The regional seminar on better environmental inspections for stronger environmental resilience took place on 5-6 December 2022 in Brussels, Belgium.

 

Objectives of the meeting

The specific objectives of the meeting were to:

• present and discuss findings of a draft OECD assessment report of the environmental compliance assurance system of Georgia, prepared within the EU4Environment framework;
• facilitate an information exchange on the latest developments in environmental inspections, available guidance and tools, and lessons learnt.

Participants

• practitioners from environmental inspectorates and policy makers from the Eastern Partnership, EU and OECD countries;  
• officials and experts from EU institutions and civil society representatives;
• representatives of the IMPEL network;
• OECD Secretariat.

 Background

Environmental inspections is one of the traditional tools used by countries to monitor environmental compliance, and they play a key role in enforcing environmental regulations. Many Eastern Partnership countries have been recently undertaking reforms in the field of environmental inspections. Most of them adopted risk assessment methodologies for planning inspections in the last few years (Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine in 2019, and Moldova in 2018). Georgia and Moldova have developed draft laws on industrial emissions aimed at establishing integrated permitting and control. In addition, many countries plan to digitise information management processes related to inspections.

meeting documents

• Agenda

About the EU4Environment Action 

The “European Union for Environment” (EU4Environment – Green Economy) Action helps the Eastern Partnership countries preserve their natural capital and increase people's environmental well-being, by supporting environment-related action, demonstrating and unlocking opportunities for greener growth, and setting mechanisms to better manage environmental risks and impacts.

It is funded by the European Union and implemented by five Partner organisations - OECD, UNECE, UNEP, UNIDO, and the World Bank – over 2019-2024 period, with a budget of EUR 20 million.