Enforcement and compliance on environmental matters in the face of Brexit

Brexit is the most profound and politically important issue of the moment in the UK, with many implications across all sectors of society, the economy and the environment.

Enforcement is a lynchpin of environmental regulation. A gap will arise with the removal of the EU’s enforcement mechanisms and compliance arrangements. The Secretary of State has recently mooted the concept of a statutory enforcement body for the environment. Questions that arise are: What is the role of compliance in environmental governance? Is a statutory enforcement body the most efficient and effective response to the loss of the EU compliance mechanisms? What other solutions are possible? How can cases of non-compliance be brought? Join academics and post graduate researchers to discuss practice, theory and solutions for enforcement and compliance in environmental matters in the face of Brexit. 

Event outline: 

• Session 1: Theory - The role and purpose of compliance 
• Session 2: Practice - what happens now, barriers and issues 
• Session 3: Comparative studies and solutions (what are the options for the UK) 
• Session 4: Post-graduate researchers: reflections on enforcement and compliance 

Keynote speakers: UN SR Toxics Baskut Tuncak; Professor R G Lee (Birmingham)

Panelists: ChemTrust, Friends of the Earth, Environment Agency, Dr Aleks Cavoski (Birmingham)

Call for Papers 

We are delighted to invite submissions to participate in the postgraduate conference ‘Enforcement and Compliance on Environmental Matters in the Face of Brexit’. This one-day interdisciplinary conference aims to explore the implications of Brexit on the enforcement and compliance of environmental laws and policies in the UK. We invite contributions from PGR students that consider topics relevant to the above thematic sessions, especially regarding the enforcement and compliance questions. 

To apply, please submit an abstract of 500 words maximum. Paper presentations should be no more than 20 minutes long. The deadline for submissions is Friday 8 June 2018.

To submit an abstract, please send (i) an anonymous abstract in .doc or .pdf format, and (ii) a separate document containing author information (name, paper title, email address, affiliation) to Stefanos Xenofontos (sxx734@student.bham.ac.uk) 

All abstracts will be blind reviewed. Decisions will be announced by Monday 18 June 2018. 

Accepted speakers will be eligible to apply for a limited travel bursary. 

Funding requirements: All invoices/expenses to be claimed by the 13 July 2018. 

Registration

The conference is free to attend, and lunch and refreshments will be provided. Registration will officially close on 22 June 2018, and the conference is limited to 40 delegates. Please register early to avoid disappointment. 

To register to attend the conference, please visit our Eventbrite page. 

The event is facilitated by the Centre for Professional Legal Education and Research (CEPLER) of the University of Birmingham and generously funded by the Birmingham Law School.

The organising committee: Naomi Luhde-Thompson (NXL731@student.bham.ac.uk) and Stefanos Xenofontos (sxx734@student.bham.ac.uk), PhD Researchers (Law)