Market-Oriented Regulation of Environmental Problems in the Netherlands

Two functioning regulatory tax programs in The Netherlands indicate certain conditions under which such frequently-advocated but infrequently-adopted regulatory strategies can be successfully implemented. A flat fee on oxygen-demanding substances in industrial effluents, introduced in 1970, has been very successful, stimulating a 90% reduction in pollution and a search for cost-effective abatement measures. However, a recently-enacted law aimed at agricultural pollution, using a combination of direct controls and taxes on polluting inputs, has led to resistance and is not likely to be very successful. Based on these programs, regulatory taxes seem more likely to be politically and technically feasible when (a) emissions can be monitored economically; (b) the relation between emissions and environmental harm is relatively uniform and predictable; (c) implementing agencies have the technical competence and strong political and economic incentives to monitor and tax strictly; (d) the regulatory taxes apply uniformly to all sources of pollution; (e) economic efficiency is strongly valued in environmental policymaking.     

Green Markets: Environmental Regulation by the Private Sector*

The article begins with a review of recent trends in the devolution of state functions to nongovernment institutions, and discusses how private interests may be enlisted in furtherance of public policy. It then outlines a variety of institutions and instruments which might comprise a system of regulation for environmental protection, and suggests some of the forms of interaction between them. The focus then turns to commercial activity which can further the interests of environmental protection. It summarizes eight emerging trends in “green commerce” and concludes that in some settings, the constructive influence of commercial forces can exceed that wielded by government agencies.     

The Netherlands and a Century of International Environmental Law

Netherlands International Law Review -     

Business Responses to the Regulation of Health and Safety in England*

The material in this article is extracted from an empirical study of industrial and agricultural businesses' responses to regulation of health and safety in the workplace. The study critically assesses the philosophy of self-regulation which underpins the regulatory framework in England and within the context of the expectations of employers built into that philosophy, attempts to distinguish between different models of employers in relation to their levels of motivation toward health and safety issues; their knowledge and comprehension of the law; their general approach to compliance with regulations; and their response to inspectors' enforcement activities. The article concludes that self-regulation is only capable of operating under very narrow conditions. It is at its most successful within the largest and most hazardous companies, despite the fact that the inspectorates devote the greatest concentration of enforcement and advisory resources to these sites. Companies which do not have a natural interest in safety require considerable advice, encouragement and coercion. In some situations deterrent penalties may be required in order to achieve a sustained improvement in standards. The research suggests that greater attention should be paid to the variety of employers and their compliance strategies, and to the potential for better targeting of regulatory efforts.     

荷兰的分区规划、土地征收与房地产管理

分区规划是荷兰空间规划中最为重要的规划之一,也是政府行使土地征收权和房屋管理权的基础。在分区规划的制定和修改过程中,规划的专业性、有效的公共参与和完善的司法救济制度不但确保了民众利益不受行政权肆意侵犯,也促进了人与自然、经济与社会的和谐发展。这种以分区规划为基础的土地管理模式,对中国土地管理制度的变革和房地产市场的健康发展具有一定借鉴意义。     

环境标准的规制能力再造——以对健康的保障为中心

保障人体健康应该作为环境法律的核心价值追求,而环境标准的性质和特征决定了环境法律保障人体健康的制度路径。但现实社会中,我国环境标准体系存在着内容缺失、灵魂缺失、定位不清、体系紊乱、思路偏差和观念滞后等弊端,决定了环境标准体系在保障人体健康中效果不佳。我们应相应地完善我国环境标准体系中以有效保障人体健康的核心目的和作为判断其绩效的标准、专门规定保障人体健康的环境标准规范,并相应地在立法技术上予以完善,最终发挥环境标准体系在保障人体健康中的作用。     

Resources, Rights, and Environmental Regulation

Prior to the Human Rights Act 1998, there were significant expectations that it would promote the development of environmental rights and extend remedies for environmental harm. This has not been the case, but then the expectations were probably always false. The paper points to three reasons why: the retention of a strong model of parliamentary sovereignty; the need to mould human rights principles alongside the common law; the traditional reluctance of the courts to determine questions of utility where questions of resource allocation arise. The paper concludes by reflecting on whether one would hope, in any case, to advance the cause of the environment through the mechanism of the Convention and suggests that there may be reasons to doubt the wisdom of this approach.     

论第三代环境规制

作为一种新的规制模式,第三代环境规制是在社会复杂性显著增强、绿色商业兴起的时代背景下诞生的,因应了前两代环境规制的现实困境。第三代环境规制的核心意旨是在法律自我限制的基础上,系统化培育企业自觉提升环境表现的反思性结构。较诸前两代环境规制,其背后的理论范式和国家责任均发生了深刻变迁,形成了一种代际意义上的新型规制模式。面对日益紧迫的资源环境约束,第三代环境规制具有远大前景,但在我国的实施尚须解决若干约束条件。     

绿色“一带一路”环境法规制研究

在绿色一带一路建设中强化环境法规制具有必需性和迫切性。一带一路沿线部分国家普遍存在生态环境脆弱的客观情况,而我国海外投资实行长期开发新模式,出于提升我国环境保护形象和防范环境风险引发经济风险等目的,都亟待强化环境法规制。绿色一带一路要求我国走出去的企业接受东道国环境法的规制,同时自觉对接我国有关主管部门的依法监管。当前我国涉外环境立法严重不足,对走出去的企业缺乏环境监管;司法机关受管辖权限制难以发挥职能作用;企业因守法意识淡漠而易引发诸多环境纠纷。我国应当坚守人类命运共同体理念和国际环境法的基本原则;对走出去的企业从环境立法、环境行政监管、促进企业合规经营等方面进行指导监督;将司法机关发挥审判职能作用与建立健全国际多元化环境纠纷解决机制相结合,高效解决建设一带一路进程中的各类环境纠纷,依法保障建设一带一路目标的全面实现。     

论环境行政决策的法律规制

环境问题的复杂性、代际性、多元性以及环境行政决策所具有的科技关联性和利益冲突性等特点,印证了对于政府及其部门的环境行政决策行为法律规制的必要性。然而此种法律规制不是消极的控权,而是在环境行政决策中增加对公众环境权益的考量以及符合相关技术标准后所谓的综合决策机制,同时考虑激励机制。     

论社会变迁与环境法律规则运行模式的演进

法律作为社会变迁的产物,其规范变迁与功能的进化必然受深层的文明演进因素的影响。对环境法而言,"人定胜天、天人合一、资源有限、同质同源"的理念变迁,促成了环境法之法律规则运行模式的四层次演进:环境破坏规制规则的缺位、环境破坏规制规则的填补、利益限制性规则的注重、利益促进性规则的引入"。而环境法之功能也在环境法律规则运行模式的层递演进中得到进化。     

Regulating Risky Business: Dilemmas in Security Regulation*

This paper examines the dilemma of regulating the complex and highly differentiated stock market. I argue that regulations, with legitimacy needs for status neutrality, serve mostly to protect investors with limited capacity for managing risk on their own. In competitive markets, players with greater capacity for risk management (e.g., access to market intelligence, sizeable reserves to cushion losses and enhanced technologies for risk assessment) seek out new arrangements for managing risk. These new privatized forms of risk management interact with the markets and market regulation in ways that undermine the regulatory program for those who depend on it most. I illustrate this form of regulatory bias by examining events surrounding Black Monday, the stock market crash of October 1987.     

Public Participation in Environmental Regulatory Conflicts: Treading Through the Possibilities and Pitfalls*

Based on two years of qualitative field work, this paper examines public participation in environmental regulatory disputes. Drawing on political economy critiques of environmentalism, we argue that regulation is both a political arena and a legal process that is about responsivity, competition, and bargaining. A combination of case study and Boolean algebra techniques are used to refine and apply the conceptualization. Five primary factors are identified which mediate citizens' participation: (I) information networks, (2) social resources, (3) cooperative linkages, (4) the ability to sustain linkages and levels of resource mobilization over time, and (5) agendas which fit within the narrow constitutive norms of a particular regulatory community.