Current legal issues of access to environmental information through information and telecommunication networks

The availability of information in the field of environmental protection is one of the tools of r ealization by the subjects of environmen tal an d natur al r esource relations of th eir legal status. In th is conn ection, the r esearch of th e issues of legal r egulation of th e citizens’ access to this in formati on both by th e en vironmen tal legislation an d th e legislation on in formation, allows iden tifyin g th e problems of the legislative regulation of the specified relations, as well as the law enforcement. The purpose of the article: th e auth or s attempt to iden tify th e regulatory legal acts in the sph er e of en vironmen tal protection an d in th e sph er e of in for mation, wh ich r egulate th e r elation s in th e sph er e of ecological education an d environmen tal in formation, and to analyze the impact of the enfor cement of th ese norms on the behavi or of par ticipants of information relation s in the sphere of envir onmen tal protection. Methods: in the ar ticle the methods of comparative an d system analysis are used. Results: th e article reviewed the topical problems of enforcement of the provisions of Federal law No. 7-FZ of Jan uary 10, 2002 “On Envir onmen tal Pr otecti on” on environmental education and ecological knowledge in conjunction with the provisions of the inform ation legislation of the Russian Federation; assessed the impact of the practice in the application of nor ms on the respon sibilities an d duties of communication s ser vice provider s an d th e Inter net access pr ovider s on the information availability in the field of en vironmen tal protection; identified the conflicts between the n orms of legislation in the sph er e of environmen tal pr otection an d th e pr ovision s of the infor mation legislation; covered th e risks emergin g during th e implemen tation of the provisions of Federal law No. 436-FZ of December 29, 2010 “On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to their Health and Development” for th e subjects of the education al r elation s in the sphere of en vironmental protection. Conclusions: the relations in the sphere of envir onmental education an d environmental infor mation are regulated by both the statutory r egulation s of en viron mental pr otection an d the legislation in th e sph er e of in for mation, each of wh ich has its own subject of r egulation, th e subject-object structure, and th e prin ciples of legal r egulation. Th e en cumbrance of th e legal status of par ticipants of th ese relation ships by addition al respon sibil ities may have a significan t stagnating effect on th e regulated r elationships, in th is case, the relation s in the sphere of ecological education and infor mation on envir on men tal pr otection th rough th e infor mation a nd telecommun ications networ ks. We believe th at the development of such acts must be accompan ied by a calculation of costs th at would be bor ne by par ticipants of th ese relations, an d by the pr ognosis of the impact of ch an ges on th e subjects’ beh avior.