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Feedback to law making and permitting

Feedback to law making and permitting. Gustaaf Biezeveld Environmental Public Prosecutor The Hague, 14-01-05.

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Feedback to law making and permitting

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  1. Feedback to law making and permitting Gustaaf Biezeveld Environmental Public Prosecutor The Hague, 14-01-05

  2. Experience:There is a difference between the world seen by inspectors, investigators and public prosecutors andthe world seen from the centre of Government and the offices of permitting officialsAs a consequence:Quite often environmental regulations and permits are not adequate from enforcement viewpoint

  3. Example There may not be doubts about: • What the norm is that has to be complied with • To whom the rules refer, so by whom they have to be fulfilled or complied with • How inspections on compliance can be done and how it can be determined whether or not there is compliance with the norm.

  4. How can the gap be bridged and both worldsbrought together? Model of the Regulatory chain provides the answers: 1. Execution-oriented attitude of legislative and permitting officials 2. Feedback from the ‘enforcement’ side to the legislative and permitting side

  5. Legislation Permitting Policy Enforce- ment Implemen- tation Compliance

  6. Execution-oriented attitude Dutch experience: • Growing awareness among legislators and permitting officials that more attention must be given to enforceability and enforcement of environmental rules • This is mainly caused by bad experiences with inadequate environmental laws and permits: • failing administrative and criminal enforcement actions • serious calamities (a.o. explosion in fireworks plant in 2000) • At the provincial level execution-oriented attitude rather common • At the central level execution-oriented attitude not yet common practice

  7. Feedback from enforcement side • Legislators and permitting officials are highly dependent on knowledge and experiences of enforcement officials: inspectors, investigators and public prosecutors • Many obstacles: • At the central level: they don’t know each other • They speak a different language • They may have different views on willingness of companies to comply with environmental rules (more versus less optimistic) • It is difficult to translate practical experiences into general lessons • No open mind and ear for bad experiences with their products

  8. Solutions in the Netherlands • At provincial level of government input from inspectors in the preparation of new environmental permits • Inspectorate of Ministry of VROM has developed a checklist for testing the enforceability of drafts of environmental regulations of VROM Experiences: checklist is adequate, but not all legislative officials are willing to take outcome into account • Ministry of VROM asked in 2000 the Board of public prosecutors to assist legislative officials on improving enforceability of environmental regulations, based on practical experiences: joint project

  9. Golden rules for environmental legislation • Relevant for both legislators and policy officials • Cover 4 stages: • Preparation: decison making on key elements of new regulation • Design: making of the legal lay out and detailed articles • Implementation: process of putting regulation into practice • Feedback and evaluation • Key messages: • Keep always in mind that regulation can only have aimed results if it can be complied with and enforced • Keep in all stages in contact with practitioners • Have an open mind and ear for experiences from enforcement side

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