Compliance Assurance Through Company Compliance Management Systems

• Author: Paul Meerman and Martin De Bree
• Pages: 301-312

301

Chapter 10:

Compliance Assurance

Through Company Compliance

Management Systems

Paul Meerman* and Martin De Bree**

I. Introduction

In a densely populated country like the Netherlands with 20% of its area and

21% of its population located below sea level, pollution can be a direct

and

serious threat, making environmental regulation quite important. Since the

rst cases of soil contamination became apparent in t he 1970s, the

Nether-

lands has developed a framework of tight environmental legislation to ensure

a safe and

healthy environment.

is policy has been rather successful as a result of the work of public supervi-

sors in closely controlling all kinds of industrial activities that could harm the

environment. Today, environmental regulations have become quite numerous

and deta iled, and over 500 public bod ies play some role in environmental

regulation, making t he eld rather cluttered.

Public supervision of environmental regulation is facing several chal-

lenges. First, both regulatory compliance and the management of environ-

mental risk by industrial activities are relatively

poor in many circumstances.

e province of Noord-Brabant1 in the Netherlands is responsible for the

public supervision of

big industrial companies in terms of their compliance

with environmental legislation. e experience of

the Noord-Brabant is that

violations are found in one out of every three inspections.

is situation is especially challenging because public supervisors are fac-

ing serious budget cuts due to

economic harsh times whilst the society seems

1 e province of Noord-Brabant is a province of the Netherlands centrally positioned between the port

cities of Rotterdam and Antwerp and the German Ruhr area.

* Policymaker law enforcement, Direction Spatial Planning and Enforcement, Province of Noord-

Brabant, Brabantlaan 1, PO Box 90151, 5200 MC ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, p.meerman@

omwb.nl, www.brabant.nl/systeemtoezicht.

** Researcher/lecturer Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Managing

Director Next Step Management BV, mbree@rsm.nl / info@nextstepmanagement.nl.