UNEP Training Manual on International Environmental Law 
        4. COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT OF 
        MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL 
        AGREEMENTS 
        I. Introduction 
        Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) are a result of international 
        action by governments to develop standards through treaties or through non- 
        binding instruments, that come from intergovernmental fora and influential 
        international declarations, resolutions, and conference documents. These 
        treaties or non-binding instruments provide obligations for Governments to 
        undertake either individual or joint action to implement international legal 
        instruments. This chapter focuses on MEAs in the form of treaties, which 
        follow the process of ratification, adhesion, or accession by governments 
        who then assume the obligations as soon as the treaty enters into force. The 
        ratification, accession or adherence of a treaty by a state is the beginning of 
        the process of implementation of its provisions at the national level. 
        The process and required actions for implementation of MEAs normally 
        depend upon the provisions of the treaty but in most cases the actions range 
        from implementing national measures provided for in the environmental 
        treaty such as adopting policies, developing and/or strengthening national 
        legislation and institutions, and/or taking up administrative action to 
        implement MEAs. Since parties to most MEAs are required to report on 
        measures taken to implement treaties, a review process is vital as well as 
        early determination of which entity, at national level, will handle reporting, 
        or the focal point of the particular treaty.  
        For many years, issues of compliance with and enforcement of MEAs were 
        considered as matters for a state to address when implementing any 
        international environmental legal instrument. More recently, the negotiation 
        of MEAs, decisions of the Conference of the Parties (“COP”), and the work of 
        Convention Secretariats have established and/or provided for mechanisms to 
        monitor compliance which have included, inter alia, reporting mechanisms 
        and the development and implementation of non-compliance procedures for 
        some core MEAs. MEAs are normally negotiated under the framework of 
        international organizations that parties also work with to facilitate the 
        implementation of the conventions and intervene by providing technical 
        assistance to governments in the implementation process. Institutional 
        mechanisms established by MEAs such as Convention Secretariats and the 
        main governing bodies of treaties (COP) also play a role in facilitating and 
        overseeing implementation of MEAs. Compliance mechanisms are tools that 
        have also been established by MEAs to ensure efficacy of environmental 
        treaties and to keep track of the implementation of MEAs. 
        Under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (“UNEP”), 
        governments recently adopted global guidelines to assist and guide the 
        process of implementation of MEAs. These guidelines were adopted in 
        February 2002 by UNEP Governing Council decision SSVII/4 for the purpose 
        of enhancing compliance with, and enforcement of environmental law, and 
        are referred to as Guidelines for Compliance with and Enforcement of 
        Multilateral Environmental Agreements. 
        Compliance efforts can take a wide variety of forms, including education, 
        technical assistance, voluntary compliance programmes, subsidies and other 
        forms of financial assistance, or incentives, administrative enforcement, civil 
        judicial enforcement and criminal enforcement. This chapter focuses on 
        implementation of MEAs and explores some of the issues and challenges that 
        led governments to address issues of compliance and enforcement of MEAs 
        at the international level in the past few years. This chapter also analyzes 
        existing mechanisms developed to ensure compliance with and enforcement 
        of MEAs as well as the opportunities brought by the adoption of the UNEP’s 
        Compliance and Enforcement Guidelines to enhance the implementation of 
        MEAs. 
        II. International Framework 
        “Compliance” means the conformity with obligations, imposed by a state, its 
        competent authorities and agencies on the regulated community, whether 
        directly or through conditions and requirements, permits, licenses and 
        authorizations, in implementing MEAs Compliance also means the fulfilment 
        by the contracting parties of their obligations under a MEA. 
        “Environmental law violation” means the contravention of national 
        environmental laws and regulations implementing MEAs. "Environmental 
        crime" means the violations or breaches of national environmental laws and 
        regulations that a state determines to be subject to criminal penalties under 
        its national laws and regulations. 
        “Enforcement” means the range of procedures and actions employed by a 
        state, its competent authorities and agencies to ensure that organizations or 
        persons, potentially failing to comply with environmental laws or regulations 
        implementing MEAs, can be brought or returned compliance and/or 
        punished through civil, administrative or criminal action. 
        1. The Importance of Compliance and Enforcement 
        The need to ensure implementation of MEAs, the proliferation of MEAs as 
        well as the emergence of environmental violations or offenses (at times 
        loosely referred to as crimes), crimes emanating from violations of existing 
        environmental conventions are said to be the reason for the emphasis at the 
        international level on issues relating to compliance and enforcement of 
        environmental law.  
        With more than 500, or according to some almost 1000, MEAs in place 
        around the globe and the realization that there is a need for the 
        implementation of these MEAs, the attention is shifting from treaty-making 
        which preoccupied the international community since the 1970s to 
        compliance and enforcement and implementation of existing treaties.  
        Another issue of great concern, which also caused governments to focus on 
        issues of compliance and enforcement was the emergence of criminal 
        activity involving violations of existing MEAs (dealing with trade, chemicals, 
        wastes) including illegal traffic and trade in banned products.  
        In response to concerns by governments on the increase of environmental 
        crimes with transboundary effects, UNEP organized a workshop on MEAs 
        Compliance and Enforcement, held in 1999 in Geneva, Switzerland. The 
        workshop examined the implementation of three major MEAs, including the 
        Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and 
        Flora (“CITES”), the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone 
        Layer (“Montreal Protocol”), and the Basel Convention on the Control of 
        Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (“Basel 
        Convention”). This workshop indicated there was  
        a significant increase in environmental crimes, including illegal traffic in 
        banned chlorofluorocarbons and hazardous wastes, as well as illegal trade in 
        wildlife species which were undermining the objectives of the three treaties. 
        The serious global problem of environmental crimes was underscored, as 
        well as the need to enhance the capacity of different actors who have a role 
        in ensuring compliance with and enforcement of MEAs. 
        The participants and experts attending this workshop were drawn from 
        different types of enforcement agencies from both developed and developing 
        countries including the Convention Secretariats and other enforcement 
        organizations like INTERPOL, the World Customs Organization, the 
        International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement 
        (“INECE”), the European Union Network for the Implementation and 
        Enforcement of Environmental Law (“IMPEL”), and the Commonwealth 
        Secretariat. 
        CITES, the Montreal Protocol, and the Basel Convention have some form of 
        compliance mechanisms. In comparing the reports and statistics on 
        violations of the MEAs and the cost of the environmental damages caused by 
        these violations, it was clear that there was a need to find ways to prevent 
        environmental crimes by enhancing compliance with and enforcement of 
        MEAs. 
        In assuming obligations in a MEA to be implemented at the national level, a 
        state party to a treaty is expected to take measures to implement the MEA 
        and to make use of the facilities provided for by environmental treaties that 
        are aimed at facilitating the process of implementation at the national level, 
        including inter alia: 
        • Provision of technical assistance in development and strengthening of legislation; 
        • Adoption of compliance and enforcement policies; 
        • Undertaking administrative action;• Planning (action plans, inventories, 
        strategies); • Capacity building;• Financial assistance; and• Technology transfer. 
        In identifying some of the challenges parties face in the process of 
        implementation, it is important to note, for example, that compliance 
        requires identifying roles and responsibilities of the key players (depending 
        on the MEA, the lead organization should be identified). It also requires 
        effective coordination in the government structure 
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        Chapter 4                                
        COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT OF MULTILATERAL 
        ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS