Problem
Inadequate legislation against environmental pollution
Other Names:
Inadequate instruments of environmental controlLack of regulations against pollution
Licence to pollute
Environmental deregulation
Dismantling of environmental regulatory controls
Cancellation of regulations concerning environmental protection
Moratoria on environmental protection measures
Ecotax circumvention
Incidence:
In order to increase national and regional competitiveness, and to save endangered jobs, there is increasing pressure for the cancellation of regulations concerning environmental protection. In the UK in 1993, the government engaged in a review of some 7,000 regulations constraining business and industry. Some of the environmental regulations were introduced as recently as 1990. This was perceived as an effective dismantling of environmental controls allowing irresponsible entrepreneurs to cut corners at the expense of environmental protection and responsible businesses.Alternatively, a government may draft inadequate laws. A law presupposes a method of verifying its application. In 1996, planned Belgian ecological tax exemptions for recycled paper products could not be introduced because it was impossible to distinguish recycled paper products from new paper products.
Another legal inadequacy is defining the objects to which the law is meant to apply in terms of some inconsequential property, rather than in terms of the property that must be legally controlled. In 1996, in France, razor manufacturers circumvented ecological taxes on disposable razors by producing 2-piece disposable razors. The law stipulated that 1-piece razors would be taxed.
Broader Problems:
Environmental pollutionLack of protective legislationFragmentation of environmental lawLack of integrated pollution controlLack of environmental accountabilityInsufficient environmental legislation Narrower Problems:
Unenforced littering lawsAbusive exemption from legal requirements Aggravates:
Export of hazardous industriesHavens for environmental pollutionFailure to apply polluter pays principleHealth hazards of environmental pollutionResistance to internationally agreed standardsExploitation of regulatory loopholes in countries with underdeveloped legislation Strategies:
Campaigning about biodiversity issuesCampaigning about biodiversity issuesApplying polluter-pays principleFacilitating public access to justice in environmental mattersDetermining environmental liabilityProviding environmental assistance to developing countriesEstablishing environmental regulatory controlsImproving legislation against environmental pollutionRegulating pollutionRegulating pollution Subject(s):
Amenities → InstrumentsSocietal Problems → Protection
Societal Problems → Pollution
Societal Problems → Inadequacy
Societal Problems → Scarcity
Research, Standards → Certification
Law → Law
Law → Regulation
Cybernetics → Control
Environment → Environment
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Problem Type:
F: Fuzzy exceptional problems Date of last update
11.07.1999 – 00:00 CEST