Principles of environmental regulatory quality: a synthesis from literature review

Environmental regulation has evolved since its establishment in the 1960s. When first generation environmental problems become under control, new challenges were presented, evidencing the limits of traditional approaches. In response, several institutions have been proposing guidelines for a reform on environmental regulation, and while each has its particular point of view it is possible to verify a strong convergence of their recommendations. The present research aims to establish a succinct list of “principles for environmental regulatory quality” from those contributions. After exemplifying the most relevant limits of traditional regulation, the paper conducts a three step methodology to identify and synthesize proposals to overcome those limits. At end, it is concluded that an environmental regulation able to overcome the contemporary environmental challenges must be: participatory, decentralized, flexible, simple and clear, preventive, inducer of innovation, multi-instrumental, rigorous on enforcement, performance-based, planned and gradual, supported by adequate resources, measured and communicated, and reflexive. The expectation is that this quite simple set of principles, consolidated through scientific method application, can be used to both to evaluate existing regulatory programs and to design innovative environmental regulation.