Administrative Capacity for Implementation and Enforcement of EU Environmental Policy in the 13 Candidate Countries

The implementation of the EU environmental acquis is a necessary condition for each Candidate Country that is seeking membership of the Union. While much emphasis has been placed upon the transposition of EU legislation into the national law of these countries, the European Commission has made it clear that such laws must be clearly implemented. In order to ensure that implementation is effective, it is necessary to have administrative structures with an adequate capacity to ensure compliance. Various studies have been undertaken to analyse such systems in individual Candidate Countries, usually for specific parts of the acquis. However, this report provides an overview of the current status of these administrations in order to assist in future capacity enhancement. The sub-study was commissioned by DG Environment with the following aims:

To provide a general description for each candidate country of the administrative responsibilities for each part of the acquis;
To provide detailed information on the administrative arrangements for inspection, including the capacity of the relevant institutions;
To provide a description and analysis of the processes of permitting and inspection;
To identify strengths and weakness in administrative structures and processes for the implementation and enforcement of EU environmental Directives;
To produce recommendations and conclusions for capacity enhancement;
To identify the extent to which current and planned initiatives will contribute to this task.

Administrative Capacity for Implementation and Enforcement
of EU Environmental Policy in the 13 Candidate Countries (pdf ~1,250K)