Home > News > Press Release 10/18/02

FOR IMMMEDIATE RELEASE

Czech Minister of the Environment Addresses International Network
A Report from the Annual EPC Meeting

October 18, 2002 - Prague, Czech Republic - Twenty members of the Executive Planning Committee (EPC) for INECE (International Network for Compliance and Enforcement) met today and yesterday at the Czech Environmental Inspectorate to discuss the need to strengthen environmental compliance and enforcement globally.

The group was addressed Thursday by the Czech Minister of the Environment, RNDr. Libor Ambrozek. The Czech Minister announced a program of cooperation to strengthen enforcement and compliance and offered to help INECE implement a plan to develop environmental enforcement indicators. Enforcement indicators are uniform minimum criteria by which countries can measure a level of environmental compliance. Minister Ambrozek also looked forward to an integrated environmental enforcement training program and encouraged INECE's efforts in distance learning.

INECE Co-Chairs Gerard Wolters, Inspector General, the Ministry Inspectorate of Housing, Spatial Planning, and the Environment, the Netherlands and Phyllis Harris, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, United States Environmental Protection Agency, led the meeting. Mr. Wolters commented that, "We are pleased to have the Czech Minister join us in developing indicators and look forward to a mutually beneficial project." Ms. Harris said, "Spending this time in Prague - a city that represents a thousand years of human endeavor - strengthens our commitment to effective enforcement of the laws that protect our water, our air, our land and our health."

The EPC meeting resulted in three-year strategic plan for INECE, supporting the growing recognition that enforcement and compliance must become a priority in the coming decades. Building the capacity to carry out the needed enforcement and compliance initiatives requires global cooperation.

Durwood Zaelke, Director, INECE Secretariat, noted, "The World Summit held earlier this year in Johannesburg, South Africa, set ambitious targets and timetables for improving the environment and these can only be met with strong enforcement and compliance."

The EPC acknowledged the assistance and support of the Czech Environmental Inspectorate and expressed gratitude for the generous hospitality provided, including hosting the meeting at its offices.

INECE is a global network of practitioners that had done pioneering work in this field since its founding in 1990 by the environmental agencies in the Netherlands and the United States, in partnership with UNEP, the European Commission, the World Bank, OECD and others.