Enforcement Matters : Enforcement and Compliance of European Directives in Four Member States

Abstract

The dissertation 'Enforcement Matters' is a comparative analysis of the transposition and enforcement of, and compliance with, two directives regulating dangerous chemical substances (the Seveso II and Safety Data Sheets directives) in four member states (the Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain) of the European Union. Ideally, European legislation stimulates uniform rule application within the member states and equal circumstances for 'the regulated'. The European Union, however, is not involved in enforcing these rules and thus does not control the process in which the 'law in the books' becomes the 'law in action'. Enforcement remains the responsibility of individual Member States. This book sheds light on the 'black box' of the practical implementation of European legislation from two perspectives; on the one hand from the perspective of the 'regulators' (environmental and labor inspectors) and on the other hand from the perspective of the 'regulated' (chemical companies). It shows that enforcement and compliance practices (or 'styles') differ considerably between member states as well as between directives. The study explores the explanatory mechanisms at work; in particular issue salience, legal design, organizational structure of the enforcement agencies and characteristics of the street-level actors (inspectors and chemical companies).

The 'Dutch Association for Public Administration' awarded this dissertation with the 'Van Poelje price 2003' for the best dissertation in the field of public administration, and concluded that the dissertation 'Enforcement Matters' will function as a standard work and point of reference for future studies on the practical implementation of European legislation.