Self–Monitoring, Self–Policing, Self–Incrimination and Pollution Law

Abstract

Until quite recently, bringing criminal proceedings for an offence of water pollution almost invariably entailed the submission of evidence of analysis of river water quality,' painstakingly collected according to a formal sampling procedure which had to be followed meticulously by the regulatory authority if the evidence was not to be rendered inadmissible. Alongside major changes in the administration of pollution control, new legislation has abolished the need for this sampling procedure and created a new presumption in relation to admissibility of certain evidence of this kind. Sophisticated new technological developments have allowed water quality and discharges of effluent to the aquatic environment to be automatically monitored either by the regulatory authority or the discharger. Significant legal issues are raised as to the status of these new forms of evidence, the protection which is afforded to an alleged polluter and the general approaches towards environmental regulation that they make possible. The purpose of this article is to assess the implications of these administrative, legal and technological innovations on proceedings for water pollution offences and other kinds of environmental crime.