The European view on legal regulation of environmental management at enterprises

Oleshchenko I. The European view on legal regulation of environmental management at enterprises

The article sets out analysis of EU legislation in the field of environmental management. New opportunities to improve effectiveness of legal regulation of environmental management at enterprises arise under the impact of tangible integration of Ukraine to the EU.
The analysis of legislative acts of the EU in the sphere of environmental management enabled to combine them into the following groups under the regulation sphere: 1. Political acts, which define the general principles of the current EU policy in the field of environmental management at enterprises; 2. Acts, which concern to the use of natural resources, pollution and waste management; 3. Acts, which define the procedural aspects of environmental management execution.
The following principles of the environmental management at enterprises are developed: systemacity, standardization, stability, individual responsibility, transparency and accessibility, permanent development, consistency, environmental effectiveness, environmental fairness.
Based on the European experience and best practices in other spheres the following conclusions and recommendations are made:
1. It is necessary to take into account more one of the basic principles of environmental protection in the state policy in the field of environmental management realization – closer combination of stimulation and enforcement. It is important to improve efficiency of control by the state authorities and to increase enterprises’ liability, as well as positive encouragement of companies to implement environmental management systems. These measures may include, for example, state competitive programs for better environmental management system, best innovation, best practices in this sphere, creating the conditions for granting enterprises that have implemented an environmental management system a more favourable investment market conditions.
2. The training of personnel in higher educational institutions specialized in environmental management implementation and execution should be organized.
3. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine could provide administrative services in the form of advice and support of the implementation of environmental management systems.
4. Considering the relatively high cost of environmental management systems implementation a low-interest loans for these purposes should be established in state banks. Also state support programs by providing grants or interest repayment of bank loans in case of involvement in the implementation of environmental management systems could be established.
5. Another important factor could be elaboration based on Ukrainian and European experience and publication of the Guidance on the implementation of environmental management systems in Ukraine by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
Keywords: environmental management, environmental protection, EU environmental legislation, principles of the environmental management.