Marius Enthoven

 

Pieter Verkerk, thank you for your opening speech. I completely agree with you about the growing cooperation between the Netherlands and, among others, the USA. The aim of this Workshop is quite clear, the importance of the international exchan­ge of knowledge and information in the field of enforcement is rightly emphasized.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

It is a great pleasure and honor for me, as Direc­tor General for the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, to be able to speak to the partici­pants at the start of the Internati­onal Enforcement Workshop. Let me first of all take you back in time by quoting a few lines from the Dutch poet, Mars­man:

 

Thinking of Holland

I see broad rivers

slowly winding their way through the endless land­scape,

rows of inconceivable

thin poplars

as tall feathers standing on the horizon

 

This is how the Netherlands was described in the thirties. Happiness was still taken for granted. Much changed after the Second World War: large-scale indus­trialization took place, other economic activities began to flourish. The Nether­lands took its place in these developments which affected the whole of the western world. But there was the downside: smell, noise, smog, polluted surface water, great streams of hazardous waste. Towards the end of the sixties, the Nether­lands too began to realize that there is another side to prosperi­ty: the burden on the environment. The concept, "­environment­"­, was acknowledged, pres­sure groups and large environmental organiza­tion were set up, research was ini­tia­ted. People also began to think about how to approach environ­mental pollution; which lead to a governmental environment policy. So, in 1971, a year after the US-EPA , a Directorate-General for Environmental Protection was established in the Nether­lands.

 

The Netherlands is a small country with a relati­vely large population and a great deal of economic activity: agriculture/intensive animal farming, chemical indus­try, petrochemical industry, elec­tronics industry, transport and distribution. The environmental problems associated with these acti­vities deserve an increa­sing attention. The go­vernments (divided administratively in the Nether­lands among the national, 12 provincial and 674 municipal governments as well as 30 water boards) take this task seriously.

 

Almost a year ago, May 25th 1989, the previous Cabinet presented the National Environmental Poli­cy Plan to the Parliament. A clear relations­hip exists between this NEPP and the report "­Our Com­mon Future­"­, published in 1967 and compiles by a United Nation­'s Special Commission. The Commission consisted of represen­tatives both from industria­lized and Third World countries and was chaired by the then Prime Minister of Norway, Mrs. Brundt­land. The report ascertained two re­la­ted crises: an environmental crisis and a development crisis. More and more people are becoming poorer while at the same time the quality of their environ­ment is worsening.

 

As exponents of the environmental crisis, the Brundtland Report listed such issues as acid rain, the gap in the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, the erosion and exhaustion of fertile agricultural soil and the extinction of more and more plants and animal species. According to the Brundtland Commission, attempts must be made to achieve sus­tainable development: a development that provides for the needs of today without endangering the potential of future generations in providing for their own needs.

 

This message was heard and taken seriously in the Netherlands among other coun­tries. A year later, at the end of 1988, the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection publis­hed its report "­Concern for Tomor­row­"­, a back­­ground document which examines the long-term ef­fects of the deve­lopment of environmental pro­blems. The Dutch report shows that great efforts are being undertaken and that in a few fields the quality of the environ­ment has improved. But it is also apparent - and that is far more important - that the quality of the environment will deterio­rate still further if existing trends conti­nue. Moreover, "­Concern for Tomorrow­"­ showed that a reduction of an individual source of envi­ron­mental pollu­tion (a factory, a car, a substance) is very often cancelled out because of the growth of the number of sources.

 

In addition there is the danger that a solution in a certain sector may turn out to cause problems in another sector. Finally, the report obser­ves a "­lag effect­"­: although you take measures, it some­times takes a few decades before any posi­tive effects are noticeable. The report concludes, in common with Brundt­land, that sustainable develop­ment should be achieved and that in the coming period profoundly drastic measures are necessary. In this connection, emission reductions for cert­ain environmentally-harmful substances, to the order of 70-90­%­, are being discussed.

 

The National Environmental Policy Plan provides a policy answer to the Brundt­land report and "­Con­cern for Tomorrow­"­. It selects three categories of measures:

-           aimed at emissions (end-of-pipe techniques);

-           aimed at volume (e.g. fewer raw materials and products, fewer cars on the roads);

-           aimed at the structure of production and con­sumption (such as clean technolo­gy).

 

Three scenarios have been developed, the annual costs of which, in 2015, would amount to approxi­mately 10 billion, 13 billion and 17 billion dol­lars respectively, that is 2­%­ and respectively 3.5­%­ and 4­%­ of the Gross National Product of the Netherlands. The coming June, the new Cabinet is planning to submit a more detail­ed and accentuated version of the National Environmental Policy Plan to parliament.

 

Great challenges for the nineties, challenges for environmental policy in the Netherlands and in the world. In order to achieve the ambitious objecti­ons of the National Environmental Policy Plan, besides all sorts of implementation plans for the responsible sectors of trade and idustry, environ­mental regulations need to be accentuated and better implemented, which means that the National Environmen­tal Policy Plan also presents an extra challenge in enforcing environmental regulations.

 

This sketches the importance of enforcement. En­forcement is one of the key fac­tors or links in the regulatory chain which consists of, consecu­tively, legislati­on, setting standards, providing permits, implementa­tion and enforcement. Not only enforcement but also all of the other links must function sufficiently if there is to be adequate execution of environmental policies.

 

How have these links been developed in the Nether­lands? There has been an ex­pli­cit environmental policy since the late 1960s. At first attention was devoted to drafting the environmental legisla­tion, then to setting standards, after that to permitting and finally, from the mid-eighties, to enforcement. Nowadays there is still a sizeable backlog in some areas of permissibility in the Netherlands. Enforce­ment is still in a develop­mental stage in general.

 

It is interesting to see how all the links in this regulatory chain function in various countries that are represented at this Workshop. It is my impression that the other countries have followed the same sequence as the Netherlands in terms of attention to the various links. So enfor­cement has been the last link to attain a place on their political agen­das too. Furthermore, the various countries are not all in the same phase. There are countries where the "­earlier­"­ phases (legislation, standard setting, permissibility) are still the focus of attention.

 

Within the national government of the Netherlands there are three depart­ments charged with environ­mental management. The Ministry of Housing, Physi­cal Plan­ning and Environment (known as VROM) has the largest share of the responsi­bility and also carries out the general coordination. The Inspec­torate for the Environ­ment functions within VROM. It plays an important role in compliance monito­ring and enforcement.

 

I want to note here that the provinces and the municipalities have a large share in the implemen­tation of the environmental policies in this coun­try. This is not the case everywhere in Europe and certainly not in the United States.

 

The "­last­"­ and latest link in the regulatory chain - enforcement - came clearly into the spotlight in the mid-1980s. After about five or six years of extra effort in this area, during which a great deal has been set in motion, this link is still in the development and pioneering phase. For a varie­ty of reasons it was concluded in late 1980s that the three levels of government (State, province, municipali­ties) should reconsider their position and strengthen their joined cooperation in the enforcement area:

1.         Large enforcement backlog: too little monitoring, too little enforce­ment, too little administrative attention/priority, also minor a role by the Public Prose­cutor and the police, too few well-trained enforce­ment officials.

2.         The National Environmental Policy Plan means new and more stringent rules; thus there is an even greater need for compliance monitoring and enforce­ment.

3.         The National Environmental Policy Plan provides increased manpower for enforce­ment for the municipalities, the provinces, the Public Prosecutor and the police.

4.         More cohesion is needed in the planning of enforcement and in the organizati­onal structure for carrying out enforcement activities in the Netherlands.


At the initiative of the Inspectorate, a model was designed earlier this year with representaties of the provinces and the municipalities. Elements in this model include:

!            joint annual programming of enforcement by the three levels of govern­ment, which includes the programming at the provincial and "­regional­"­ scales (a region is comprised of a number of municipalities which cooperate structural­ly in so-called municipal cooperatives);

!            the core of the enforcement implementation is provided by the munici­pal co-operatives;

!            financing the cost of enforcement on the basis of performance commit­ments (­"­businesslike partnerships­"­): programma - performance obligation - binding;

!            there must be structural consultation platforms at the three levels of govern­ment.

 

Increasingly, international agreements are being made in relation to environmen­tal protection. Such agreements can only increase, because of the scaling up of environmental problems. Acidification, climate changes and the impairment of the ozone layer cannot be solved without an inter­national aproach. These pro­blems are so urgent, that introducing measures of a more binding character than have hereto been customary, must be seriously considered. Monitoring compliance with international agreements is practically virgin territory. It is also necessary that this important phase in the regulatory chain be developed internationally. In the future, the realizati­on of treaties will have to consider, more carefully than has been the case so far, the aspect of compliance control and enforcement. More­over, on a regional and global scale, mechanisms are necessary, for example in the form of international inspectorates, to carry out the actual work of control. As far as the settlement of differences is concerned, the International Court of Justice could serve a purpose here by setting up a Chamber for the Environment.

 

The Netherlands will certainly include these ideas in the preparations for the UN Conference on the Environment and Development which will take place in Brazil in 1992. During this conference concrete steps will have to be taken to organize more effectively the control of international environmental problems. Here too, enforcement will be an essential element.

 

Finally, I would like to mention some of the features of Dutch environ­mental policy in general, and enforcement in particular.

 

1.                   The environmental regulations in the Netherlands do not only concern the larger companies and other activities that cause serious harm to the environ­ment, such as is the case in some other countries. Regula­tions are also aimed at small business (farms, garages and even office blocks and shops) and certain activities of the individual citizen (such as the domestic waste which is aimed at the separate collection of batteries, leftover paint, cosmetics and unwanted medicines). This is not only due to the small scale of the Nether­lands, but certainly also to the fact that the Netherlands has a Nuisance Act, which applies to every branch of trade and industry. Therefore, in princi­ple, enforcement covers every business.

2.                   In the Netherlands enforcement only began to be effective from the mid-80s onwards; especially after a number of scandals concerning the dumping and discharging of chemical waste. The first priority for enforcement was, there­fore, chemical waste, although other sectors and activities were kept under supervision. By the end of the 80s we came a step closer to the window that overlooks environment land and there we saw still other target groups in need of more supervision and enforcement. I mean agriculture, the automobile sector, specific branches of the chemical industry, the transport sector and shipping.

3.                   In the Netherlands environmental policy is not only the concern of the central government but certainly also of the provinces and municipa­lities. This also includes enforcement. The National Environmental Policy Plan indicates that as far as enforcement is concerned, the role of local authorities will further increase. Local authorities do not fulfill this important role in every country.

4.                   In the Netherlands the local police play an important role in enfor­cing envi­ronmental legislation, a role, according to the NMP, which will expand consi­der­ably. It was recently agreed that the police, the Public Prosecutor and the Courts will give more attention to environ­mental offences.

5.                   The aim, in the Netherlands, is to carry out enforcement on a multime­dia scale as far as possible: when a certain plant is inspected, in principle all environmental aspects are to be investigated (integral enforcement). This also means that inspectors from the various government departments should either coordinate their work or agree to work together. Furthermore, optimum cooperation should be reached between the inspectors and the government de­part­ments. By so doing, each case is viewed separately and the best approach chosen (whether administrative or criminal prosecution) in ensuring the com­pliance of the business in question.

 

I would like now to summarize. As an essential link in the regulatory chain, enforcement must be strengthen in the Netherlands as well as in other countries. The regulatory chain must be closed in this very area. As enforcement is in different stages in different countries, and as closing the chain will sometimes require a great effort, this Internatio­nal Enforcement Workshop provides an excellent opportunity to exchange insight and experience, so that participating countries can benefit from the front runners. I think this is an essential step, before even consi­dering enforcement at the supranational level, as is under consideration in the European Community and under discussion in various interna­tional negotiations: no effective international enforcement without a sound national enforcement system­!­

 

I have seen the programme for these three days and I am impressed by the im­por­tance of the subjects and thorough preparation. I hope and trust that it will be a meaningful workshop, that its significance will be felt far across the Dutch borders, and that the results will influence the enforcement policy of the parti­cipating countries and hopefully of other countries also. In particular I would like to develop and broaden the co-operative ties between my ministry and the US Envi­ron­mental Protection Agency. Adequate enforcement is an important and com­pletely indispensa­ble part of environmental policy. Environmental policy is not only necessary to protect our ecological inheritage, we, the people who live on this planet, need to pursue a tough policy so that we can face the 21st cen­tury with hope and optimism. I wish you a very productive workshop.