1. Introduction
This document represents the Italian National report on the research project “New Instruments for Sustainability – the contribution of voluntary agreements to environmental policy”. The report is divided into three sections.
· The first section inventories voluntary agreements in existence in Italy according to parameters indicated by the research project.
· The second section describes in general the role of voluntary agreements within the context of Italian environmental policies.
· The third section sets forth proposals for a more detailed analysis of those agreements deemed most significant.
It is necessary to make several remarks concerning the structure of the report, which at times deviates in some aspects from the general project outline.
With respect to the inventory of existing agreements, it is important to point out that in Italy there is no technical-scientific institution where all information of an environmental nature required for this research is available. Consequently, the approach to the inventory of existing agreements has mainly been empirical. First, we have prepared a list of subjects which presumably would have entered into voluntary agreements or at least would have had knowledge of such agreements. Secondly, we have attempted to contact these subjects to collect information for the drafting of the report. Sources contacted are:
· Environmental literature and magazines;
· Ministero dell’Ambiente (Ministry of Environment);
· Istituto studi regarding the Regions);
· Regione Lombardia Veneto, Emilia-Romagna (Lombardia, Veneto and Emilia Romagna Regions);
· Consorzio Nazionale Obbligatorio per il Riciclaggio di contenitori per liquidi in plastica (REPLASTIC); [National Compulsory Consortium for recycling of plastic containers (for liquids)];
· Associazioni ambientalisti (LEGAMBIENTE); (Environmental associations)
· Istituto per l’Ambiente, IEFE-Bocconi.
Information was gathered without the use of any organised filing system. It relies on the personal assistance of the individuals contacted. The inventory of agreements therefor might not be complete.
In Italian legal practice the distinction between binding and non-binding agreements it is not relevant because agreements never provide for judicial or arbitrational forms of control for implementation. They are therefore equivalent to “moral” rather than legal agreements, none of them is binding in the sense of enforceable.
A distinction can be made between agreements where parties undertake to obtain a certain objective of environmental policy (for example to limit the increase the average contents of gasoline in unleaded gasoline to a determined value), and agreements of a project nature, for example those entered into between Fiat and the Ministry of Environment.
2. Section I
2.1 Inventory of Existing Environmental Law Agreements in Italy
2.1.1 Overview
Negotiated Agreements
1 Frame Agreement dated June 22, 1995 for the return and recycling of dead lead batteries
2 Frame agreement dated June 22,1995 for the collection and the return of plastic liquid containers
3 Agreement dated July 15, 1993 between the Region Lombardia and Replastic
4 Agreement dated July 13, 1993 between the Region Veneto and Replastic
5 Agreement between the Region Campania and Replastic of 1995
6 Agreement of 1994 for the placement of plastic materials from waste collected and separated within the city
7 Agreement between the Region Lombardia and Consorzio Volontario Nazionale for return and recycling of paper and cardboard, promoted by Assocarta, Assografici and Unioncarta of January 25, 1996
8 Agreement between the Region Lombardia and Consorzio Volontario Nazionale for safeguarding quality in all production phases, use, regeneration and discharge of consumer material and accessories for information equipment and office appliances ( May 25, 1994)
9 Frame agreement for the collection and recycling of residues of March 29, 1995
10 Agreement to begin an experimental “door to door” service of collection and separation of paper in the municipalities of S.Donato and Borgo Panigale of the city Bologna and for the development and rationalization of the current forms of collection
11 Agreement for marketing and valorization of paper and cardboard
Agreements concerning the Management of Water Resources
12 Agreement on a programme to reduce water consumption and polluting loads from the dry cleaner industry of July 11, 1994
Agreements concerning the Reduction of Air Pollution
13 Reduction of benzene in unleaded petrol of July 12, 1989
14 Development and Environment of June 28, 1993
15 Development and Environment of June 28, 1993
16 Experimental project Falck for the recycling of refrigerators
17 Agreement between the chemistry and the dry cleaning on chloride solvents
18 Agreement between Fiat and the Ministry of Environment of 1989
19 Development and Environment of June 28, 1993
20 Development and Environment of June 28, 1993
21 Development and Environment of June 28, 1993
22 Agenda Coop for the Environment of March 29-31, 1995
Amicable Agreements
23 Ecological Hotel (in view of the Programme Blue Garda)
24 Ecological Hotel
25 Project Elbambiente
2.1.2 Negotiated Agreements
Agreements concerning the Management of Waste
Agreements entered into between obligatory national consortiums
(1) Name Frame Agreement dated June 22, 1995 for the return and recycling of dead lead batteries
Parties Involved Anci (Associazione Nazionale dei Comuni d’Italia)-Federambiente (Federazione dei servizi pubblici di igiene ambientale) – Assoambiente (Associazione Imprese servizi Ambientali which carry on environmental health services on the basis of a license) – Cobat (Consorzio Obbligatorio dead Lead Batteries and lead waste).
Environmental Problem Management of dangerous urban waste.
Goal (Commitment & Target) Recycling of dead batteries contained in solid urban waste or brought directly by individual citizens to the recycling centres.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Three years
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework The purpose of this agreement is to determine the maximum content of each single agreement which will be entered into between Cobat (or an entrusted waste collector) and the single municipality where the collection and separation of dead lead batteries is to be started up.
Monitoring The implementation of the agreement has been guaranteed and checked by a commission composed of eight members appointed by the parties.
(2) Name Frame agreement dated June 22,1995 for the collection and the return of plastic liquid containers
Parties Involved Replastic Anci-Federambiente – Assoambiente.
Environmental Problem Management of plastic waste.
Goal (Commitment & Target) The Municipalities start up systems for the collection and separation of plastic containers for liquids: the goal is to guarantee the attainment of a return of 2,4 kilo per head per year with less than 25% of foreign parts within the waste collected. The returns are to be recycled to promote energy recovery.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement.
Duration & Reason for Expiration Until December 31, 1997.
Legal Status Non-Binding.
Framework The purpose of this agreement is to determine the contents of the single implementing agreements which Replastic will enter into with Municipalities interested in starting the collection and separation of plastic liquid containers. This agreement renews and broadens the goal of the previous agreement of January 1993 which has expired
Monitoring Implementation of the agreement is checked and guaranteed by a special controlling commission composed of representatives appointed by both parties on the basis of control procedures set forth in the agreement itself.
(3) Name Agreement dated July 15, 1993 between the Region Lombardia and Replastic
Parties Involved Region Lombardia and Replastic
Environmental Problem Management of waste which contains plastic.
Goal (Commitment & Target) The municipalities of the Region Lombardia start up the collection and separation of waste: the objective is to collect at least 2 kilos of waste per year per individual served. Waste contains foreign parts of less than 15% of the total weight. The returns are to be recycled under Replastic’s control.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Without time limit, biennial verification
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework The Region Lombardia shall arrange at the expense of the Municipalities within 90 days from the date in which Regional Law 21/93 came into force start up of separate systems for the collection of plastic liquid containers. It shall do so by introducing adequate disincentives for other forms of waste collection and assignment.
Monitoring The Region Lombardia shall arrange at the expense of the Municipalities within 90 days from the date in which Regional Law 21/93 came into force start up of separate systems for the collection of plastic liquid containers. It shall do so by introducing adequate disincentives for other forms of waste collection and assignment.
(4) Name Agreement dated July 13, 1993 between the Region Veneto and Replastic
Parties Involved Region Veneto, Replastic
Environmental Problem Management of plastic waste
Goal (Commitment & Target) The Region aims to start up in the municipalities within its territory the collection and separation of plastic liquid bottles, in observance with the goals set forth in the frame agreement. Replastic collaborates with the town councillor for Ecological concerns to undertake projects for the separation and evaluation of the dry part of the waste.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Renewable after three years from lapse of the stipulation..
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework
Monitoring The Region Veneto introduces possible sanctions within the standard regulation for failure to use established collection systems for waste separation.
(5) Name Agreement between the Region Campania and Replastic of 1995
Parties Involved Region Campania and Replastic
Environmental Problem Management of plastic waste
Goal (Commitment & Target) Collection systems for waste are set up to recycle plastic bottles (for liquids)
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Without any time limit.
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework Implementation of the Frame Agreement dated 1995
Monitoring Establishment of a Co-ordination Commission to monitor the collection and separation of waste; the Commission is composed of the President of the Region, the Prefect of Naples, a representative from the Ministry of the Environment, and the Chairman of Replastic. The Commission meets at least once a month
(6) Name Agreement of 1994 for the placement of plastic materials from waste collected and separated within the city
Parties Involved Province of Bergamo, Replastic and Workers for waste returns
Environmental Problem Management of plastic waste
Goal (Commitment & Target) Improve the collection systems for the collection and separation of waste and the recycling of plastic bottles for both liquids and solids; assure coordinated management of the plastic materials contained in the solid urban waste collected; treatment of the same; and provide a means whereby [waste return] workers receive a determined quantity of returns.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Two years
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework Set up the provisions of the Frame Agreement of 1993 and Regional Law 21/1993 which assign to the Provinces coordinating tasks regarding the collection and separation of waste
Monitoring Final report on experience two years after entering into the agreement.
2.1.3 Other Agreements
(7) Name Agreement between the Region Lombardia and Consorzio Volontario Nazionale for return and recycling of paper and cardboard, promoted by Assocarta, Assografici and Unioncarta of January 25, 1996
Parties Involved Region Lombardia and COMIECO.
Environmental Problem Set up the collection and separation of paper waste.
Goal (Commitment & Target) Set up systems for the collection, separation, and recycling of paper within the Municipalities of the Region Lombardia. The goal is to collect at least 2,000,000 tons a year from house garbage and industrial or service industry waste. The amount of impurities is not to exceed 5% of the weight of the product.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Subject to re-negotiation after two years on the basis of the experience gained
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework Each of the parties agrees to start negotiations for an agreement with the Province which forms the implementation tool of the agreement. The provincial agreement, to be entered into by the municipalities, the recyclers and paper factories, with the co-ordination and the verification of the Provinces, will establish the actual means of commencing separation and collection in compliance with the contents of the agreement between the Region and Comieco.
Monitoring
(8) Name Agreement between the Region Lombardia and Consorzio Volontario Nazionale for safeguarding quality in all production phases, use, regeneration and discharge of consumer material and accessories for information equipment and office appliances ( May 25, 1994)
Parties Involved Region Lombardia and Consorzio Ecoqual’it
Environmental Problem Management of waste
Goal (Commitment & Target) Provide incentives for utilisation of office appliances of a certain quality and arrange for a system of waste collection of the exhausted materials (toner for printers and photocopiers etc.) to allow control over the proper discharge of this waste and if necessary to direct it to recovery.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Subject to re-negotiation after three years on the basis of experience gained
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework Entering into the agreement must be interpreted in light of Regional Law 21/93 which assigns to the Region the tasks of providing incentives and coordinating the market of recovery parts collected separately and treatment of the same, as well as the recycling of the materials
Monitoring Semestral report by Ecoqual’it
(9) Name Frame agreement for the collection and recycling of residues of March 29, 1995
Parties Involved Anci (Associazione nazionale dei comuni d’Italia)-Federambiente (Associazione Nazionale delle Aziende Municipalizzate which manage environmental and hygiene services) – Cic (Consorzio for the manufacture of fertilizer of controlled quality with low energy necessities)
Environmental Problem Waste Management
Goal (Commitment & Target) Starting up systems of separation of waste destined for treatment plants in order to make quality compost (the humid part of solid urban waste, remainders of wood-cellulose deriving from the maintenance of green landscaping, muds from purification of urban water residues, organic remainders from industrial activities and stock-farming.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Three years
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework This agreement aims to determine the contents of all implementing agreements which will be entered into by CIC and interested Municipalities to begin collection and separation of waste destined for compost manufacturing
Monitoring The implementation of the agreement is checked by a Commission composed of the contracting parties
(10) Name Agreement to begin an experimental “door to door” service of collection and separation of paper in the municipalities of S.Donato and Borgo Panigale of the city Bologna and for the development and rationalization of the current forms of collection
Parties Involved AMIU, Comieco and Ditta Olga Fini from Bologna
Environmental Problem Management of paper waste
Goal (Commitment & Target) Develop and rationalize collection and separation of waste already in existence by beginning a “door to door” service
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration One year
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework
Monitoring The parties agree to meet periodically to verify development of the project
(11) Name Agreement for marketing and valorization of paper and cardboard
Parties Involved AMIU, Comieco and Ditta Olga Fini from Bologna
Environmental Problem Management of paper waste
Goal (Commitment & Target) Develop and rationalise waste collection and separation already in existence by beginning a “door to door” service
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration One year
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework
Monitoring The parties agree to meet periodically to verify development of the project
2.1.4 Agreements concerning the Management of Water Resources
(12) Name Agreement on a programme to reduce water consumption and polluting loads from the dry cleaner industry of July 11, 1994
Parties Involved Region Emilia Romagna, Province of Modena, Municipality of Carpi, Associazione Industriali di Modena, Associazione small industries of Modena, Filtea CGIL, Filtea CISL, Uilta UIL and 15 dry cleaner firms from the neighborhood
Environmental Problem Reduction of industrial water pollution and consumption
Goal (Commitment & Target) Improve and rationalize the production cycles of textile industries of the zone, adopt a centralised treatment service with the municipality’s water conditioner to obtain water adequate for re-use in the industrial sector, develop a water system to supply recycled water to the companies, construct separated sewers for the companies, possible delocalisation S: ?of the companies concerned.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Not mentioned
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework The companies undertake to finance construction of infrastructure with a contribution in proportion to the quantity of water they used the preceding year. Furthermore, they undertake take not less than 60% of water requirements from the future industrial water system. The local entities commit, each according to their own competences, to develop infrastructure set forth in the project by applying successively advantageous tariffs for the use of water to the financing companies.
Monitoring
2.1.5 Agreements concerning the Reduction of Air Pollution
(13) Name Reduction of benzene in unleaded petrol of July 12, 1989
Parties Involved Ministry of Industry and Commerce , Ministry of Environment, Sector Agip Petroli and the Unione Petrolifera
Environmental Problem Reduction of emissions of lead into the environment and creation of incentives to use catalytic exhaust pipes on cars
Goal (Commitment & Target) Limit the average yearly increase of benzene in unleaded petrol introduced into the domestic market to 0,6 % with regard to the current average contents of benzene in the ethylic petrol assessed at 3,2% in volume.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Not mentioned
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework The Agreement has been replaced by a new agreement of October 29, 1992 which not only extended application to the whole national territory and to all kinds of petrol on the Italian market but also anticipated the contents of the European directive on the contents of sulfur in fuel.
Monitoring Commission of verification composed of members appointed by the parties
(14) Name Development and Environment of June 28, 1993
Parties Involved Fiat and Ministry of Environment
Environmental Problem Reduction of automotive emissions into the air.
Goal (Commitment & Target) Begin research projects aimed at developing better fuel quality, develop more sophisticated catalytic devices, direct injection and diesel, design of busses which run on methane and hybrids.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Not mentioned
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework
Monitoring
(15) Name Development and Environment of June 28, 1993.
Parties Involved Fiat and Ministry of Environment
Environmental Problem Reduction of environmental impact of traffic in the urban areas
Goal (Commitment & Target) Begin research-pilot projects in Municipalities of the national territory aimed at improving urban mobility and environmental protection
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Not mentioned
Legal Status
Framework Agreement on the programme
Monitoring
(16) Name Experimental project Falck for the recycling of refrigerators
Parties Involved Falck S.p.A and Azienda municipalizzata of Piacenza
Environmental Problem Reduction of air pollution by CFC
Goal (Commitment & Target) Recovery of CFC and valuation of refrigeration materials which can be re-used in new production cycles.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration From October 1 1996 to March 31 1997 with the possibility of continuing the collaboration
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework
Monitoring Upon termination of the experiments the parties assess the possibility of continuing collaboration
(17) Name Agreement between the chemistry and the dry cleaning on chloride solvents
Parties Involved Associazione italiana dry clean and cleaner ‘s shop, Federazione Nazionale Pulintintilavanderi Artigiane, confederazione libere associazioni artigiane italiane e Federchimica Assobase
Environmental Problem Air pollution by chloride solvents and pollution due to the discharge of waste generated by their use
Goal (Commitment & Target) Reduction of air pollution by CFC without least S: please check1/3 of the emissions of chloride solvents and elimination of the abusive discharge of waste containing chloride solvents
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Amicable agreement between industrial associations
Duration & Reason for Expiration Three years
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework
Monitoring Annual report on the progress of the project by each contracting party
(18) Name Agreement between Fiat and the Ministry of Environment of 1989
Parties Involved Ministry of Environment and Fiat
Environmental Problem Reduction of air and noise pollution
Goal (Commitment & Target) Setting up of research programs in the vehicle sector and environmental monitoring; starting up campaigns to encourage the use of cars equipped with catalytic exhaust pipes; have Fiat put its own techniques at the disposal of the Ministry of Environment and its own environmental data for the realization of a environmental monitoring system.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Negotiated Agreement (letter of intent)
Duration & Reason for Expiration Not mentioned
Legal Status Non- Binding
Framework
Monitoring Undertaking by the Ministry of Environment to create a national information system for the environment in order to survey the parameters of noise and air pollution
2.1.6 Self Obligation Programmes
(19) Name Development and Environment of June 28, 1993
Parties Involved Fiat and Ministry of Environment (for their information)
Environmental Problem Recycling of old cars to be disposed (Fiat car recycling System of 1992)
Goal (Commitment & Target) Drafting of research projects in order to propose the extension of the system at a national level, given the lack of legislation on car destruction/wrecking.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Self-obligation
Duration & Reason for Expiration Not mentioned
Legal Status
Framework
Monitoring
(20) Name Development and Environment of June 28, 1993
Parties Involved Fiat and Ministry of Environment (for their information)
Environmental Problem Environmental Management
Goal (Commitment & Target) Extension of the environmental management system to all the plants of the group.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Self-obligation
Duration & Reason for Expiration Not mentioned
Legal Status
Framework Voluntary experimentation on the EC regulation relating to the eco-audit
Monitoring
(21) Name Development and Environment of June 28, 1993
Parties Involved Fiat and Ministry of Environment
Environmental Problem Treatment of the remainders of industrial processing (Fenice system)
Goal (Commitment & Target) Maximum use of clean technologies within the plants of the group to recover and recycle remainders and reduce the at a physiological levelS: please check quantities of remainders to be sent to landfills; attain maximum control over all phases of discharge of waste produced by the plants of the group.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Self-obligation
Duration & Reason for Expiration
Legal Status
Framework
Monitoring
(22) Name Agenda Coop for the Environment of March 29-31, 1995
Parties Involved Coop
Environmental Problem Safeguard of the environment in general
Goal (Commitment & Target) Observance of the principles of behavior set forth in the action programme in order to attain environmental efficiency and promote behavioral changes in consumers.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Self-obligation
Duration & Reason for Expiration Unlimited
Legal Status
Framework
Monitoring
2.1.7 Amicable Agreements
(23) Name Ecological Hotel (in view of the Programme Blue Garda)
Parties Involved Unione gardesana of Veronese hoteliers and Lega ambiente Sezione di Verona
Environmental Problem Improvement of the environmental quality and reduction of the pollution of the Garda lake caused by tourism.
Goal (Commitment & Target) Propose an eco-friendly tourism in the Garda lake area through reduction of the current and potential impact of tourism on the environment, create forms which safeguard the environment, and teach the consumer consciousness and respect for places and persons.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Neighbourhood agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Unlimited starting from 1996
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework
Monitoring A commission established pursuant to the agreement evaluates the results obtained by the contracting hoteliers. The evaluation is conducted on the basis of those requirements selected by each hotelier. After the evaluation, a list indicating the best environmental performance through assignment of marks, is drafted.
(24) Name Ecological Hotel
Parties Involved Movimento consumatori Veneto, Unione regionale albergatori del Veneto, Legambiente Veneto
Environmental Problem Reduction of the pollution on the territory
Goal (Commitment & Target) Safeguard of the Environment and human beings through evaluation and reduction of the current and potential impact of tourism on health and the environment by the use of environmental protection techniques and environmental education of tourists.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Neighbourhood agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Unlimited starting from 1995
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework
Monitoring A commission composed of a representative of Legambiente, a representative of the Consumer Movement Veneto, a representative of the Associazione Jesolana albergatori checks whether the requirements for participation to the programme exist in the period in which the fiscal year opens.
(25) Name Project Elbambiente
Parties Involved Associazione albergatori dell’ Isola d’Elba and Legambiente (Isola d’Elba section)
Environmental Problem Reduction of pollution of the sea and prevention of forest fires
Goal (Commitment & Target) Pursue a policy of environmental protection; evaluate the current and potential impact of their hotel activities on the health of their employees, their clients, and the public and on the environment in general so as to reduce the negative effects of hotel activities on the territory of the island.
Counterperformance
Type of Agreement Neighbourhood agreement
Duration & Reason for Expiration Starting from 1994
Legal Status Non-Binding
Framework
Monitoring A mechanism which allows through a “green” mark system to quantify the measures adopted by each hotelier has been introduced so as to attain the goals of the agreement and to provide incentives for competition among the participating parties to realise the best environmental performance.
3. Section II
3.1 Brief History of Environmental Agreements Entered into Voluntary in Italy
The environmental agreements entered into voluntarily represent a new phenomenon for the Italian legal system. The first of these agreements date back to the late eighties. Then large private companies such as Fiat or Agip Petroli and the Ministry of Environment were parties to the agreements. The parties to these agreements called them “project agreements” or “protocol of agreements” or simply “agreements”. Because collaboration between the parties created by these agreements derives from practice and not by reference to any law currently in force, it is difficult to determine the legal nature of the agreements and their efficacy . The name given to these agreements by the parties themselves reflects these uncertainties, since all voluntary agreements entered into in Italy from the late eighties to the present may be interpreted as general expressions of the wish of the parties to undertake, even if in a non binding manner, activities with regard to the environment. For this reason none of the agreements inventoried in part 1 above provides for any legal consequences in case of non fulfilment by one of the parties of the undertakings agreed upon.
Because of the absence of any theoretical elaboration, it is very difficult to trace an historical framework of the agreements entered into in Italy. Development has had an episodic character and for many reasons is still experimental. Thus even distinctions among negotiated agreements, amicable agreements and agreements which provide for forms of auto-obligation of the companies are useful to classify voluntary agreements, but not to understand their development.
On the other hand, that in 1988 the Italian Legislature set up the Consorzi Obbligatori for recycling is extremely important for the purposes of analysing the evolution of the various forms of voluntary environmental agreements. So-called environmental regulatory programs have been experimented with, and herein the voluntary agreement between interested parties has played an important role. The regulatory programme provides for the involvement, on the basis of a legislative provision, of a sector of companies in order to attain a determined environmental goal. That goal in Italy involved the reduction of the removal of dumped waste of certain types. The regulatory programme is thus somewhere between the legislative regulation and the co-operative form: the negotiated form of the voluntary agreement specifically rules the transition phase from legislative regulation to voluntary collaboration (see infra for more details).
Only very recently, with the new Legislative Decree No.22 of 1997 (Decreto Ronchi), the instrument of voluntary agreement has been introduced formally in the field of waste management, in a broader implementation of EC Directives 91/556, 91/689 and 94/62.
Approximately 25% of inventoried agreements have been entered into as a consequence of a regulatory legislative programme; approximately another 25% concern the waste sector; and the remaining 50% of the agreements cover air pollution (25%),water pollution (one agreement), self-obligation programs of the agreements (4 agreements) and amicable agreements between NGOs and commercial sectors (3 agreements).
3.2 The Significance of Voluntary Agreements in the Context of Domestic Environmental Politics
The strategy of collaboration among economic and social entities in environmental management , wherein voluntary agreements act as an implementation tool, is very often aimed at integrating (and in few cases replacing) more traditional public administration law with negotiated forms of action, mainly ruled by private law. The phenomena which are analysed in relation to this trend – agreements on programs, service conferences and more recently the procedural agreements pursuant to Law No. 241 of 1990 – refer, however, to the conduct of public administration which only partly may be compatible with or consistent with voluntary agreements. The mentioned phenomena highlight co-operative forms of conduct; they require therefore more efficient communication between administrators or between the public administration and the private subjects interested in establishing the measures.
Moreover, measures exclusively concern
· reorganisation and simplification of relationships between offices of public administration dealing in administrative procedure ( this is the case with service conferences and agreements on programs which remain internal documents of the public administration) or
· matters explicitly excluded ex lege when there are environmental interests involved in the proceedings (see L. 241/1990).
Furthermore, the main difference between these instruments and voluntary agreements is that the former deal with activities which are specifically set forth in the legislation. This situation at least partially determines the field of application and its legal efficacy.
None of this applies to voluntary agreements which are implementation tools which came into existence from practice. Their development preceded creation of a theoretical framework and this situation created uncertainties about legal status. With regard to applicability, it is fundamental to point out that as instruments for intervening in environmental matters, to be valid voluntary agreements must not conflict with mandatory rules.
Moreover, the majority of obligations imposed by environmental law in Italy is accompanied by a penal sanction. Penal action is mandatory: criminal law related to the environment is composed of mandatory rules. This requirement limits the applicability of voluntary agreements considerably; they may only guarantee implementation of legislation. They cannot autonomously establish environmental goals different from those pursued by legislation.
We must also add that Italy is an administrative law state: public administration, guided by the principle of legality, is driven by proceedings. For example, for an authorisation, which is among the most important management instruments for safeguarding the environment, the public administration may introduce provisions which broaden the typical contents of the administrative measure which the authority pursued to conduct the administrated activity. Administration does this while confirming the structure and the manner in which it operates through limiting or integrating the actual permissive force of the measure. Moreover, these measures, which are often “negotiated” between the private entity and the public administration strongly influence the freedom of business. And, on the basis of the principle of strict legality, measures must be predetermined generally and abstractly by the state legislator.
Thus the potential to use voluntary agreements as instruments to attain broader environmental goals or to achieve something different from mere application of existing legislation is very limited.
These first considerations on the role of the voluntary agreements explain why approximately 50% of existing agreements concern discharge of urban waste. More precisely they aim to create systems for the collection and separation of waste destined for recycling. This specific political choice in fact involves beginning regulatory programs in the form of mandatory collaboration. The voluntary agreement is the tool which allowed initiation of the programme. It has filled in legislative gaps regarding practical organisation of the service.
In 1982, Presidential Decree No. 915 provided that the Municipalities are obliged to act in the discharge of urban waste and related activities, with the exclusive jurisdiction over it. Municipalities carry on this public service directly or through municipal companies (now special companies) or through licenses to entities or specialized companies, authorized by the Regions.
In 1988, Law No. 475 specified that the Municipalities had to carry out the service relating to the collection of solid urban waste in a manner which assures the separate collection, repeating a provision already set forth in Law 441/1987 and largely disregarded. The same law, in order to guarantee the implementation of the provision, sets up the Consorzi Nazionali Obbligetori per il Riciclaggio ( Recycling National Obligatory Consortia) for cans or packaging for liquids in glass, metal and plastic and exhausted leaden batteries and waste containing lead. This provision has the function to directly involve the manufacturers and the importers of these materials in the realisation of the programme to reduce the quantity of waste to be destined to the landfill. The law itself, by setting up the Consorzio Obbligatorio, to which it assign legal status of private law, pointed out the subjects compelled to participate to it, established the purposes, with the exclusion of profit purposes, the objects and the organisational model, leaving to the Government the task to draft, or in some cases, to approve the standard by-laws.
The Consorzi Obbligatori have to enter into proper conventions (agreements) with the Municipalities, the Municipalised Companies or the Assignees of the Public Service, to determine the technical and economical manners of the collection, the temporary storage, the transfer etc.
There is thus a legal obligation for the Municipalities to start up systems for the collection and separation of waste to be destined to recycling through the Consorzi Nazionali Obbligatori, on the other hand, also the manufacturers or importers of determined materials have the legal obligation to participate to the recycling programme through the mandatory association to the Consorzio Obbligatorio: the kind of conventions entered into between Municipalities and Consorzi for the implementation of the programme decisively lacks the voluntary character and remains therefore outside the scope of our research.
Therefore, on the basis of the action programme traced by the law, this kind of waste becomes subject-matter of a private negotiation and is transferred to an entity which works according to the principles of private law with the purpose to recycle. As a result, at the moment at which the waste comes into possession of the Consorzio, which has the obligation pursuant to its by-laws to recycle it or to transfer it to an entity which will arrange for the recycling, the good in question may not be classified as waste anymore, for its nature destined to discharge, but has again to be considered as economic good, subject to exchanges. The law does not take into consideration this aspect of the way of functioning of the recycling Consorzio and this creates uncertainties between the parties in the division of the technical and economical burdens deriving from the implementation of the programme.
The voluntary agreements entered into by the Consorzi Obbligatori have exactly the purpose to regulate the matters in this transitory phase; phase in which the waste, as a consequence of the change in its nature, does not fall anymore within the scope of the municipality agreement and enters again into the market. The stipulation of the so-called frame agreements between the representatives of municipalities and public services and the Consorzi Obbligatori for the discharge of solid urban waste, has become necessary since the governing act with which the contents of the single implementation agreements relative to the programme should have been made clear, has not been in the position to supply clarifications on this point. In this sense the voluntary agreement is voluntary, not only because the parties which enter into it undertake contractually to attain a certain goal with regard to environmental politics, but also because the parties which are bound ex lege to behave in a certain way fill in the gaps in the Legislation with a contractual deed.
Another relevant characteristic of the agreements entered into by the Consorzi Obbligatori concerns the fact that, generally, there are various voluntary agreements entered into with different application levels (state, regional, provincial) which comply with the division of the legislative competence on the discharge of solid urban waste.
For example, the agreements entered into between REPLASTIC are characteristic because of the fact that, at a first operating level, a regulatory agreement with national representatives of ‘the parties interested in the stipulation of the agreements indicated by the law is entered into (the agreements entered into between Associazione Nazionale dei Comuni d’Italia, with the Federazione Nazionale delle imprese esercenti pubblici servizi ambientali on the basis of assignees with Federazione Nazionale delle aziende municipalizzate which carry on environmental services). This agreement can be qualified as frame agreement, since it defines the legal framework within which the single obligatory convention between Consorzio and Municipality have to be entered into, the ways in which the service has to be started up, the quality of the materials collected, the place where the returns are piled up and it specifies at least which economic burdens remain at the expense of the parties. On the basis of this agreement, both parties undertake to arrange for the negotiations with their own representatives so as to enter into each single convention provided for by the law.
The putting into the legal form of a sole general document with the terms of the negotiations, in addition to resolving consensually the uncertainties which derive from the law text, allows that the re-negotiation of the contractual conditions with every single public service related to the collection of solid urban waste is avoided, so that the parties to the national organisations are bound by the contents of the frame agreement which becomes a kind of collective agreement.
On the other hand, in the Italian system, Regions have legislative competence in matters concerning waste and, more precisely, the state frame law establishes that the Regions have to regulate the collection and separation of waste in such a manner as to supply adequate co-ordination and incentivation of the activities of the Municipalities.
Voluntary agreements entered into with the Regions or the Provinces, with limited territorial application, make it still more easier to enter into the agreement indicated by the law, since they take into account the differences in the Legislation system of the sector due to the assignment of legislative competences to sub-state territorial entities such as the Regions.
The agreements with the Regions are in general of programmatic nature and have the function to establish the expiration also legally of the interventions, necessary for the implementation of the legislative programme. The agreements entered into with the Provinces exist for the same reasons: the law provides that the Regions may delegate administrative competences in environmental matters, thus neither for these entities the regulatory situation is uniform on the whole national territory; the provincial agreement guarantees more flexibility to the Consorzio Nazionale.
National Law Region
voluntary agreement
Municipality obligatory convention National Consortium
for Recycling
voluntary agreement (frame agreement
for the stipulation of the obligatory convention)
ANCI or Federambiente
Within the context of a co-operative regulatory programme the function of the voluntary agreement is thus limited to the organisation of the legislative programme related to the collection and separation of waste destined to recycling; the goal of environmental politics which is obtained through the agreement actually derives from a mandatory legislative provision. Also the public-private collaboration is imposed by the law, through the setting up of the Consorzio Obbligatorio: Thus it does not seem very correct to define the voluntary agreements in this sector as tools for environmental politics, since the programmatic function and the setting of priorities in the intervention remains the competence of the law, whereas the agreement is the means through which the wish of the legislator is expressed. This consideration is also valid, at least partially, in the event that the collaboration between private entities operating in the same production sector and interested in recycling certain waste can be entirely based on a deed of autonomous negotiation: the modus operandi of the Consorzi Obbligatori in the setting up of systems of separable waste seems to be the model on which the agreements entered into by the Consorzi Volontari of collectors or recyclers of specific waste are based (Consorzio Italiano Compositori, consorzi for the recycling of paper, glass etc.). In fact, also in these cases the function of the voluntary agreement, also called frame agreement between the parties, is to regulate the grey area in which the transition takes place from waste, subject to the municipality agreements, and destined to discharge by the 1aw, to good subject to be re-instated into the economic market. Also in the case of these agreements the goal related to environmental politics pursued by the parties is entirely determined by the law, even if in these cases the Co-operation is the consequence of an autonomous decision of the subjects which reunite themselves in a consortium.
In the sector of the collection and separation of waste just one, among those inventoried (Consorzio Ecoqualit – region Lombardia) which differs from the above model, since it has set an autonomous goal for the environmental policy, consists of anticipating the implementation of the EC Directive on waste of 1991, not completely implemented in the legal system yet. This agreement has the form of a programmatic agreement so that its legal efficacy is very doubtful.
The new Decree No.22 of 5/2/1997 introduces a new order for the whole waste management system. The national Consorzi are going to slowly give place to a Superconsortium (CONAI), obligatory as well, to be establish between producers and users of all kinds of packaging. This agency will overlook all recycling activities and will superintend the duty of various different sector-based consortia. The Decree also introduces new roles for Municipalities, Provinces and Regions, and in particular gives them the power to undertake agreements with public and private bodies (article 2). In particular, in article 25, the tool of the agreement in general is formally accredited as an instrument of co-operation between public administration and other subjects. The expression “contract” is used along with that of “agreement”; the parties are described at a national level as public and private entities; and a list of applications of the agreement in the field of waste management and recovery is included. The implementation of the Decree is still on its way, no agreement of those listed in article 25 has yet been concluded but it is still an important formal acknowledgement of this tool in environmental policy although no mention is made of a binding legal effect on the parties.
Also in an analysis with a broader perspective, not limited to a sole sector of waste management, the voluntary agreement anyhow fulfils a marginal role in establishing interventions related to environmental politics. In the first place, the number of voluntary agreements in other sectors (air and water) is clearly less; in the second place, the tool of the voluntary agreements in these matters replaces the intervention based on the model command & control either in the event that the emergency of the environmental problem to be faced cannot wait for the Legislation ad hoc, either in the event that, in order to encourage the issuance of a specific legislative deed, it is necessary to proceed with research and development. In the first case, the agreement thus never sets long term goals and in this sense it can not be considered as tool for environmental politics but rather a tool for the handling of an emergency, in the second case which includes all the programmatic agreements similar to the ones entered into between Fiat and the Ministry of Environment, the voluntary agreement contains general undertakings for research, experiments of new technologies and improvements of the technologies in existence in a certain production sector, undertakings which lack monitoring tools so as to guarantee the implementation of the actual undertaking by the parties of the agreement.
For short, we can state that in Italy the tool of the voluntary agreement is hardly ever used autonomously, as source of negotiation of specific obligations for the parties different and/or additional in comparison to those set forth by the law. The auxiliary function of the voluntary agreement depends, as stated before, on reasons inherent to the specific Italian law system but also on considerations which concern specifically the way in which the entire environmental politics is managed. It is the actual management of environmental politics by the legislator which seems to prevent that, also in the fields in which the voluntary agreements might operate, those advantages are reached which are theoretically associated with the stipulation of voluntary agreements.
3.3 The Main Reasons for Entering (or not) into a Voluntary Agreement
The theoretical debate in course on the voluntary agreements defines, among reasons which advise to adopt such agreements on a large scale, the following advantages:
· for the Public Administration: the overcoming of an excessive uncertain situation regarding the effects of the regulation in a new application field; more efficient assignments of the co-operative solutions, more efficacy, quicker attainment of the public policy goals more quickly and at lower costs, a major consent from the industrial sector;
· for the Companies: more flexibility with regard to the terms and expenses for the achievement of the objectives, an improvement of their image and their competitive position, also through the definition of innovative technological situations.
As far as the prescribed programs and the agreements entered into by the Voluntary Consortia for recycling are concerned, it seems that some of the advantages which are theoretically associated with the stipulation of voluntary agreements may also be achieved and that there exists, therefore, an actual interest for those whom the law has inserted in the regulatory programme on the stipulation of the voluntary agreement.
The gaps in the Legislation which characterised the means provided for by the legislator for the starting-up of differentiated waste collection exercised a strong influence and have actually been filled in by the “frame agreements”.
The flexibility of the means and its adaptability to various legislative situations have also allowed to attain at least partially the goal set by the legislator, at least partially, that is to say, the starting-up of the collection and separation of waste in some Italian Regions. With respect to other theoretically achievable advantages through voluntary agreements, the practical experience gained to date does not allow us to be particularly optimist, neither as far as the agreements related to the differentiated collection of waste are concerned, nor the agreements entered into in other environmental sectors.
The presupposition on which the above theoretical affirmations is based, implies in the first place that there actually exists an environmental policy to be followed, that is to say, that there must at least be a minimum of agreement between governors and governed, upon the idea that respect and valorisation of the environment, and thus the quality of the progress, equals to social progress. The situation of the Italian environmental policy seems, however, to be in contrast with this fundamental assertion.
The distinguishing feature of the environmental Italian Legislation consists of the fact that there is an absolute supremacy of rules inspired by the EU in comparison with national rules.
Even in other European countries the situation is analogous, but that which characterises the Italian experience is the fact that the EC directives constitute in General the sole channel for updating environmental Legislation in Italy. The autonomous issuance of environmental laws specifically directed at specific Italian situations is practically non-existent. As a result there are several important consequences:
· Several subject areas such as administrative organisation and geographical layout, which have a great relevancy for the purposes of environmental politics, enjoy exclusive jurisdiction of the member states. The EC’s approach towards environmental matters cannot be other than sectorial, whereas it would be the duty of the national environmental politics through the intervention in these areas, to supply the same reference framework for the functioning of the public administration and the companies.
· The EU policy usually tends to be a compromise which does thus not necessarily have to privilege the more advanced experiences of environmental safeguard and moreover tends to develop on European scale proposals already experienced and realised in other countries, which are not always apt for specific Italian environmental problems.
The environmental EU policy is thus useful to sustain and strengthen the national policies but alone it is not in a position to replace them because it is not able to supply a General reference frame to the administration. Furthermore, the issuance of national environmental provisions rarely derive from the Houses of Parliament: most of the acts related to the environment are enacted by the Government with the consequences that:
· The provisions are approved without opening the debate to the participation or knowledge of the general public so that it always results very difficult to reconstruct the rationale of most environmental provisions;
· Decrees and regulations or administrative deeds of general application can neither modify the organisational division of the competences, nor contain new provisions regarding the expenses. Most of the Italian legislative production on environment has an emergency character and comes into existence in turbulent emotive situations and as a consequence of the pressure of the public opinion; it deals thus with Legislation which tends to containing rather than preventing the effects, without valuating the costs and benefits or the efficacy in economical terms of the measure.
The general line of the economical policy leaves completely aside and is indifferent and contradictory with regard to the obligations, the necessities and the possibilities of defence and development of the environment. The environmental policy is mainly considered as external, peripheral and sectorial in comparison with the production and consumer processes. Environmental conflicts are usually solved in emergency and act as political pressure mainly at a local level in the final decisional phase, above all, in relation to the location of the plants and the priority of the interventions. The attention and pressure on strategic subject-matters receive much less attention and as a consequence a large part of the public administration and the private entities are unable to carry out programmatic functions with regards to environmental goods. An environmental policy pursued in this way has noxious consequences on the Legislation, which appears unclear and contradictory even to the judges who have to assure the compulsory application thereof. On one hand The legal uncertainties which govern the matter, on one hand expose the companies to the risk of continuous case law, which involve huge expenses both in economic terms and in terms of efficiency, and on the other hand paralyse the functioning of the public administration which is continuously sued in court by the addressees of its measures.
The companies are not motivated to enter into binding voluntary agreements since in the Italian system, this would mean lay more burdens and fulfilments, through auto-obligations on the companies in addition to the ones provided for by the law, given the incapacity, at least, in General, of the voluntary agreement to be replaced by a mandatory rule. From this point of view it is more advantageous, at least in terms of image, to enter into programmatic agreements which at least show to an outsider the wish of the company to take environmental problems seriously. In this sense, however, the voluntary agreements do not satisfy the wishes of the environmental associations, which are considered only as an attraction without actual efficacy in terms of government of the environment. On the other hand, the public administration is willing to protect the environmental interests set forth by the law, bound by the forms of the administrative procedures, and does not have other means available which assure the observance of the agreements entered into by the companies and it is improbable that they renounce from using the mandatory administrative measure.
3.4 Relationships with other Tools of Environmental Policy
As a consequence of scarce information with regard to the specific political circumstances which have lead to the stipulation of the agreements in existence in Italy, it is very difficult to evaluate in which way this tool relates to other means for environmental policy.
In general, it is possible to state that the environmental policy is mainly based on criteria of programmation of the public intervention linked with goals related to the quality of the environment in Italy to be achieved within expirations pre-established by the law. The implementation tool used mainly consists of the determination of the standards and the provision of checks, also through authorisations. As stated before, as a rule the non-observance of the legislative standards is sanctioned criminally. For this reason the relation between the voluntary agreements and the traditional approach based on the model of command & control is thus of subordinate nature, that is to say, the environmental agreement in general does not have the force to replace the Legislation if force but it may at the most guarantee its application through an integration of said Legislation. For this reason, it is thus not possible to evaluate whether the stipulation of a voluntary agreement is actually preferable or not in terms of economical efficiency or environmental performance in comparison with a legislative approach.
As far as the relations between voluntary agreements and economical tools of environmental policy are concerned, such as incentives and environmental taxes, it is necessary to assume that the first actual environmental tax, the so-called tax on the discharge which has the specific function to discourage the discharge of the waste into the landfill, was only introduced in 1996: it is thus still too early to evaluate the impact of this measure on the course of the collection and separation of waste and on the voluntary agreements in general. The relation between the voluntary agreements and economic incentives deserves a more detailed analysis. For example, the agreement between AGIP Petroli and the Ministry of Environment has been negotiated between the parties with the presumption that a governmental measure would be issued which defiscalises unleaded fuel. The connection between the measure aiming at incentivating the use of unleaded fuel, negotiated informally between the parties, and the voluntary agreement means in other words a Condition precedent of the efficacy of the agreement.
In the same manner, in the case of the agreement Carpi relative to the reduction of water consumption for industrial use, agreement on the positions of the counter parties has been realised through the determination of the formal undertaking of the administration managing the aqueduct to apply advantageous tariffs for the use of water to companies which have participated to the financing of the programme of interventions set forth in the agreement. Also with regard to the functioning of the Consorzi Obligatori, the negotiation on participation to the economic burdens deriving from the realisation of the regulatory programme has been of crucial importance for the coming into existence of the agreement. In fact the law regulating the consortia introduces, at the expenses of the manufacturers and importers of the materials used for the activities of the consortium, a contribution for due financing of the recycling. The service of solid urban waste collection is a public service subject to private agreements with the Municipality; the users owe a tax for this service of discharge of solid urban waste. The expenses deriving from the starting up of a collection and separation fall thus within the competence of the public service. Law 475/1988, by establishing that the returns of the collection and separation are entrusted to the Consorzio Obbligatorio which arranges for the recycling, has not set forth whether the consortia are also obliged to acknowledge a compensation to the supplier of this public service. This gap in the said Legislation has for years prevented the actual realisation of the legislative programme. Only at the moment at which the Consortia agreed to pay a compensation to the suppliers of the public service related to waste collection for the services rendered, by using the financial means deriving from the recycling tax, the deadlock which prevented the realisation of the programme had overcome, that is to say, that the cost of the collection and separation was too high to entirely on the balance sheets of the municipalities. It seems therefore, at least in these cases, that the entering into voluntary agreements actually aiming at environmental interventions (the examples quoted are, in fact, not limited to the forecast of general undertakings for research and development but determine the actual performance of a series of punctual interventions) seems facilitated by the provision of specific forms of economic incentivations which encourage behaving in line with the agreement. However, in any event, however, it is worth mentioning that the use of voluntary agreements is, in general more successful in cases where the environmental situation is very bad or there is a risk for a quick deterioration. As a consequence, it is not easy to establish in how far the economic incentive is responsible for the success of the agreement, since it improves the efficiency in allocation or whether the provision regarding the incentive itself is the consequence of a choice made in an emergency situation, and as such scarcely balanced from an actual economic point of view and a cost-benefit analysis.
3.5 The Social Acceptance of Voluntary Agreements
The voluntary agreements as a tool were recently introduced in Italy and mainly used beyond any specific legislative provision. Generally speaking, their existence is thus unknown to the general public, as well as to the persons working in the sector. The drafting of this report has, in fact, met remarkable difficulties in the research phase and the selection of the material: in the first place there is no scientific structure at which one can find all information regarding the environment (the agencies for the environment are still in the organisational phase even if they have been provided for by law), in the second place the contacted public entities do not have a filing system which would make it somewhat easier to find the relevant material (although the right of access to environmental information is set forth by the law): it happens thus very often that persons who have now retired have managed the various relevant matters, with loss of a great deal of relevant information. The concerned companies are not always willing to supply information on the agreements, especially if the requests were made long after the entering into the agreements and the scientific analysis was thus not interesting anymore from a publicity point of view. In some cases the reluctance of the contracting companies to reveal the contents of the agreements had the purpose to conceal the incapacity to reach the pre-set goals.
However, in order to assess the degree of social acceptance of the voluntary agreements in Italy, it is useful to analyse the reactions of the various social parties. The public administration has probably been the one which most of all had to change its way of acting: the voluntary agreement pre-supposes, in fact, an explicit negotiation of its contents, in contrast to what happens with the unilateral administrative acts, where the negotiation of the contents of the measure with its addressee follows underground ways. It deals with a phenomenon which without any doubt somewhat elevates the level of transparency of the administrative actions. Even if, given the novelty of the tool and the legal uncertainties which characterise the functioning thereof, it is probably still too early to draw conclusions on the actual significance of the voluntary agreements on the democratisation process of the public administration, it is possible to maintain that the stipulation of a voluntary agreement, which necessarily pre-supposes a relationship based on trust between the contracting parties, since trusting the counterpart is the sole form of guarantee for the implementation of the agreement in the Italian situation, indicates a change, presently only a trend, in the relations between the parties and the companies; relations which have been interpreted as being strongly contrasting on one hand safeguarding the environment; on the other hand an interest in maintaining the status quo of the production system. In this sense the agreements entered into between Fiat and the Ministry of Environment are a good example: the reaction of the press, too enthusiastic in comparison with the actual significance of the environmental undertakings of the largest Italian company, has been such as to consider the stipulation of these agreements as a turning point in the Italian entrepreneurs’ mentality, which has finally recognised that quality of the development is the goal itself of the economic and social progress of the country. If we carefully consider the structure of the Italian production sector, characterised by a very large number of small and medium sized businesses which do neither have the technical nor the financial means to propose themselves as counterpart seriously interested in the negotiation of environmental interventions with the public administration, it is not feasible that a single company enters into a voluntary agreement. And with regard to this respect, the association of the various categories which might propose itself as a subject equipped with the necessary technical and economical resources for the stipulation of a voluntary agreement (whether negotiated with the public administration or agreements regarding collaboration between the businesses of the sector) is still little significant. for short, only some associations representing the small businesses of the textile sector have started stipulating voluntary agreements. This unavoidably leads us to redimension the assertions from the industrial associations which see in the agreements Fiat the emerging of environmental management system based on self-responsibility of the businesses. In conclusion, it has to be stated that also from this point of view the voluntary agreements, and the cultural presuppositions on which they are based represent rather a trend (if not a mere aspiration) for the future than a reality actually consolidated in the entrepreneurial practice.
Also the position of the environmental associations is not univocal, since many deem that the voluntary agreements are an inefficacy tool for the environmental management since there is no legal sanction in the event of non compliance with the agreement. The voluntary agreement is above all considered as a means capable of supplying a good publicity image rather than a serious undertaking for the safeguard of the environment, with the aggravated circumstance that where it is able to replace the Legislation in force the entering into a voluntary agreement deprives the environmental associations which are not party to it of the procedural tools for the safeguard of the environment. On the other hand, the same environmental associations are party to some amicable agreements agreed upon with associations of tour operators, but this circumstance does not seem to be a consequence of the fact that the tool of the voluntary agreement is considered in itself as a reliable means for the protection of the environment, but rather of the fact that traditionally the environmental associations collaborate with the public administration or with private entities in the management of certain natural and cultural goods.
Finally, as stated above, the General public is in general not acquainted with the existence of voluntary agreements , especially because both the national and local press tends to prefer the catastrophic or conflictual aspects of the environmental problems, whereas the arguments relative to the strategies of environmental management are left aside in publications addressed to a restrictive elite of scientists.
3.6 Emerging Trends
As results clear from the inventory of the agreements, the negotiated tool had a significant practicable application, especially in the sector of management of the solid urban waste, all the more since it is one of the sectors in which the emergency situation is most acute. The flexibility to take action which the voluntary agreement guarantees to the undersigning parties, seems thus the reason for its success in this sector.
The flexibility to take action, which often also implies the possibility for a simplification of the administrative procedures necessary to implement a legislative political goal is considered in the current political debate as the most adequate means in order to guarantee a more rationalistic use of the natural resources. For this reason, in the Decree No.22 of 1997, much attention is paid to the stipulation of programmatic agreements between public administration and the economic sectors interested in re-utilisation, recycling and the recovery of raw materials and energy from pre-selected and pre-treated waste with the purpose to harmonise the regulations on the discharge of waste with the most recent EU directives, including the directive on packaging. Moreover, it was foreseen that the stipulation of a specific programmatic agreement might form the presupposition for the authorisation to realise recovery plants on the industrial premises in existence, also in the event that the localisation of these plants has not been set forth in the regional plan on waste management. The programmatic agreements to which the text refers have already been used in the Italian law system, since, as far as the environmental law is concerned, they have been provided for by Law of 1989, which regulates the drafting and implementation of the triennial year plan for the environment. The novelty of this legislation consists in the fact that participation to the programmatic agreement by private entities has expressive been mentioned, whereas the presupposition for the utilisation of the tool, provided for by the law of 1989, was formed by the necessity for an integrated and co-ordinated initiative by more than one administration or public entity for the implementation of the triennial plan regarding the environment.
4. Section III
4.1 Examples of Agreements Subject to Specific Analysis
The lack of exact information relative to the political process which has lead to the entering into the inventoried voluntary agreements prevents us from conducting an evaluation of the most significant agreements in terms of economic and environmental efficiency and social acceptance. The proposals made in this report concern agreements which at first sight seem interesting for further research. Moreover, it deals with very temporary conclusions.
The most well – known voluntary agreements in Italy are certainly those between Fiat and the Ministry of Environment, it might therefore be useful to further examine the document which introduces the system FARE to the Ministry of Environment (28/6/1993) as example of an agreement in the self-obligation category and the letter of intent entered into with the Ministry of Environment in 1989 (successively taken over by one of the agreements of June 28, 1993) as example of negotiated agreement.
The particularity of the situation of the voluntary agreements in Italy lays in legislative provision of regulatory programs on the collection and separation of urban waste; it seems thus necessary to proceed with a further analysis of the frame agreement entered into between REPLASTIC, ANCI, FEDERAMBIENTE, ASSOAMBIENTE and the role played in the starting up of the systems for the collection and separation of waste to be destined to recycling.
The agreement between the Region Lombardia and the voluntary Consorzio Ecoqualit also deserves further considerations, since it forms the sole example of an agreement currently in force which has stated the purpose to anticipate the implementation of a EU directive which has not entirely been implemented yet in the Italian system. As stated before, in general the voluntary agreement comes into existence when the situation of environmental emergency is so serious that it is not possible to wait for the issuance of a legislative measure ad hoc to resolve the matter; from this point of view it seems interesting to examine the agreement concerning the reduction of polluting ladings and water consumption of the agreement of Carpi entered into in 1994.
The agreement AGIP Petrol Ministry of Environment of 1989 renewed in 1992 is generally considered as very efficacy in terms of environmental performance: this should also be studied more in detail.
Finally, we propose to analyse the Project Elbambiente of 1994 as example of an amicable agreement entered into by NGO and entrepreneurs.