Industrial enterprise gets permit extended after a year of trying

Subject of complaint: State Geology and Mineral Resources Service
Complaint in brief: The Complainant, a subsidiary of a French group of companies specialized in kaolin-based fire-resistant construction materials, turned to the BOC because it was having problems getting a special subsoil usage permit #557 for extracting kaolin. The initial application to the State Geology and Mineral Resources Service was considered for 5 months, although the internal provisions for issuing special permits for subsoil exploitation state that such decisions were to be made within 60 days. When a response finally came from the Service, it stated that the package of documents submitted did not meet the requirements of the procedure, without providing any details. The Complainant resubmitted the application, facing the risk of idling the production.
Action taken: The BOC addressed the State Geology Service with a request to provide reasons for the dilatory handling of the application. The Service responded that the review of the second submission of the packet of documents was being postponed until the Ministry of Environment Decree on the Service’s issuing of special subsoil use permits.
The BOC then urged the involved state bodies – Ministry of Ecology, the Geology Service, Ministry of Justice, and the State Regulatory Service, to speed up the approval of Decree and stressed that such procedural issues are no excuse for violating established deadlines for issuing permits.
Result achieved: On July 12, 2016, the Complainant informed the BOC that special permit #557 had been extended and the case was closed.