北村 喜宣

Violations of the Water Pollution Control Act are mostly dealt with thourgh informal instructions by local regulators. Several explanations are possible. First, violations of discharge standards are easily corrected. Second, more importantly, regulators would like to avoid using compliance orders to illegal dischargers because they fear that formal orders might deteriorate their relationship with regulated plants. Cooperative relationship would facilitate voluntary compliance with regulations and assure prompt corrections of violations. Third, since formal compliance orders are considered the last resort, which means that there is nothing to be done afterwards, regulators think that orders must be followed. Otherwise their prestige or authority might be affected. Therefore, when regulators expects resistance by violators, they will not issue orders and try to correct illegal discharge through informal instructions. Although in some governments formal orders are likely to be issued because the regulators tend to follow an enforcement manual, a gentle enforcement style is considered most efficient and effective from regulators' perspective.