On 18 May 2026, at 10:00 a.m., the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation will proclaim the Judgement on the case on the review of the constitutionality of Article 16 (items 11, 20, 24 and 25 of part 1) of the Federal Law «On General Principles of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation» and Article 13 (items 1 and 2) of the Federal Law «On Production and Consumption Waste» in connection with compliant of the administration of the city district of the city Kaliningrad. The hearing of the case took place on 20 March 2026.
Background
In 2022, the Kaliningrad administration concluded agreements with a municipal government institution to maintain the cleanliness of several water bodies used for recreational purposes in the city. In February 2023, the prosecutor issued an order to eliminate violations in the field of protection of water bodies, including the failure to clean other water bodies from household waste.
The applicant successfully appealed this order, arguing that the water bodies are not municipal property, decisions on granting them for use in accordance with the established procedure had not been adopted, and water use agreements had not been concluded. The court established the absence of an obligation for the administration to clean water bodies from household waste within the territory of the urban district. However, the appellate court overturned this decision, arguing that cleaning water areas from household waste does not fall within state powers; therefore, local self-government bodies are obliged to clean water bodies within the boundaries of their municipalities regardless of the form of ownership. Higher courts upheld this decision.
Position of the applicant
According to the applicant, the contested provisions are inconsistent with Articles 12, 17 (part 3), 130, 132, and 133 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The administration believes that they allow imposing on a local self-government body the obligation to remove waste from the water bodies not owned by the municipality (primarily those owned by the federal government) without providing necessary material and financial resources for performing such cleaning.
Presiding Judge Valery Dmitrievich ZORKIN
Judge Rapporteur Aleksandr Nikolaevich KOKOTOV
Accreditation
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Press Service of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation