction for scientific, legislative, and practical activities is the consideration of the features of regulatory and legal provision of environmental safety in agricultural production. The formation of a proper understanding of the legal mechanism for the implementation of the designated direction, generally binding fundamental principles and norms can have a direct impact on the model of behavior, as well as the environmental legal awareness and culture of economic entities, to carry out the "greening of legal thinking" ^[1]. Achieving this is possible through the implementation of environmental education and education of citizens (paragraph "e6" part 1, Article 114 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation) at various levels of education. In the context of studying agriculture, it is worth noting the need to develop the level of knowledge and awareness of subjects not only at the stage of obtaining vocational education, but also within the framework of agricultural congresses, symposiums, etc. It is important to provide information, relevant thematic literature, and training through various information technologies to prevent difficulties associated with the need to temporarily suspend agricultural activities.

The basis of the legal regulation of the area of activity under consideration is formed by the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, namely Part 1 of Article 9, which enshrines the protection of land and other natural resources, since these are the basis of life, as well as the activities of peoples. In turn, the implementation of the vast majority of agricultural activities is directly related to designated natural sites. Also, it is necessary to pay attention to Article 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which proclaimed the right to a favorable environment, paragraph "d" of Article 72, according to which ensuring environmental safety should be carried out within the framework of direct interaction between the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation, since it is the subject of joint jurisdiction. At the same time, the provisions of paragraph "d" of Article 114 indicate that, in general, the highest executive authority, the Government of the Russian Federation, is vested with the authority to ensure state security, one of the directions of which is environmental safety. This wording, namely "environmental safety", was introduced into the Constitution of the Russian Federation by a law approving amendments to the Main Regulatory Legal Act of the state in 2020 (the Law of the Russian Federation on the Amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation dated March 14, 2020 No. 1-FKZ "On Improving regulation of certain issues of the organization and functioning of public Authority" // Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated March 16, 2020 No. 11, Article 1416.).

The idea of ensuring environmental safety is specified in the framework of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" (Federal Law No. 7-FZ dated January 10, 2002 "On Environmental Protection" // Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated January 14, 2002 No. 2, Article 133.), the Federal Law "On Safety" (Federal Law No. 28 December 2010 No. 390-FZ "On Safety" // Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated January 3, 2011 No. 1, Article 2.), Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation "On the Strategy of Environmental Safety of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025" (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated April 19, 2017 No. 176 "On the Strategy of Environmental Safety of the Russian Federation for the period until 2025" // Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated April 24, 2017 No. 17, Article 2546.), as well as "On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation" (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated July 2, 2021 No. 400 "On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation" // Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated July 5, 2021 No. 27 (Part II) art. 5351.).

Environmental safety is one of the aspects of national security, the essence of which is to achieve and maintain an adequate level of protection of the natural environment and basic human interests from potential negative impacts, including from economic and other activities, as well as from emergency situations and their consequences. However, further development of doctrinal and legal provisions regarding its implementation is necessary due to the presence of various problems and contradictions, in particular, due to the large number of disputes about the essence of the concept itself, as well as the specification of mechanisms to ensure it ^[2].

The normative legal acts presented earlier generally define the foundations and specifics of ensuring environmental safety. In turn, the direct development of this institution in the context of agriculture takes place in sectoral acts, namely:

– Federal Law "On the Development of Agriculture" (Federal Law No. 264-FZ dated December 29, 2006 "On the Development of Agriculture" // Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated January 1, 2007 No. 1 (Part I) of Article 27.), the provisions of Article 13 of which provide for the provision of state support for the implementation of measures aimed at ensuring ecological balance. Achieving this condition is necessary within the framework of the entire set of agricultural production processes, including cultivation, production, processing of such, as well as the implementation of related services;

– Federal Law "On the Safe Handling of Pesticides and Agrochemicals" (Federal Law No. 109-FZ of July 19, 1997 "On the Safe Handling of Pesticides and Agrochemicals" // Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 29 of July 21, 1997, Article 3510.), regulating the procedure for public administration in this area, the exercise of powers by the relevant state authorities, general requirements for the safe use of pesticides, agrochemicals and other;

– Federal Law "On State Regulation of ensuring the fertility of agricultural lands" (Federal Law No. 101-FZ of July 16, 1998 "On State Regulation of ensuring the fertility of agricultural lands" // Federal Law of the Russian Federation of July 20, 1998, No. 29, Article 3399.), which fixed the need to comply with environmental requirements in ensuring fertility lands, which, in turn, have an agricultural purpose;

– and other industry acts.

Let us draw attention to the fact that the acts regulating agricultural activities indicate the need to comply with environmental requirements, fix the safest means and methods of carrying out this activity. However, it is worth noting that in the current legislation there is no clear correlation between agricultural activity and such a direction of state policy as ensuring environmental safety. The need for this compliance will allow for a more targeted impact on the environmental situation and national security in general, and will act as a kind of platform for establishing specific mechanisms and ways to achieve it. Overcoming this problem is possible through the adoption of the Federal Law "On Environmental Safety", which has defined in detail the specifics, methodology, and sectoral feature of the implementation of specific measures, including in the field of agriculture. Earlier in 2005, attempts were made to develop a draft law "On general technical regulations on environmental safety", but due to the presence of various contradictions with current legislation, the ideas contained in this document were not implemented ^[3].

Despite the fact that agriculture, as an integral element of the general agro-industrial complex, causes less damage to the environmental situation than industries serving agriculture and processing relevant products, there is a negative impact one way or another. Therefore, it is necessary to pay due attention to regulatory and legal regulation, as well as direct law enforcement, since any technologies, techniques and methods in agriculture must meet an important requirement and condition – environmental safety. Achieving the necessary sustainable, safe and developed state is possible with the implementation of an integrated approach to the implementation of agricultural and at the same time environmentally oriented activities. As a result, it is important and significant, including the use of measures to economically stimulate entities whose activities are targeted, rational, and environmentally safe ^[4]. In this case, state support of the relevant economic entities serves as an effective measure to encourage, stimulate, and support participants in the designated public relations ^[5].