The paper discusses environmental legal aspects of the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic “On Subsoil” (Part 1, Art. 7, 25). It identifies the terminological errors made in these norms, and, through comparing the norms with the provisions of other environmental regulations, proposes ways of error elimination. With the view to harmonize Azerbaijan legislation with the provisions of international environmental law, authors propose revising the conceptual basis of the “Law on Subsoil” by introducing the term “Geological heritage sites” instead of the term “specially protected geological objects”. Providing explanation of the newly proposed term, the paper suggests new versions of the respective norms to be revised as de lege ferenda. The paper also reviews the Law of Azerbaijan Republic "On Specially Protected Natural Areas and Objects", and singles out a gap in the definition of the concept of "specially protected natural areas" (Part 1, Article 1). As per the authors’ opinion, these gaps could have emerged due to the absence of the term "plots of the subsoil" and failure to include such plots from the scope of coverage of the discussed law. In order to fill in the identified gap, the authors suggest new definitions of terms “specially protected nature territories” and “conservative protection of subsoil”, to be introduced to the Law on the basis of de lege ferenda.

Keywords: Law of the Azerbaijan Republic “On Subsoil”, Law of Azerbaijan Republic "On Specially
Protected Natural Areas and Objects", environmental regulations, subsoil plots, geological heritage sites


REFERENCES

Agafonov V.B. Legal framework of environmental protection and safety in the area of subsoil use. Pravo TEK. Moscow, 2014, 480 p. (in Russian).

Bashmakov G.S., Kaverin A.M., Krasnov N.I. Subsoil legislation. Legal literature. Moscow, 1976, 80 p. (in Russian).

Bogolyubov S.A. Legal terminology: problems of synonymy. Problems of improving Soviet legislation. Proceedings of All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Soviet Legislation, No. 40, Moscow, 1987, pp. 25-35 (in Russian).

Bogolyubov S.A. Actual problems of environmental law. Yurayt. Moscow, 2014, 607 p. (in Russian).

Getmanova A.D. Logic for lawyers: Study Book. Omega-L. Moscow, 2008, 415 p. (in Russian).

Guidelines and criteria for National Geoparks seeking UNESCO's assistance to join the Global Geoparks Network. Episodes, No. 2, 2006, pp. 115-118.

Ibrahimov V.B. Definition of the concept of "protection of subsoil" in the Law of the Russian Federation "On Subsoil". Exploration and protection of mineral resources, No. 2, 2015a, pp. 48-52 (in Russian).

Ibrahimov V.B. Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Subsoil": terms, concepts, definitions. Transactions of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. Earth Sciences, No. 1-2, 2015b, pp. 92-106 (in Russian).

Ibrahimov V.B. Subsoil plots and specially protected nature territories in the current legislation. Environmental Law, No. 3, 2020, pp. 20-23 (in Russian).

Ismagilov R.A., Farkhutdinov I.M., Farkhutdinov A.M. Creation of UNESCO Geopark in Bashkiria. Nature, No. 1, 2018, pp. 35-41 (in Russian).

Kangarli, T., Kangarli, I., Rashidov, T., Ibrahimov, V. "Creation of “Ilandag” Geopark in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (Azerbaijan). Priroda, No. 11, 2018, pp. 44-51. DOI: 10.31857/S0032874X0002323-4

Kangarli T.N., Ibrahimov V.B., Rashidov T.M., Kangarli I.T., Vahabov U. Creation perspectives of geoparks in Azerbaijan under the auspices of UNESCO. Messenger of the Azerbaijan Nation-al Academy of Sciences, No. 4, 2018 b, pp. 13-27 (in Russian).

Kangarli, T., Ibrahimov, V., Rashidov, T. et al. Feasibility study of the “Ilandagh” Geopark creation in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (Azerbaijan). Geoheritage , Vol. 11, 2019, pp. 1973–1980, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-019-00409-7

Kolbasov O.S. Terminological problems in ecology. State and Law, No. 10, 1999, pp. 27-28 (in Russian).

Krassov O.I. Environmental law. Norma. Moscow, 2008, 672 p. (in Russian).

Melgunov V.D. Theoretical foundations of the mining law in Russia. Prospekt. Moscow, 2017, 328 p. (in Russian).

Perchik A.I. Critical review of the Law "On Subsoil": concepts, institutions, terminology. Oil, Gas and Law, No. 2, 2007, pp. 9-16; No. 3, 2007, pp. 14-20 (in Russian).

Reimers N.F. Nature use. Misl. Moscow, 1990, 638 p. (in Russian).

Sidorov I.N. Mining Law Institutes. Environmental Law, No. 3, 2019, pp. 18-22 (in Russian).

Vasilevskaya D.V., Laevskaya N.V. Subsoil plot as a regulation object of subsoil legislation. "Zertsalo". Moscow, 2014, 104 p. (in Russian).

Vdovets M.S. Methodological issues of studying and preserving the geological heritage of Russia. Materials of the Workshop of Russian group ProGEO "Study and protection of the geological heritage sites of Russia". St. Petersburg, 2011, pp. 6-9 (in Russian).

Zlotnikova T.V. Modern trends in the legal regulation of the protection and use of specially protected nature areas. Environmental Law, No. 2, 2019, pp. 13-19 (in Russian).