Head of State inks new Subsoil Use Code

ASTANA. KAZINFORM Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the Code "On Subsoil and Subsoil Use" aimed at improving the subsoil use regulation system, as well as the Law "On Introduction of Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Subsoil Use", aimed at bringing the legislation into conformity with the newly adopted Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Subsoil and Subsoil Use", the press service of Akorda reported.

The texts of the laws are to be published in the press.

As Kazinform previously reported, the Code was drafted by the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the furtherance of the Head of State's instructions specified in "100 Specific Steps" Nation Plan (74th and 75th step).

The new Code "On Subsoil and Subsoil Use" covers the following conceptual changes:

- Simplifying the granting of subsurface right in a similar way to the Australian model by introducing a licensing procedure based on 'first come first served' principle;

- Transition to the international procedure of reserves appraisal;

- Granting public access to geological information and its digitalization;

- Revising the list of the common commercial minerals;

- Strengthening the field decommissioning provision so that to ensure the environmental safety of the country upon mine closure;

- Providing guarantees for the stability of the existing contracts on subsoil use, etc.