Agency of England and Wales. Drawing on the law and economics literature, there follows an evaluation of the current reliance on the criminal justice system and of the use of the sanction of suspension or revocation of a licence. We then turn to alternative enforcement strategies, in particular the use of administrative penalties. Enforcement Powers and Practice: The Environment Agency in England and Wales (a) General One feature of most modern systems of pollution control is that the

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... authority has strong powers of enforcement. Whilst the Environment Agency, in many instances, adopts a co-operative approach to enforcement, using persuasion, warnings and other informal, non-statutory measures to ensure compliance, it has recourse to a number of formal mechanisms which vary from function to function. These powers of enforcement fall into two broad categories. The first covers what are termed, administrative enforcement mechanisms; these include the variation, suspension or revocation of a licence, the issuing of enforcement, prohibition or works notices, and, if appropriate, the seeking of an injunction through the courts. 5 The second involves criminal justice proceedings and contains the power to initiate prosecutions and to serve formal cautions 6 and warnings 7 where a criminal offence has been committed. At the heart of the enforcement process lies a number of criminal offences which provide for prosecution through the criminal courts. These offences fall into several different categories two of which are important for our purposes: the general offences which can be committed regardless of whether a licence has been breached or indeed, whether a licence is required; 8 and those specifically based on noncompliance with a condition of a licences or operating without an appropriate 4 We focus on the regulatory regimes of waste management, water quality and integrated pollution control (IPC). Although the latter has been superseded by a new system of pollution prevention and control (PPC), enforcement statistics relate to IPC, hence the continuing reference to that regime. 5 The pollution control regimes in the UK also refer to licences as permits, authorisations and consents. 6 A formal caution is a written acceptance by the offender that an offence has been committed. This power can only be used where a prosecution could properly be brought. 7 A warning can consist of either a site warning by the investigating officer or a warning letter. 8 See, e.g., section 33(1)(c) Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 1990) and section 85 (1) and (3) Water Resources Act 1991 (WRA 1991).