Decentralisaton of Environmental Permitting and Inspection

1. Decentralisaton of Environmental Permitting and Inspection Experience from Central and Eastern European Countries Dr Radoje Lausevic Mr Mihail Dimovski

2. The Decentralization • Decentralization as transfer of functions • Subsidiary Principle • Forms of decentralization: • administrative • deconcentration ( weakest form of decentralization) • delegation ( transferring decision making responsibility ) • devolution ( where local governments have legally recognized geographical boundaries and public functions) • fiscal • associated with making expenditure decisions with funds

3. Decentralization in South Eastern Europe • Ensuring existence of a basic legal framework for decentralisation • Ensuring sufficient financial resources to undertake assigned functions • Trained human resources • Ensuring mechanisms for political accountability • Setting up central and deconcentrated institutional arrangements to steer and implement the decentralisation process

4. Why decentralization of Inspection in South Eastern Europe • Impossible and undesirable for the central government to inspect every single operator in the given year • Centralized permitting and inspections represent great burden on the businesses • Many countries from SEE replaced to-down approach with decentralized system • Specific permitting and inspection duties spread among central and local governments

5. The role of the local inspectorates Ensuring that the operators are in compliance with the permit/license issued by the competent authorities by : - site visits - administrative inspections - desk research Example of inspections action taken in Croatia

6. Benefits of decentralization of environmental enforcement • Enhanced decision-making on permitting through local knowledge of environmental conditions • Higher responsibility in decision-making accompanied by higher motivation • Higher transparency and accountability in the decision-making through facilitated local participation • Increased local capacities for services consistent with local requirements

7. Difficulties of decentralized Inspections

8. Planning of decentralized enforcement in SEE

9. Quality Assurance for Local Inspectorates .

10. Measures to enhance the decentralized environmental enforcement • Implementation of regulations for organization of inspectorates • Adoption of internal regulations for providing training programmes • Improved procedures for providing information to the private sector and general public • Development of system for performance indicators and internal controls for the inspections • Development of information systems aimed to improve coordination of work

11. Thank you for your attention.