Environment - Implementation

Impel Network
International Non-Profit Association
Gulledelle, 100
Bruxelles, 1200 Belgium

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 Member States, acceding and candidate countries of the European Union and EEA countries. The Association is the continuation of the informal network, which was commonly known as the IMPEL Network.

Introduction to the IMPEL Network

Introductory words by Mr Gerard Wolters, Chair of the Board of IMPEL

IMPEL was set up in 1992 as an informal Network of European regulators and authorities concerned with the implementation and enforcement of environmental law, and, as such, it is a unique network. Read the full statement here.

Latest news

The registration has started for the Conference on Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Legislation “Working together for better environment”, which will be held from 23rd – 25th of September 2009 in Sibiu, Romania. The Conference is organised by the Directorate General for Environment of the European Commission, the Romanian Ministry of Environment and the Romanian National Environmental Guard, in close co-operation with Members of the IMPEL-network.

The central theme of this year Conference will be the implementation and enforcement of European environmental policy and legislation in practice and is therefore of special interest for experts, officials and practitioners in the field of transposition, implementation, permitting, inspection and enforcement of European environmental legislation, working for national, regional and local authorities.

The Conference has been prepared by experts of several Member States and Norway as well as the IMPEL Secretariat.
We kindly ask you to register online not later than 1st of August 2009.
Programme of the conference

For more information on the conference click here.

For more IMPEL news click here.

Recently completed projects

Practicability and Enforceability of the WEEE Directive Recast Proposal

Recently IMPEL assessed the practicability and enforceability (P&E) of the Recast Proposal for the WEEE Directive, which is now being discussed in Council and the European Parliament. IMPEL members were asked to identify P&E issues on the Recast Proposal through a questionnaire. The comments from IMPEL members were then further discussed at a workshop. Comments were received from 16 IMPEL members from 14 member countries (AT, BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, FI, HR, NL, PT, SE, SI, SK and UK).

Brainstorming on an IMPEL project to develop performance indicators

The aim of the project was to prepare an IMPEL project to develop performance indicators for environmental inspectorates

Concerning the scope of the project, it was agreed that it should cover indicators related to the RMCEI. The indicators should include input, output and outcome indicators. The indicators should be discussed from the perspective of reporting to the Commission.

The group agreed on a short list of indicators that should be further analysed in the IMPEL project. Under the project volunteer countries will provide the necessary data for the selected indicators, which will then be analysed and discussed.

As gathering data on all installations covered by the RMCEI was deemed too burdensome, it was agreed that the project should focus on IPPC installations. A further limitation to individual sectors under the IPPC Directive could be considered if this leads to more comparable and representative data. The scope should be evaluated at the end of the project.

Doing the right things III (implementation)

In 2008 the step-by-step guidance book was tested and amended by an international group of expert. Besides further clarification the guidance book now includes the Best Practices and Good Examples which are presented in annex 2. Within the project Doing the right thing III two training sessions have been held to train the practitioners from all IMPEL Member Countries.