The Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the appellate administrative court declaring unlawful the decision of the Tatarbunary District Council of Odesa Oblast to expand the boundaries of the village of Prymorske at the expense of land belonging to Tuzlivski Lymany National Nature Park.

The Park asked the court to declare unlawful and annul the district council’s decision of 19 June 2020, “On Establishing the Boundaries of the Village of Prymorske within the Territory of the Prymorske Village Council, Tatarbunary District, Odesa Oblast”. The decision expanded the village’s boundaries to 1,101.2074 hectares by incorporating land that had become part of Tuzlivski Lymany National Nature Park under a decree of the President of Ukraine, without that land being withdrawn. As a result, some of the national park’s land passed from state to municipal ownership.

The court of first instance dismissedthe claim. The appellate court overturned that decision and granted the claim.

The Supreme Court upheld the appellate court’s ruling, noting that the decision to expand the village’s boundaries at the expense of land included in the nature park undoubtedly affected the rights, interests and obligations of the claimant, a nationally significant conservation institution belonging to Ukraine’s nature reserve fund. The claimant therefore had the procedural right to bring proceedings to preserve and protect valuable natural complexes and sites.

The Administrative Cassation Court of the Supreme Court also agreed with the appellate court that the Tatarbunary District Council had no authority to dispose of state-owned land included in the national nature park without being withdrawn. Such land falls under the authority of local state administrations.

The Administrative Cassation Court noted that Tuzlivski Lymany National Nature Park is a nationally significant publicly funded, non-profit institution dedicated to conservation, recreation, culture, education and scientific research. It forms part of Ukraine’s nature reserve fund and is protected as a national treasure under a special regime for its protection, restoration and use.

The Park was established to preserve, restore and ensure the sustainable use of unique natural complexes of internationally important wetlands as habitats for waterbirds, as well as sites in the Northern Black Sea region of major conservation, scientific, historical, cultural, aesthetic, recreational and health-related importance.

In light of the above, the Supreme Court held that the district council’s decision was undoubtedly a strategic planning document directly concerning environmental protection — given the national nature park’s primary purpose as a conservation institution — and urban planning, since it incorporated national park land into the boundaries of Prymorske, allowing the local authority potentially to dispose of that land in the future. The provisions of Ukraine’s Law “On Strategic Environmental Assessment” therefore applied to that decision.