On 11-12 October, the OECD Environment Directorate hosted a meeting of the governing body of the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE). The meeting participants decided on the agenda of a global conference which marks the 20th anniversary of this partnership.

A regular meeting of the Executive Planning Committee (EPC) of the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) was held on 11-12 October 2010 at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris, France. The EPC is the INECE’s governing body which sets the Network’s goals, activities, and multi-year work programme; reviews and approves work products developed under the auspices of the partnership; and catalyses and facilitates cooperation among related organisations and regional networks. The OECD is a member of INECE since its establishment and has contributed with several projects to its work programme implementation (see www.oecd.org/env/policies/compliance).

INECE is the only global network of government and non-government enforcement and compliance practitioners, with over 4,000 members from more than 150 countries. It is dedicated to raising awareness of compliance and enforcement, developing networks for enforcement cooperation, and strengthening capacity to implement and enforce environmental requirements.

The EPC meeting will gather more than twenty high-level members, including senior government officials from around the world and leaders from major international environmental institutions.

The discussion will focus on finalising the agenda for the 9th International Conference on Compliance and Enforcement, scheduled to be held in British Columbia, Canada, in June 2011, which will mark the 20th anniversary of the INECE partnership. Previously, INECE has organised eight high-profile international conferences, developed useful training materials and published issue-specific studies.

The meeting will also provide a forum for reviewing progress on INECE’s projects that address some of the most urgent issues facing environmental compliance and enforcement today, such as illegal trade in hazardous wastes or cost-effective strategies for initiating and expanding national programmes on monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) in greenhouse gas markets.

Attendance at the meeting is by invitation only. For more information, please contact the INECE Secretariat (inece@inece.org).