Environmental Reference Laboratory)
1 to conduct environmental measurements
and analyses in conformity with the By-Law on Qualification of Environmental
Measurement and Analysis Laboratories.
2
This mechanism involves ensuring implementation of and compliance with the
requirements of the Environment Act and related By-Laws through permitting,
monitoring and inspecting the activities of the facilities, and, if it deems necessary,
through enforcing the related facilities by imposing administrative measures,
sanctions or fines when any non-compliance with these legal and technical
requirements specified in environmental legislation is identified.
This chapter provides an assessment of the environmental compliance mechanism operating in Turkey. It was prepared as a continuation of the studies in
Chaps. 2 and 3, respectively entitled “The Development Process of Environmental
Law in Turkey: The EU Impact” and “Drawing A General Framework for Turkish
Environmental Law”. Whereas in these chapters background information on
Turkish Environmental Law was given, here the focus is on the functioning of
Turkey’s environmental law in practice based on the implementation, compliance
and enforcement of it, the aim being to provide the reader with a better understanding of how the legislation works in practice.
While making this study, the aim is not to question whether, how and under what
conditions Turkish environmental law influences environmental quality by altering
the behaviour of actors, therefore no effort is made to demonstrate its effectiveness.
Instead, its purpose is simply to provide an in-depth understanding of the existing
structure of compliance, implementation and enforcement and describe their current
features in order to open avenues for discussing the options for a further improved
system, and to support academic debate on the subject by contributing useful input.
This is because almost all legal acts, codes and rules developed under TEL are
relatively new. They are indeed still at the stage of establishment or development,
or passing through several amendments at different times after being adopted.
Consequently, the compliance, implementation and enforcement cannot be regarded as fully tested. Moreover, it is quite difficult to measure the effectiveness of
TEL – or even its likely effectiveness in practice – since it forms a very complex
structure with various relevant acts, institutions, processes and dynamics that need
to be investigated in detail. Finally, compliance, implementation and enforcement
can all be affected by a great range of factors, such as the characteristics of the
activity, of the act/code/rule, of the parties, of the institution applying the act/code/
rule, and even the stance of NGOs regarding that act/code/rule.
1
See the details at: http://laboratuvar.cevre.gov.tr/anasayfa-eng.asp.
2
The Project for Automation of the Authorization Process of Environmental Measurement and
Analysis Laboratories enables all kinds of documents and information to be sent and viewed
electronically instead of as hard copy, and includes all licensing processes starting with the
application procedures for laboratory authorization (Olgun 2015).
100
Z. Savaşan
1 to conduct environmental measurements
and analyses in conformity with the By-Law on Qualification of Environmental
Measurement and Analysis Laboratories.
2
This mechanism involves ensuring implementation of and compliance with the
requirements of the Environment Act and related By-Laws through permitting,
monitoring and inspecting the activities of the facilities, and, if it deems necessary,
through enforcing the related facilities by imposing administrative measures,
sanctions or fines when any non-compliance with these legal and technical
requirements specified in environmental legislation is identified.
This chapter provides an assessment of the environmental compliance mechanism operating in Turkey. It was prepared as a continuation of the studies in
Chaps. 2 and 3, respectively entitled “The Development Process of Environmental
Law in Turkey: The EU Impact” and “Drawing A General Framework for Turkish
Environmental Law”. Whereas in these chapters background information on
Turkish Environmental Law was given, here the focus is on the functioning of
Turkey’s environmental law in practice based on the implementation, compliance
and enforcement of it, the aim being to provide the reader with a better understanding of how the legislation works in practice.
While making this study, the aim is not to question whether, how and under what
conditions Turkish environmental law influences environmental quality by altering
the behaviour of actors, therefore no effort is made to demonstrate its effectiveness.
Instead, its purpose is simply to provide an in-depth understanding of the existing
structure of compliance, implementation and enforcement and describe their current
features in order to open avenues for discussing the options for a further improved
system, and to support academic debate on the subject by contributing useful input.
This is because almost all legal acts, codes and rules developed under TEL are
relatively new. They are indeed still at the stage of establishment or development,
or passing through several amendments at different times after being adopted.
Consequently, the compliance, implementation and enforcement cannot be regarded as fully tested. Moreover, it is quite difficult to measure the effectiveness of
TEL – or even its likely effectiveness in practice – since it forms a very complex
structure with various relevant acts, institutions, processes and dynamics that need
to be investigated in detail. Finally, compliance, implementation and enforcement
can all be affected by a great range of factors, such as the characteristics of the
activity, of the act/code/rule, of the parties, of the institution applying the act/code/
rule, and even the stance of NGOs regarding that act/code/rule.
1
See the details at: http://laboratuvar.cevre.gov.tr/anasayfa-eng.asp.
2
The Project for Automation of the Authorization Process of Environmental Measurement and
Analysis Laboratories enables all kinds of documents and information to be sent and viewed
electronically instead of as hard copy, and includes all licensing processes starting with the
application procedures for laboratory authorization (Olgun 2015).
100
Z. Savaşan