While both the European Community and the United States now have "environmental agencies", the European Environment Agency ( ("EEA") and the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA ") respectively, these agencies are at different stages of development and have been assigned significantly different tasks. With the recent emphasis on regulatory reform and alternatives/complements to command-and-control legislation, the roles of these agencies will likely change in the future.
This article examines the changing role of the EPA and considers whether some of the methods used by the EPA could be developed by the EEA to expand its role in a similar fashion. The article begins with a brief analysis of why the roles of these agencies are changing. It continues with an overview of the EEA and the EPA. The article then looks at methods utilised by the EPA as alternatives and complements to traditional enforcement and considers how some of these methods could be employed by the EEA.
European Energy and Environmental Law Review