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Module 2: Promoting Compliance with Environmental Law

Module 2: Promoting Compliance with Environmental Law . Introduction to Compliance. Lake Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Source: UNESCO. What is Compliance?. Conformity or identity between an actor’s behavior and a specified rule Full implementation of environmental requirements

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Module 2: Promoting Compliance with Environmental Law

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  1. Module 2:Promoting Compliance with Environmental Law

  2. Introduction to Compliance Lake Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Source: UNESCO.

  3. What is Compliance? • Conformity or identity between an actor’s behavior and a specified rule • Full implementation of environmental requirements • An essential indicator of good governance and respect for the rule of law

  4. Who Ensures Compliance? • National Environment Agency / Ministry • Other national-level agencies • Other branches of government • Other levels of government • The regulated community • Nongovernmental organizations / Citizens

  5. Ways to Involve the Public in Compliance • Transparency of Government • E.g., government should notify public that requirements are being formulated • Access to Information • E.g., public should be able to receive information from government on details of regulatory process • Opportunity for Participation • E.g., public should be able to report violators and/or file citizen suits to force compliance

  6. Producing Compliance Two Principal Means: • Coercion (enforcement) • Promotion

  7. Compliance Theory

  8. Creating an Atmosphere Favoring Compliance Compliant Noncompliant Regulated Facilities Impressionable  Less Degree of Compliance More

  9. Creating an Atmosphere Favoring Compliance Compliant Noncompliant Regulated Facilities Impressionable  Less Degree of Compliance More

  10. Creating an Atmosphere Favoring Compliance Financial Incentives Technical Assistance Compliant Noncompliant Civil or Administrative Enforcement Regulated Facilities Publicity Inspections Criminal Prosecution Recognition & Reward Impressionable  Less Degree of Compliance More

  11. Creating an Atmosphere Favoring Compliance Financial Incentives Technical Assistance Compliant Noncompliant Civil or Administrative Enforcement Regulated Facilities Publicity Inspections Criminal Prosecution Recognition & Reward Impressionable  Less Degree of Compliance More

  12. Compliance Promotion

  13. Compliance Promotion • Focuses on changing behavior by addressing obstacles to compliance • lack of knowledge • lack of technology • lack of will to comply • economics • moral values • social values • Remember that compliance promotion goes hand-in-hand with enforcement. Enforcement creates a climate in which the regulated community has incentives to use the opportunities provided by promotion.

  14. Compliance Promotion Tools • Capacity Building: Education & Technical Assistance • Publicity • Building Public Support • Financial Arrangements • Economic Incentives

  15. Capacity Building:Education & Technical Assistance • Provides information about the requirements and how to meet them • Provides assistance to help regulated facilities take the necessary steps to achieve compliance • Particularly important when: • Community wants to comply, but does not have the capacity to do so yet • A new program is in its early stages • Program requirements have changed

  16. Publicity • Publicize stories of facilities that have been particularly successful in complying or particularly egregious in their non-compliance • Publicize successful enforcement actions against environmental non-compliance • Can deter future violations • Can reinforce positive societal environmental ethics and public support in favor of strong environmental enforcement

  17. Building Public Support • Citizens can: • Create societal pressure for action • Help ensure enforcement programs receive funds • Be actively involved if the law provides a role for them It is vital that the public be involved in compliance!

  18. Financial Arrangements • Help facilities overcome barrier of cost • Examples include: • Offset requirements - investors in a new facility must pay for modifications (e.g., updating technology) to reduce or “offset” pollution at an existing facility • Loans – institutions loaning money for new investments require a portion of the loan be applied to restoration or protection of environmental quality • Revolving Funds - providers of water services finance their continuing operations with income derived from sales to customers

  19. Economic Incentives/Disincentives • Fees - Facility charged based on characteristics of its pollution (e.g., amount or toxicity of effluent). Fees should be high enough to deter pollution. • Tax Credits – Reduced taxes for costs associated with improving environmental quality, e.g., installing pollution control equipment • Pollution Taxes – Taxes based on the volume and/or toxicity of effluents generated • Subsidies – Facilities that comply with requirements can receive a subsidy to help defray the cost of compliance • Bonuses for facility or operator – For achieving better results than specified in permits, licenses, or regulations • Promotion point system – For senior managers in government-owned facilities achieving compliance

  20. Setting Priorities

  21. Key Concepts for Priority Setting • Balancing Objectives: • Protecting environmental quality and public health • Maximizing program resources • Apportioning resources between compliance promotion and enforcement responses • Setting general principles for how to respond to various types and degrees of violations • Targeting inspections to achieve deterrence and detect violations

  22. Considerations When Setting Priorities • Ensure consistency and harmony among regional, provincial, and local priorities • Respond to issues of national concern in a coherent, coordinated manner • Important to involve national, regional, provincial, and local governments • Local authorities may have best knowledge of local facilities and significant local threats

  23. Understanding the Regulated Community • Regulated community may include: corporations, small businesses, public agencies, state-owned facilities, individuals • Accurate profile allows policymakers to target the compliance strategy to maximize effectiveness • Gathering information about the community: • Inventories • Permit or license applications • Registration • Existing records • Overflights

  24. Focusing Resources • A program with limited resources may choose to focus on the small percentage of facilities that cause most of the pollution • Targeting certain facilities can have a broader deterrence effect • Approaches to focusing resources: • Significant violators, type of industry, geographic location, type of emission, compliance history, etc.

  25. ExercisePriority Setting

  26. Coming Up Next • Module 1: Building a Legal Foundation for Good Water Governance • Module 2: Promoting Compliance with Environmental Laws • Module 3: Responding to Violations of Environmental Laws • Module 4: Designing Performance Indicators for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Programs

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