Environmental Enforcement Report

Each year, the Environmental Inspectorate Division (EID) publishes the environmental enforcement report on the organisation, implementation, follow-up inspection and results of its environmental inspections. The report has therefore become an important link in the full implementation of Recommendation 2001/331/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 April 2001 providing for minimum criteria for environmental inspections in the Member States.

That this report is necessary is all too clear from the description of the purpose of the Recommendation: “Environmental tasks should be carried out in the Member States, according to minimum criteria to be applied in the organizing, carrying out, following up and publicising of the results of such tasks, thereby strengthening compliance with, and contributing to a more consistent implementation and enforcement of Community environmental law in all Member States."

The Recommendation also states that reporting on inspection activities is an important means to ensure, through transparency, the involvement of citizens, non-governmental organisations and other interested actors in the implementation of environmental legislation. It is also stated that access to reporting information should be in line with the Council Directive on the freedom of access to information on the environment. This environmental enforcement report seeks as far as possible to follow the subdivisions of the Recommendation. It is therefore broken down in three main parts:

Part 1: Organisation of the Division and Resources Deployed

The environmental enforcement report starts with a description of the organisation of the Division (Chapter 1) and a report on the resources deployed (personnel, budget,…) (Chapter 2).

Part 2: Implementation, Follow-up Inspection and Results of Environmental Inspections

All environmental inspections are carried out on the basis of an environmental inspection plan. This plan-based approach is a basic principle of the Recommendation. The Recommendation states among other things that “In order to make this system of inspections efficient, Member States should ensure that environmental inspections activities are planned in advance.”

Chapter 3 explains first and foremost how an environmental inspection plan is drawn up every year and how it is harmonised with the definitions of the categories of environmental inspections in Part II and with the principles regarding the drafting of environmental inspection plans in Part IV of the Recommendation.

A report is then drawn up concerning the implementation, follow-up inspection and results for each part of the environmental inspection plan. These parts are as follows:

· specific enforcement campaigns (Chapter 4);

· routine inspections (Chapter 5);

· reactive inspections (Chapter 6);

· personal initiative and follow-up inspection (Chapter 7).

Chapter 8 concludes this part with a report on the handling of all inspections in keeping with criminal and administrative law.

Part 3: Cooperation and Consultation

The environmental enforcement report ends with an overview of the intra-regional, inter-regional and supra-regional cooperation. The chapter ‘Cooperation and Consultation’ focuses on the different partnerships within the national borders and the chapter ‘International Context’ gives an overview of the different contacts at the European level and sometimes far beyond.