Instructions for registration.

 

1.      Register via web site  www.gnm.ro/implementationconference

2.      Fill in the form very carefully and identify your role during the conference, also for the reasons mentioned hereunder.

3.      For a maximum of 5 participants per Member State of the European Union, Norway, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey, the European Commission will pay the Hotel for 3 nights (22/23; 23/24 and 24/25 September). The national IMPEL co-ordinator in each country determines who will receive this privilege. Additional participants per country will have to pay their own hotel bill.

4.      For members of the Preparatory Committee the European Commission will order the flight tickets and will pay the Hotel for 3 nights (22/23; 23/24 and 24/25 September).

5.      For Chairpersons and Rapporteurs of Conference Sessions, not being member of the preparatory Committee, the European Commission will order flight tickets. Hotel has to be paid individually.

6.      The European Commission will order flight tickets and pay will pay the Hotel for 1 night for designated guests/speakers who are informed about this.

7.      All other speakers have to pay their travel costs themselves. Hotel costs of speakers are only paid for by the European Commission when these speakers are part of the national delegation of 5 persons as mentioned above under 3. In all other cases hotel costs have to be paid individually.

8.      Please indicate if you like to bring Posters, reports or other documentation about your organisation, about projects or any other information which is worth to share with colleagues during the Poster Session and on the Market Place which will be organised during the conference.

9.      Please indicate specific diet wishes.

10.      When you intend to arrive earlier or to stay longer than the conference, or when you need a double room, please contact the hotel directly.

11.      In case of questions or difficulties during the registration, please contact Mihaela Beu, e-mail address cjcluj@gnm.ro or mihaela.beu@gnm.ro telephone number +40-264410719, mobile: +40-745655452.

 

CONTENT AND AIMS OF THE DIFFERENT SESSIONS.

 

 

Session 1 – Opening Session

 

The Conference will be opened by the Minister for Environment from Romania.

 

High level speakers from different backgrounds will give an overview of permitting and inspection/enforcement practices as well as related policies from their perspective.

 

Presentations and a round table discussion, in which also the audience can play a role, aim at setting the scene for the Conference.

 

Session 2 – Interactive session

 

This session aims at active interaction among the participants of the conference. The working method of short workshops with discussions and poster presentations of project leaders going in discussion with interested participants, as well as a market place, should provide enough room for sharing of experiences between practitioners.

 

Expected outcomes are: New ideas; Shared knowledge; Dissemination of project results; New contacts

 

Session 3 - Risk based approach

 

This session aims at showing different approaches for a risk based planning of inspections. In this session the concept of the Environmental Inspection Cycle and in particular its planning steps are presented. This concept was developed in the “Doing the right things” project. It also covers practical experiences with implementing this concept in different Member States.The session also provides opportunities to learn about other approaches with regard to risk based planning of inspections.

 

Expected outcomes are: Exchange of information, experiences and ideas on risk based planning of inspections between different Member States

 

Session 4 – Water quality objectives and industrial pollution

 

The Water Framework Directive is the ‘flagship’ of EU water policy. It is based on the concept of integrated management at the level of the river basin/catchments. It requires management plans and remedial measures for each river basin to become operative by December, 22^nd 2009.

 

The management plans are an instrument to covering all impacts on water, regardless of their origin and aim at integration of all water-related legislation. In particular the legislation and measures on industrial pollution (IPPC Directive, BATs/BREFs, Dangerous Substances Directive and its five daughter Directives) will make a significant contribution to reduce chemical pollution. Inspections of industrial emissions will help to avoid exceeding of water quality objectives set out in river basin management plans. Good coordination between permitting authorities, inspectorates and water management authorities, as well as inspection-priorities have to be established.

 

This session is mainly aiming at: providing information on the role of river basin management plans (IPPC plants, industrial point source pollutions, measures, environmental quality objectives, timescale); identifying linkages between River Basin Management Plans and inspections (on national and trans boundary level); Reporting (EPER and P-RTR register)

 

Expected outcomes are a better understanding of the relation of the Water Framework Directive with other EU legislation on industrial pollution (IPPC directive, waste incineration directive, large combustion plants directive, etc) and related reporting systems; resulting in improving the collaboration between various enforcement authorities

 

Session 5 – Waste on the move

 

This session aims at connecting (some of the) different relevant waste related European regulations, completed projects and related enforcement activities to create coherence in the implementation and to generate new ideas and approaches for future activities. 

 

Expected outcomes are: a better understanding of the waste chain, involved authorities, responsibilities and required co-ordination; ideas for improving collaboration between various enforcement authorities

 

Session 6:  IPPC Recast proposal

 

This session is developed to discuss the proposed revision of the  IPPC Directive and six other industrial emission Directives. The European Commission published a Recast proposal on 21^st. December 2007 (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ippc/pdf/recast/guidance.pdf).

 

This session is aiming at: providing information on what will be changed in comparison with the existing legislation and its consequences for permit-makers and inspectors. Different stakeholders (European Commission, Member States, NGO’s, policy makers, inspectors, etc) will give their views and opinions.

 

Expected outcomes: Understanding (at inspectors level / permitters level / management level) of the objectives of the Recast Proposal and identifying the benefits and critical points of the different elements of the Recast proposal; ideas for improving collaboration between various inspection and enforcement authorities.

 

Session 7 - Performance indicators for environmental inspections and inspectorates

 

This session is presenting and discussing possibilities and improvements in describing efficiency and effectiveness of inspectorates by using relevant indicators. During the discussions about the revised Recommendation for Minimum Criteria for Environmental Inspections (RMCEI) the need for a simplified reporting has been identified. The session will present and discuss the state of play of a project intended to identify such indicators. The indicators are supposed to address quantitative and qualitative measures of inspectorate activity. Indicators can be focussed on input (e.g. resources), outputs (e.g. activities) or outcomes (e.g. environmental effect or behaviour change). The session aims at a stimulating discussion to highlight as well the usefulness of indicators as problems concerning how indicators can be designed and applied.

 

Expected outcomes: Exchange views on the usefulness of performance indicators; Provide better understanding on the use of indicators as a method to evaluate the performance of inspectorates; Give advice for the further work on the RMCEI.

 

Session 8 – Networking

 

In many situations networking does not seem to be an attractive activity. Nevertheless it is a necessary tool to improve performance of your own organisation and to stimulate better implementation by cooperation. The aim of this session is to learn from existing networks in different countries and on different levels (regional; national and international).

 

Practical examples will illustrate that cooperation in networks will lead to better results than individual efforts.

 

Session 9 – Communication with the public

 

The aim of this session is to show how environmental information can be made available to the public. More in general communication with the public on environmental issues has been an important subject in the EU for the last few years. Examples of good practice will be shown. This session will deal with issues like mediation as a tool in solving environmental conflicts, handling environmental complaints, providing information about inspections to the public and involving the public in environmental permitting and inspections.

 

Expected outcome: Exchange of information and discussion between NGOs, inspectors, permit makers and policy makers; Developing ideas for improving the communication between authorities and the public.

 

Session 10 – Better regulation

 

This session aims at better regulation as a shared responsibility for all actors involved (not only policymakers and lawyers on the national level, but also policymakers and practitioners on the regional and local level). This also counts for European environmental legislation where also a strong connection between policymakers and practitioners (inspectors and permit makers) has to be established.

In this session there will be room for identification of objectives for better regulation (like for instance a level playing field, less administrative burdens for companies and/or government, simplifying legislation, harmonisation etc).Possibilities for better legislation on the national level and on the European level will be presented.

 

Expected outcomes: Raising awareness about the subject; Learning from examples in different countries; Suggestions from participants for better legislation and better regulations.

 

Session 11 – Reports and conclusions

 

In this session the results of the sessions 3-10 will be presented. The co-chairs of the Conference will present the conclusions of the conference.

 

Speakers from OECD, the European Industry and the European Environmental Bureau (NGO’s) will give their perspective on implementation of (European) environmental policies to challenge the participants to improve their daily work.

 

The Romanian Minister for Environment will close the conference.