Objectives:
Describes the roles of and interaction between a diverse range of regulatory tools currently used to deliver environmental policy goals in Australia. These are compared to regulatory best practice internationally. Examination of how the “next generation” of environmental regulation and policy tools can be designed both to bring laggards up to the basic legal standard and to reward and facilitate leaders in going “beyond compliance”.

Content:
Regulation is the most important single influence on corporate environmental behaviour and permeates all substantive areas of environmental law. This course examines the diverse range of instruments that currently make up the environmental policy-makers toolkit, and which shape environmental outcomes for both large and small business, including: (i) traditional regulatory instruments such as command and control regulation (ii) market based strategies such as pollution taxes and tradable permits (iii) ‘next generation’ approaches including information based regulation, environmental audit, environment management systems (including ISO 14001), regulatory flexibility initiatives, self and co-regulatory and voluntary agreements. It addresses both urban and rural issues. It shows why enterprises choose different strategies towards environmental regulation; why some increasingly choose to go "beyond compliance"; and how combinations of policy instruments can facilitate, encourage and reward sustainable business strategy and integrate environmental and economic performance. The course includes a variety of case studies and workshops, and is designed to complement LAWS8110.

A participant should be able:

• to identify the roles played by command and control regulation, market mechanisms, and a range of innovative alternatives, including informational regulation, co-regulation and economic instruments;
• to explore the role of voluntary, incentive-based and regulatory tools in regulating the behaviour of corporations; and
• to identify the core elements of best practice environmental regulation, the design principles necessary to achieve an optimal regulatory mix,  and strategies to achieve a regulatory reconfiguration best suited to the needs of public policy and civil society in the early 21st century.

Students must rely on the Approved Assessment which will be posted to the course homepage on the ANU Law website, prior to the commencement of the course.

LAWS8189 Fundamentals of Environmental Law (non-lawyers)