CLOSING REMARKS

 

Pieter Verkerk

 

Welcome to our closing session. In particular I would like to welcome the press. The Workshop has almost come to an end after three days of hard work. It is im­possible to summarize well more than 30 presentations within 30 minutes. What Jim Strock an I and the Organizing Committee have decided on is, to pre­sent the highlights to you without pretending to be complete. In the spirit of our conti­nuing cooperation in this venture, I will do the closing remarks; Jim will com­ment upon them, offer some ideas about possible follow up to this Workshop, and he will officially close it.

 

As the Organizing Committee we attempted to put together a program which re­flec­­­ted the state-of-the-art in the field of enforcement of environ­mental laws. In doing so we established several purposes the Workshop was to serve:

-     to share experiences in environmental enforcement and to gain new insights into how current programs can be improved;

-     to create an international network of experts who can continue to share and learn from each other's experien­ces;

-     to raise the level of interest in environmental enforcement both within and among nations; and

-           to explore ways to enhance international cooperation in enforcement.


I am happy to say that the Workshop was a great success in achieving these goals.

 

A brief word about the origin of this Workshop. We began to exchange expertise with the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1985 under a Memo­ran­dum of Understan­ding with our Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Envi­ronment.

 

After learning much about the United States' approach to enforcement over se­ve­ral years of exchanges and seminars in the United States, we have been try­ing to adopt many of these approaches in the Netherlands and have realized their value and importance not only to us but also to others.

 

I am happy to say that on the eve of its five year renewal date, toge­ther, we have begun something of true significan­ce in the area of environmental enforce­ment. We have just successfully completed the first INTERNATIONAL WORK­SHOP ON ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT.

 

We have come from many backgrounds and parts of the globe: from Canada and Mexi­co in North America, from Belgium and Germany in Western Europe, from Poland and Hungary in Central Europe, from Senegal in Africa and Indonesia in Asia. We were also joined by individuals from international organizations. Several other countries which were invited are anxious to receive their proceedings and to participate in future discussions and exchanges.

 

Why is enforcement important?

We all share a commitment to protect and enhance the PUBLIC HEALTH AND GENERAL ENVIRONMENT. That commitment requires that we ensure that requi­re­­ments, policies, and standards are supported by real action to achieve compli­an­ce. Compliance is essential for program effectiveness. It is the regulato­ry bottom-line. It is essential for equity as viola­tors should not be benefiting from their failure to comply as compared to those who do comply. It is essential for our credibility, as the laws that are put in force should be taken seriously. And it is important for economic efficiency all other things being equal.

 

Moreover, if we cannot succeed at ensuring compliance with require­ments alrea­dy on the books, we cannot hope to tackle the very difficult issues we face indi­vi­­dually and collecti­vely as nations, including atmospheric ozone depletion, global warming, and protection of our oceans.

 

We all agree on the importance of enforcement. We have come here to learn and we have learned a lot from each other.

 

Compliance cannot afford to be a luxury for developing countries, nor for deve­loped countries. It must achieve paramount importance to everyo­ne if any of our efforts to protect the environment and our public's health are to be achie­ved. There is an absolute need for setting up enforcement programs which contain rou­tine inspections, and prosecu­tion including training and building relations­hips  with all parties who should be succes­sful­ly involved in the process.

 

EPA and the Ministry of Environment both have the task of fostering mutual under­stan­ding with their neighbors in our respective parts of the world: Europe and the North American Continent. Other countries present at the Workshop must provide leadership in their regions of the world. It is particularly important that international organizations such as OECD and EEC also take the initiative to bring forward the necessity of enforcement of environmental legislation as a logical and essential complement to regulation. OECD began to recognize the impor­tance of implementation in its 1984-86 project on enforcement with case studies of the U.S., Netherlands and the United Kingdom. But then as we know few countries have fully operating compliance and enforce­ment programs. The UNEP effort to enhance inspection capabilities in developing nations is a start and must go further.

 

There is no reason why other countries should make the same mistakes or that they should wait for what appears to be a natural evolution in environmental programs. They should not first put policy and require­ments in place in response to threats to public health or to natural and man-made resources and only much later ask questions about implementati­on. We have to realize that without com­pli­­ance we have words on paper with no result. This may be a natural evolution, but we cannot wait for it to occur to the nations of the world that we must enforce our laws. We must take steps now to speed this process.

 

Looking to the future, we started a process with the Workshop which must con­tinue with intensification of bilateral and multilateral contacts and cooperati­on to follow including consideration of another Workshop.

 

Let me summarize briefly some of the highlights of discussions on the four themes that formed the basis for Workshop parers and discussions. These themes were:

-     Theme 1:Domestic enforcement programs strategies, tools and manage­ments systems, with an emphasis on implementation.

-     Theme 2:Domestic intergovernmental enforcement relationships.

-     Theme 3:International transbourndary pollution problems, focusing on en­force­­ment of pesticide and hazardous waste import and export con­trols.

-     Theme 4:Enforcement of international agreements e.g. CFC's and ocean dum­ping.

 

What came out of these discussions and presentations?

 

Theme 1:            Domestic enforcement programs strategies, tools and managements systems, with an emphasis on implementation.

 

!      Few countries in the world are focusing attention on implementation and enforce­ment of environmental requirements. Understandable pride in our envi­ronmental policy and regulatory initiatives must be accompanied by equal pride in ensuring that they are achieved and that they have succeeded.

!      Compliance does not just happen, it requires monito­ring, follow up and con­sequences for violators, in short, timely and appropriate enforcement res­ponse.

!      Because of the economic consequences of both enforcement action and the failure to enforce, uniform approaches to managing enforcement responses are needed. Every country willing to take enforcement seriously should have and carry out an enforce­ment management system based upon the elements set forth in the models discussed at the Workshop.

!      We seem to have more similarities than differences despite our different laws, histories and stage in implementing environmental enforcement pro­grams.

!      We must do a better job anticipating compliance needs before poli­cies and require­ments are final.

!            Promoting the voluntary compliance of industry by encouraging sound environ­mental management practices is an important addition to environmental en­force­­ment efforts. Technical assistance to small communities also may suc­cess­fully promote compliance for that sector. Developing nations in particular may choose to stress these actions to gain compliance.

 

      We should consider increased use of multi-media approaches instead of single media approaches whenever possible and useful.

!      Citizen participation in the enforcement process and access to information can be a powerful force toward enforcement of environmen­tal laws.

!      Environmental problems and their solutions require a multi-discipli­ned ap­proach with building of effective teams of engineers, scien­tists and attor­neys who through training and experience must be shown how to value and work well with each other.

!            Strong national enforcement programs are the essential foundation upon which interna­tional enforcement capabilities must rest.

 

Theme 2:            Domestic intergovernmental enforcement relations­hips.

 

!      Policy makers need to have systematic access to information used to evaluate whether the policy is or is not implemented including information whether the regulations are enforced. Intergovernmental information systems are necessa­ry for a central federal govern­ment as for the European Communi­ty.

!      Implementation of an enforcement approach will only succeed if the efforts of the involved levels (central and local) mutually build the necessary capaci­ty to enforce and assess compliance.

!      If the authorities in charge of enforcement do their job well, the role of the central government can be focused on providing:

      -     funds;

      -     clear policy;

      -      standards for compliance and enforcement;

      -      training and technical assistance;

      -      constructive oversight;

            -insuring consistency among the authorities in charge of enforce­ment with less direct enforcement.

 

!      Public information and involvement and changing attitudes contri­bute to the rate of compliance. Changing of attitude can stimulate developments like internal environmen­tal management.

!      Enforcement of EC-directives is too focussed on the adoption of national laws of the EC member states. There is less oversight than is desirable on the way these are execu­ted or on the way they are or are not enforced. This must change if Europe is to address trans­boundary waste and other pollution pro­blems facing it collective­ly.

!            The Netherlands has successfully tapped all of its local governments including the police and local governments in addressing environmen­tal challenges. The United States looks to these efforts as possible models for expanding the re­sources capable of identifying and respon­ding to environmental crimes and violations.

 

Theme 3:            International transboundary pollution problems, focusing on enforce­ment of pesticides and hazardous waste import and export controls.

 

!      For enforcement of regulations governing transboundary shipment of hazar­dous waste and pesticides to be successful we must:

      -develop regulations to enhance transboundary enforcement potenti­al;

      -minimize international differences in definitions;

      -shorten lines of communication to facilitate action against illegal trans­port with clear points of contact to respond to inquiries, and expedi­tious exchange of informa­tion on a staff level;

      -provide for adequate and timely exchange of informa­tion about transports;

      -create the necessary legal basis to actually stop suspicious transports;

      -prevent improper use in recycling;

      -support developing countries in their development of infrastructu­re in both environ­mental policy and enforcement capability using international agree­ments as a point of departure such as the Basel convention;

      -support developing countries with information about products, and techni­cal support in controlling processes and waste streams polluting the envi­ron­ment and endange­ring the public health in the developing countries so they can prevent the same mistakes developed countries have made;

      -address certain problems in the transboundary control of hazardous waste and product related to e.g. ownership of rejected waste once Europe has open borders;

      -ratify the Basel convention expeditiously.

!      Pollution does not respect boundaries. The cooperati­ve agreements  the U.S. has devised with Canada and Mexico, proved useful when specific environmen­tal problems have arisen in the enforcement area.

!            In summary, new levels of international cooperation are needed to address pollution that crosses the borders of neighboring countries. Pollution does not respect national boundaries. We are concerned not only with the safety of our own populations but also share a respon­si­bility to protect others from harm related to activities origina­ting in our countries that affect them.

 

            Protection of the public can involve complex internatio­nal relations­hips. Bila­teral agreements such as those between the U.S. and its neighbors Canada and Mexico have helped when joint enforcement action was needed to solve problems.

 

Theme 4:            Enforcement of international agreements E.G. CFC's and ocean dum­ping.

 

The growing number of international accords addressing environmental concerns on a global scale require a continued level of commitment to enforcement to ensure obligations are effectively and equitably met. It should be to every coun­try's advantage to firmly enforce the Montreal Protocols for control of ozone depleting CFC's, the Basel Convention for international shipments of hazardous waste, and the ocean dumping conventions to name but three such collaborations, and that no nation is singled out adversely because its industries alone are com­plying with the terms of such agreements.

 

Enforcement must become an integral part of international conferences and our agreements. Some of our more recent treaties such as the Montreal Protocol pro­vide some mechanisms for oversight and information exchange on implementa­tion and enforcement. We must be committed to support and evaluate the success of this process.

 

Our Workshop did not and indeed was not designed to develop new agreements or initiatives in environmental enforcement. After all, enforcers are known by their action, not talk. However, it did lead to steps we will take to streng­then interna­tio­nal cooperation and commitment to enforcement. This Workshop is a begin­ning. We have captured some of the expertise of those present here in a published proceeding which we intend to disseminate widely to other nations unable to join us today. Important ideas have flowed from your closing discussions. Your evalu­ations and ideas will be the basis for defining our course for the future.