ABOUT IMPEL

Organisation

One of the aspects of IMPEL that is most appreciated by its members, and by those who deal with it, is its informal character.

The IMPEL Statute reflects that character. Participation in projects is open to any environmental practitioner (an expert employed by an environmental authority) and membership of the association is open to any Environmental Authority. The IMPEL Statute is elaborated upon in the IMPEL Internal Rules. According to the IMPEL Statute Member of the Association can be any local, regional or national Environmental Authority having legal status, and based in a Member State, an acceding or candidate country, or an EEA country, can apply for membership. Alternatively the legal entity to which such an authority belongs can apply for membership on behalf of that authority.

The General Assembly is the highest authority of the Association. The General Assembly determines the policy of the Association and decides on the budget, working programmes, projects proposals and project reports. IMPEL members in one country designate a National IMPEL Coordinator who represents them in the General Assembly. Alternatively, a National IMPEL Representative may represent them. IMPEL’s members consist of 45 environmental authorities in 32 countries. These 32 countries are the EU Member States, the four EU Candidate Countries plus Norway. Within the IMPEL association they are referred to as IMPEL Member Countries.

European institutions and organisations, including informal networks and NGOs, engaged in or dedicated to the implementation and enforcement of EU environmental law can be admitted by the General Assembly as observer.

Clusters are an informal forum to discuss draft project proposals. Clusters also review ongoing projects and assess draft project reports. The Clusters inform and advise the General Assembly on these matters. Participation in the Clusters is open to experts, employed by Environmental Authorities. A Cluster is chaired by a National IMPEL Coordinator, a National IMPEL Representative or a representative of an IMPEL Member. IMPEL has the following three Clusters: Cluster Permitting, inspection and enforcement, Cluster Transfrontier Shipment of Waste and Cluster Better Regulation.

The Board is the executive body of the association responsible for the management of the association and the implementation of the decisions of the General Assembly. The Board can take any measure required for the functioning of the association in the interval between meetings of the General Assembly. The Board consists of a Chair, a Vice-Chair, the Secretariat, the National IMPEL Coordinators or the National IMPEL Representatives of the last, present and next country holding the presidency of the European Union and the Chairs of the Clusters.

The Secretariat supports the Board in carrying out its managerial tasks by preparing for the Board all major proposals which the Board is to submit for approval to the General Assembly. The Secretariat provides also support to the Clusters and is in close contact with the National IMPEL Coordinators and project managers. An important task of the Secretariat is taking care of both the internal and external communication.

Projects

IMPEL’s main activity is carrying out projects. For each project a project plan is drafted, the so called Terms of Reference (ToR). The ToR describes the project both in terms of objectives and outputs. It includes provisions for the quality review of the project and a dissemination strategy of the project results. A joint managment of projects by environmental authorities from different IMPEL member countries is encouraged as well as a broad participation to project workshops from all IMPEL Member countries.

Conferences

In addition to projects IMPEL organises three-day conferences on implementation and enforcement of EU Environmental Law. On average over 200 experts in permitting, inspection, enforcement and policy- and lawmaking from all IMPEL Member coutries and the European Commission participate in these conferences. The conferences are used to disseminate IMPEL’s products to a wider audience. They also offer the possibility to discuss new trends in the different countries, to explore newly developed working methods and tools and to discuss the practicability and enforceability of upcoming legislation. The conferences provide a forum for representatives of the European Industry and Non-Governmental Organisations to discuss with the environmental authorities of Europe opportuinities for improving the implementation and enforcement of EU environmental law and produce ideas for new IMPEL projects and activities.

Conferences have been held in Villach, Austria in 2000, in Maastricht, The Netherlands, in 2003, and in Riga, Latvia, in 2006. In 2009 IMPEL organised together with Romania and the European Commission an Implementation Conference in Sibiú, Romania.

Liaising with the European Commission

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From the mid 1990′s onwards the Commission and IMPEL worked closely together. The Commission for a long time co-chaired the Plenary meetings of the network and hosted the IMPEL Secretariat. The transformation of the network into an independent international association of environmental authorities brought about the need to reshape IMPEL’s relationship with the European Commision. On 15 September 2009 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between IMPEL and the Commission which recognises IMPEL’s role with regard to improving the implementation and enforcement of EU Environmental law and describes the cooperation between IMPEL and the Commission in this field.

The MoU contains provisions on the following subjects:

• designation of mutual contact points;
• information exchange between IMPEL and Commission
• participation of the Commission to IMPEL meetings an projects;
• involvement of the Commission in IMPEL work planning;
• consultation of Commission by IMPEL on project reports and ToRs;
• consultation of IMPEL by the Commission on implementation and enforcement issues.

The European Commission has remained an important sponsor of IMPEL. From 2008 the Commission has supported IMPEL financially through the LIFE+ Regulation.

Liaising with the European Parliament

IMPEL’s ambition is to regularly exchange views and experiences on implementation and enforcement of EU Environmental law with the Committee on the Environment, Public Health andf Food Safety of the European Parliament (ENVI). In the past years IMPEL met three times with members of ENVI. The first meeting between ENVI and IMPEL took place in Brussels on 18 March 2003. During the second meeting on 22 June 2005 a presentation of the IMPEL Better Legislation report was given to ENVI.

At a third meeting on 27 June 2007 IMPEL presented its recent achievements to ENVI. The Co-Chair of the IMPEL Better Regulation Cluster introduced the network and described its activities on better regulation, with special regards to the checklist which IMPEL developed to assess the practicability and enforceability of existing and new legislation with the aim of improving the overall implementation of EU environmental law in the Member States (Practicability and Enforceability Checklist). He underlined the importance of IMPEL’s feedback on the practicability and enforceability of EU legislation, based on their day to day experience with the enforcement of Community legislation.

The Chair of the IMPEL Transfrontier Shipment of Waste (TFS) Cluster then introduced the work of the IMPEL Cluster on the prevention of illegal waste shipments. Joint enforcement projects like the IMPEL-TFS Seaport II-project have shown a high rate of non-compliance and help to identify obstacles for an effective efficient enforcement of the Waste Shipment Regulation. Besides a lack of priority, a lack of resources and competences are contributing to the serious enforcement deficit of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation. Some considerations were given to the MEPs, for example the drafting of minimum criteria in relation to enforcement, how to reach a common interpretation of the Regulation and who should drive the process of the cross-border cooperation.