Malta together with IMPEL and the EU Commission will be hosting the upcoming Conference, on implementation and enforcement legislation entitled ‘Improve and Innovate’ (Programme is enclosed) which will be held at the Grand Hotel Excelsior, Floriana between the 1st and 4th October 2013.
The participants will consist of around 250 representatives originating not only from the EU Member States, Member States of the EEA (European Economic Area) and EFTA (European Free Trade Agreement) States, but also from other international Environmental Networks such as the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE), the Regulatory Environmental Programme Implementation Network (REPIN) and the Regional Environmental Network for Accession (RENA).
The objectives of the conference are:
To improve the efficiency, effectiveness and the European Harmonization of Permitting, Compliance and Enforcement activities in the field of environmental protection;
To strengthen the dissemination of results and to carry out an ex-post verification exercise to ensure that good practices are effectively implemented in practice;
To strengthen the IMPEL-network on a national and regional level; To promote IMPEL and its products and to generate new ideas for further co-operation;
To improve the practical implementation (exchange of information on practical issues among civil servants of the Member States and of the Accession Countries, stimulating specific practical co-operation in the execution of enforcement projects)
The conference will open with a plenary session on 2nd October at 9am and will include interventions by Hon Minister Mr. Leo Brincat and Hon Parliamentary Secretary Dr. Michael Farrugia, IMPEL’s Chairman Dr John Seager, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority Chairman, Perit Vincent Cassar and DG Environment’s Director General Karl Falkenberg.
The European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL), is an international non-profit association of the environmental authorities of the European Union Member States; acceding and candidate countries of the European Union; EEA and EFTA states.
Currently IMPEL has 47 members from 33 countries including all EU Member States, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Iceland, Switzerland and Norway.
IMPEL has as its objective the creation of the necessary impetus in the European Union (EU) to make progress on ensuring a more effective application of environmental legislation. It promotes the exchange of information and experience and the development of environmental legislation, with special emphasis on European Union environmental legislation. More particularly, IMPEL seeks to:
promote the exchange of information and experience between environmental authorities in the broadest sense (national, regional or local authorities competent for the implementation and enforcement of EU environmental law, for example, ministries, regulators, agencies and inspectorates) (hereinafter referred to as “Environmental Authorities”);
promote the development of national networks of Environmental Authorities with special concern for the cooperation between these authorities at all government levels;
promote mutual understanding of the common characteristics and differences of national regulatory systems;
carry out joint enforcement projects;
support, encourage and facilitate capacity building and training of inspectors and enforcers;
identify and develop good and, whenever possible, best practices, produce guidance, tools and common standards and actively contribute to further improvements as regards inspection, permitting, monitoring, reporting and enforcement of EU environmental law;
develop a greater consistency of approach, as appropriate, in the interpretation, implementation and enforcement of EU environmental law in the countries applying this law;
provide feedback on better regulation issues with regard to practicability and enforceability and provide advice on the practicability and enforceability of new and existing EU environmental law to the European Commission and other EU Institutions, gathering information on experience of implementing and enforcing this law, from the practitioners’ point of view;
explore the use of innovative regulatory and non-regulatory instruments as alternatives for or complementary to existing regulation.
Photograph – Alain Salvary.