Strategic Moves - Regional Environmental Center for Central and ...

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C H A P T E R 5
N AT I O N A L S T R AT E G I C A N D I N S T I T U T I O N A L F R A M E W O R K
S T R AT E G I C M O V E S
investments. For example, it would be very difficult to proceed with the establishment
of a regional solid waste management system and the construction of a new
sanitary landfill with fair gate fees if no corresponding sanctions are imposed on the
illegal dumping of waste.
The current capacities of environmental inspectorates are relatively weak in
terms of the number of inspectors and their expertise in the EU environmental acquis.
Particularly in periods of economic crisis, governments tend to cut staff numbers.
Outstanding agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
represent an additional pressure to make staff cuts.
The reform of environmental inspection is an integral part of a wider regulatory
and judicial reform (World Bank, 2007). Even if the inspectorates are strong
enough to spot environmental irregularities and, in more extreme cases, crimes, it
is of little use if the link with the prosecution and the court is weak. This raises the
entirely different issue of the need to enhance the environmental expertise of the
police, the prosecution and the courts.
In most SEE countries there is a separate water inspectorate, which raises problems
especially in relation to the enforcement of the IPPC Directive, since it requires
a multi-environmental media approach, joint inspections, and thus good
coordination.
Strengthened enforcement goes hand in hand with increased awareness — especially
among citizens and businesses — of the importance of compliance with environmental
legislation and, even more importantly, of the benefits of compliance.
The modern and more successful approach to enforcement and compliance relies to
a great extent on prevention, action, education and dialogue rather than punishment.
Enforcement methods can also be combined with incentives, defined as the
conscious use of rewards and penalties to encourage good performance. Non-binding
mechanisms such as economic incentives to stimulate certain behaviour can also
be used in the form of state subsidies, tax relief or lowered insurance premiums.
Enhanced enforcement is inseparable from strong monitoring and reporting
systems, which, unfortunately, are lacking in SEE countries, where there is much
work to be done in this respect. This lack of monitoring and reporting systems ties
the hands of inspectors and decreases the efficiency of their work.
Since 2001, the REC has been the secretariat of a network of environmental inspectors
in SEE. Between 2001 and 2005, the network was known as the Balkan Environmental
Regulatory and Enforcement Network (BERCEN). In 2005, BERCEN
was replaced by the Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network for Accession
(ECENA). BERCEN and ECENA have been addressing the above issues for
the past eight years through trainings, exchange programmes and publications.
For many years there has been a debate in Europe regarding the criminalisation
of certain environmental offences. In 2008, the European Commission passed an
important piece of legislation in this direction, which is presented in Box 15.