Russian legislation pertaining to ecological safety of shipping, which includes the Arctic, is based on the Environmental Protection Law. This law was passed in 1991, around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and was partially amended in 1992 and 1993. Each article of this law has since been supplemented with a succession of detailed legislation and administrative documents, whose contents are reflected in the Revised Environment Protection Law of 1996. Running to 13 chapters and 79 articles, the Revised Environment Protection Law contains the following basic principles in Chapter 1, Article 3, entitled "Basic Principles of Environmental Protection":
Local authorities, other state bodies, institutions, enterprises, plants and also citizens of Russian Federation, foreign juridical persons and citizens, persons without citizenship during economic, management and other activities which have negative influence on environment must be guided by the following basic principles;
* Priority of person life and health protection, ensuring favorable ecological conditions for life, work and rest of population,
* Scientifically grounded combination of the ecological and economical interests of society, ensuring real guarantees human rights on healthy and favorable environment for life,
* Rational use of natural resources, taking into account laws of nature, potential effects on the environment, necessity of reproduction of natural resources, banning irreversible consequences for environment and person health,
* Observance natural legislation requirements, inevitability of coming responsibility for its violation,
* Publicity in work and close connection with public organizations peoples during solving of nature protection problems,
* International cooperation in environment protection.
This law defines the main principles of the environment protection as well as the relevant authority bodies, their aims, tasks and obligations, and the economic instruments for environment protection and regulations for establishing ecological funds. The detailed regulations are contained in the domestic laws pertaining to each item therein. In one of its final provisions, the law refers to international laws and regulations which should be upheld and have priority over the provisions of the national regulations.
The Continental Shelf of Russia Law and the Code of Water define the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of Russia in the development of living and other resources in the Russian waters and on the continental shelf and also liabilities for contamination and encroachment of the environment during human-related activities, both enacted in 1995. The two laws are similar in content, but the latter is more specific regarding responsibilities, compensation, etc. The Code sets the framework for compensation for the utilization of resources. Based on these two laws, two administrative bodies, the State Committee of Environmental Protection and the NSR Administration, ensure environmental safety, inspecting and monitoring pollution caused by ships navigating the NSR. The State Committee of Environmental Protection is responsible for environmental protection policy at the federal level, designating environmentally protected areas and preparing the Red Book of Russia. The inspectors of these two organizations are authorized to inspect foreign and Russian vessels and other sea crafts for the environmental protection, and are entitled to detain ships until compensation has been paid for the damage in case of non-compliance.
To control discharge of pollutants by ships in the NSR, two sets of regulations are in force: the Regulations for Preventing the Pollution of Offshore Waters and the Sanitary Regulations and Norms for Preventing the Pollution of Offshore Waters in Water Supply Areas. According to these laws, the discharge of oily water must satisfy the requirements for special areas under MARPOL, and processed sewage discharged during a voyage must have a coliform-group index no higher than 1,000 per liter of water.
