Compliance and enforcement: the Achilles heel of French water policy

Marielle Montginoul (1) , Jean-Daniel Rinaudo (2) , Charlotte Alcouffe (1)

1 UMR G-EAU - Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages
2 BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)

This chapter examines the compliance and enforcement issues relating to groundwater policy in France. It is based on a review of existing grey and scientific literature and a series of interviews conducted by the authors with enforcement officers in 16 French counties. The chapter starts with a presentation of the existing regulations governing groundwater abstraction (Section 1), followed by a description of how the law enforcement agencies are organised (Section 2) and how they operate (Section 3). It then describes the infractions observed by regulators and analyses the factors that may explain compliance and non-compliance (Section 4). The problems that limit the effectiveness of enforcement are discussed.

Mots clés: water crime; criminal enforcement; administrative sanction

Domaines: Economies et finances; Droit; Environnement et Société

Marielle Montginoul, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo, Charlotte Alcouffe. Compliance and enforcement: the Achilles heel of French water policy. Jean-Daniel Rinaudo; Cameron Holley; Steve Barnett; Marielle Montginoul. Sustainable groundwater management: a comparative analysis of French and Australian policies and implications to other countries, 24, Springer, pp.435-459, 2020, Global Issues in Water Policy, 978-3-030-32765-1. ⟨10.1007/978-3-030-32766-8_23⟩. ⟨hal-02532168⟩