KAZAKHSTAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Arman Bigazin, Mikhail Abdulov, Olzhas Abubakirov and Lidiya Sayenko, Haller Lomax LLP
In civil, administrative and criminal cases, the main defence would be proving that: • the act or failure to act was not unlawful; • there is no harm; or • there is no cause-effect relation between the act (or omission) and the harm. In civil cases, the main defence would be: • proving that the liability must be shared with third parties; • proving that the environmental incident or dam- age was due to an unlawful act (or omission) by a public authority; and • proving contributory guilt or negligence in cases of death, personal injury or property damage. In terms of administrative and criminal liability, the fol- lowing applies: • a person cannot be subject to administrative or criminal liability if they prove that the offence was committed in circumstances of extreme necessity; and • a person can be released from administrative liabil- ity if they prove that the offence was “insignificant”. 6. Corporate Liability 6.1 Liability for Environmental Damage or Breaches of Environmental Law Refer to 5.1 Key Types of Liability . There are no spe- cial rules for bringing legal entities to liability, except the rule that legal entities cannot be subject to criminal liability. 6.2 Environmental Taxes A fee for negative impact on the environment is charged for air emissions and water discharges of pollutants (emissions into the environment), the place- ment of sulphur in open form on sulphur maps, and waste disposal carried out with an appropriate envi- ronmental permit and environmental impact declara- tion. The payers of the fee are operators of objects belonging to Categories I, II and III provided in Annex II of the Environmental Code.
Under the Environmental Code, emission taxes are calculated using the base levies for various emissions (including those from flaring) provided in the Tax Code. Basic tax rates for emissions and discharges are determined per tonne and depend on the type of pol- lutant. The local governing bodies ( maslikhats ) have the authority to increase the tax rates by up to 200% of the base rate, except in the case of emissions from flares. Effective 1 January 2026, the right of akimats to double fee rates will be eliminated. On 1 April 2022, the government of Kazakhstan approved a list of 50 Category I objects (the “List of 50”) ‒ the largest in terms of total pollutant emissions as of 1 January 2021. Objects included in the List of 50 will be required to apply an appropriate increasing factor when calculating the amount of payment, which will increase by two times every three years until 1 January 2034. For businesses that have been granted integrated environmental permits as per the Environ- mental Code, there are no charges for the negative impact. Note that a new Tax Code has been adopted and will enter into force on 1 January 2026. It specifies a phased system of payments for negative envi- ronmental impact in respect of certain pollutants in Kazakhstan. The applicable rates will be implemented progressively: the initial rates will apply from 1 Janu- ary 2026 to 1 January 2028, higher rates will be intro- duced for the period from 2028 to 2031, followed by further increases from 2031 onwards. 6.3 Incentives, Exemptions and Penalties There are no such mechanisms in Kazakhstan. The principle applied is the “polluter pays”. 6.4 Shareholder or Parent Company Liability Civil Liability Under Kazakhstan law, as a general rule, a sharehold- er or parent company is not liable for environmental damage or breaches of environmental law committed by a legal entity they own or control. The exemptions to this rule are where: • the owned/controlled legal entity is a full partner- ship, an additional liability partnership or a limited
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