Guidelines to Statutory Order on the Licensing of Waste Water Discharges

19. Supervision and enforcement

19.1 Supervision Supervision
19.2 19.2 Enforcement

19.1 Supervision

Part 18 of the Statutory Order lays down rules conferring powers of supervision in respect of waste water systems covered by the Order, and, on an overall basis, section 59 of the Statutory Order provides that the rules laid down in Part 9 of the Environmental Protection Act are also to apply to supervision and enforcement of the rules laid down in the Statutory Order on the licensing of waste water discharge.

As it appears from Part 9 of the said Act, the supervisory authority is to supervise, i.e. verify the compliance with the rules on waste water management provided for under the Act and the Statutory Order. Also, the supervisory authority is to provide the necessary enforcement in case of any contravention of the Act or the Statutory Order.

Moreover, the supervisory authority is responsible for verifying compliance with the specific requirements set out in licences, approvals, enforcement notices and exemptions, etc., and for verifying that any pollution caused by enterprises, private individuals, waste water treatment plants, etc., keeps within the objects of the Environmental Protection Act and does not exceed an acceptable level.

Neither the Act nor the Order sets out detailed requirements as to the planning, scope or implementation of the supervision, but in the nature of things and as a clear regulatory assumption, the supervisory authority is under a duty to conduct active supervision, in such a manner that it may be established whether the administrative rules and approvals/enforcement notices are complied with.

What constitutes good supervision practice?

Generally, "good" supervision is deemed to include defined inspection and testing as and when required under specific decisions, e.g. licences or enforcement notices. If conduct likely to be detrimental to the environment is reported to the supervisory authority, the authority must, as a matter of good supervision practice, investigate the conduct complained against.

The supervision further depends on the establishment of conditions as to internal control and reporting, but in other respects the planning, and to a certain extent the scope, of the supervision may be determined at the discretion of the individual supervisory authority.

In Information from the Danish EPA No. 7/1997 "Environmental Supervision 1995", the Agency has established certain minimum requirements for the scope of the supervision. Moreover, good supervision practice is described in Environmental Guidelines No. 3, 1994, "Supervision of Agriculture" and Environmental Guidelines No. 3, 1995, "Supervision of Enterprises".

19.2 Enforcement

For general information regarding the enforcement of the Environmental Protection Act and the Statutory Order on the licensing of waste water discharge, see Environmental Guidelines No. 12, 1992 Enforcement of the Environmental Protection Act. These guidelines are meant as a support for supervisory authorities in their processing of individual cases.