2003 Volume 3 Pages 91-105
This paper aims at examining whether voluntary regulations exercised by industry should be used as complements to environmental regulations like US or they should be used as a main measure for environmental policies like UK. This paper at first explains the next three suggested strengths of the voluntary regulations, high flexibility and efficiency, short-term establishment and implementation, and stimulation of innovation, that have supported the arguments by the advocates of the voluntary regulations that the voluntary regulations are better than the environmental regulations. Secondly, however, this paper tries to show that these three merits do not always exist, or that they turn out to be demerits.
Thirdly, using the results of questionnaires conducted in UK, it examines both if the public have been able to take part in the voluntary regulation-making process and if the public have trusted the voluntary regulations, both of which might be critically essential conditions for the admirable environmental policy tools. After these examinations, it becomes clear that the voluntary regulations do not have those three advocated strengths or they work as a demerit, the public cannot have participated the making process of them, and that the public cannot have trusted them.
Consequently, the voluntary regulations had better be used as complements to the environmental regulations. However, in order that the voluntary regulations do effectively and efficiently work, the public, environmental organizations and the government should actively get involved in the establishment and implementation processes of the voluntary regulations. Finally, this paper concludes that it is necessary that the public, industries and governments, that is the society as a whole, should change their attitudes towards the environmental protection and actively try to contribute to the environmental problems, if the voluntary regulations work both effectively and efficiently.
