The Effectiveness of the Ministry of Environmental Protection'S Administrative Procedures

Israel's enforcement program at the Ministry of Environmental Protection is divided into two distinct stages: an administrative enforcement phase and a criminal enforcement phase. Administrative activities are initiated by the Ministry's District Directors and include letters of warning, on-site inspections, hearings, fines, etc. Criminal enforcement includes criminal investigations and prosecutions, while its primary actors are the Green Police and the Ministry's legal department. While the systems complement one another to a large extent, for many years there has been a debate about the relative effectiveness of each.

The administrative track is typically considered faster, less costly in terms of government resources and more predictable in terms of outcome, whereas criminal prosecutions are considered as providing greater deterrence and in many cases as generating more significant penalties. The research focuses on the administrative procedures and seeks to evaluate their effectiveness as to their impact on the polluter’s behavior.

The assumption is that administrative procedures, which in many cases are the first stage of the enforcement process, can be effective even without the threat of criminal prosecution and ensuing sanction. This study seeks to identify those cases where the administrative enforcement procedures may be effective.