GUIDING PRINCIPLES
to Reform the Environmental Enforcement Authorities
in Transition Economies of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia:
A Candidate for Category 1 Document at the Kiev 2003 Ministerial Conference

In October 2002, the NIS Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network (NISECEN) agreed to use these principles as a non-binding guidance. This policy document helps to distinguish key features of an effective system of environmental enforcement and presents a long-term vision for institutional development. Recently, the representatives of environmental ministries and international institutions that are part of the “Environment for Europe” process endorsed the Guiding Principles during the Meeting of the EAP Task Force (February 2003). They recommended that the Guiding Principles enter into the package of Category 1 documents at the Kiev Ministerial Conference, to be held in May 2003. The Ministerial Declaration is likely to welcome the implementation of these principles.

The Almaty 2002 Meeting of the NISECEN discussed and endorsed the Guiding Principles.

The transition period accentuated old and brought about new problems in environmental enforcement, such as a lack of political and social recognition of negative impacts of environmental problems, greater diversity in the regulated community, or lobbying by powerful groups or individuals for special privileges. Several studies have shown that enforcement systems and institutions have not received sufficient attention from decision-makers, and low environmental performance and violations of environmental laws have been widespread in the EECCA region. Furthermore, the slow pace of governance and economic reforms, a complicated legal framework and poor economic situation, society's disbelief in fair regulation and the erosion of the rule of the law nourished non-compliance. Limited powers, scarce financial and human resources of enforcement agencies are also major causes of low effectiveness in ensuring compliance.

Under these circumstances, the representatives of environmental agencies from the EECCA countries decided that reforms of national enforcement systems are needed to cope with current challenges, but also to establish clear targets for a long-term institutional development. These targets have been identified, discussed among key stakeholders and agreed upon in the "Guiding Principles for Reform of Environmental Enforcement Authorities in Transition Economies of EECCA". Recommendations are given on how to organise implementation and a mechanism is proposed for monitoring and evaluation. The international dimension is discussed only briefly to avoid duplication with documents already developed or under development by other international bodies (e.g., UNEP Guidelines on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA), adopted in February 2002 and the UNECE draft Guidelines for strengthening compliance with and implementation of MEA in the European region).

In addition, two other documents, a “Review of Enforcement and Compliance Practices in EECCA” and a “Toolkit for Environmental Inspectorates” have been developed in the framework of the NISECEN. They accompany the Guiding Principles by presenting the current situation in the region and describing the tools, that should facilitate their implementation. These documents are developed under the umbrella of the EAP Task Force work programme and will be part of the package of products for the Kyiv Ministerial Conference, to be held in May 2003 as part of "Environment for Europe" process.