Prosjekter (6)

Kunnskapen om vellykket implementering av mange av verktøyene for håndheving av regelverket er ofte begrenset i reguleringsmiljøet. Det er behov for å kunne vise frem disse verktøyene og tilnærmingene for å bidra til å gjøre reguleringsorganene mer effektive og virkningsfulle, og til syvende og sist gi et høyt miljøvernnivå.

It has been identified in various IMPEL Review Initiatives (IRIs) that many organisations fail to clearly articulate their overarching regulatory strategy such that all regulatory work can be clearly aligned to. There is also a requirement in Doing the Right Things methodology, to set context and aims which should be aligned to the regulatory strategy. By understanding what options are available regulators will be able to create/refine/develop their strategy.

The regulatory toolkit is not commonly known or fully understood in its entirety due to rapid changes in regulatory practice and advancements in technology. This project seeks to identify practices used primarily in Europe but also from around the world (through questionnaires & literature search) so that they may be mapped against the compliance spectrum. This will enhance understanding of all regulators enabling them to apply these new tools and practices appropriately in tandem to aid compliance.

IMPEL recently carried out a study – ‘Challenges in the practical implementation of EU environmental law and how IMPEL could help overcome them’ – involving a questionnaire survey and desk-based research to identify key implementation challenges faced by environmental authorities in its member countries. This has provided very useful information to help focus IMPEL’s work programmes for the future. Further work is now needed to elaborate on the more detailed nature of the implementation challenges that have been identified and to investigate cross-cutting issues and themes. This will provide a valuable input to help identify specific priorities for IMPEL’s 5 Expert Teams and to shape IMPEL’s multi-annual strategy for the future.

Complementary approaches provide a very useful contribution to the toolkit of regulators in implementing environmental law and achieving environmental outcomes. They are defined as actions which are used in addition to environmental inspections to help achieve aims such as compliance. Some examples of complementary approaches to environmental inspections are:

In many countries industrial companies are supervised by authorities who regularly carry out site inspections and perform other “traditional” compliance checks like assessing emissions reports. But how effective and efficient are these output oriented supervision activities in terms of achieving good compliance with environmental regulation or even environmental performance beyond compliance? Previous IMPEL projects showed that the smart use of the ability of companies to control their risks using management systems can contribute significantly to the effectiveness and the efficiency of public supervision. This seems especially true for relatively big and complex companies whose processes are potentially risky for the environment. There are quite strong indications that, if supervision uses EMSs/CMSs under the right conditions and in a suitable way, the following two objectives can be achieved: