ABSTRACT
Many countries have an ‘Environmental Protection Agency’ (EPA), such as Denmark, Ireland, Ghana, Guyana, Sweden and the US. The list becomes longer if one includes ‘Environment Agency’ or ‘Environmental Agency’. However, just because bodies in Denmark and Ireland have the same name does not mean that they do the same things. One issues environmental permits, the other does not. It is, therefore, important to remove one’s expectations, or one’s national experience, of environmental enforcement when considering how different countries approach the structures they establish for implementing environmental regulations. Indeed, later chapters on permitting, inspection, etc., will contain basic elements that are more familiar across different countries than the structures that implement them.
