Welcome to Environmental Lawforce, the website that informs about the research on public law enforcement conducted by the Center for Environmental & Energy Law (CM&ER) of the UGent, the Center for Economic Studies (CES), Research Group Energy, Transport and Environment, of the KU Leuven, and the Center for Economics and Corporate Sustainability (CEDON) of the KU Leuven. The research investigates public law enforcement in general and public law enforcement of environmental law more specifically. It is multidisciplinary – law, economics, and Law & economics – and uses empirical research methods.
The current research builds on the research conducted from 2007 to 2011 within the framework of the IWT/SBO research project “Environmental Law Enforcement: a Comparison of Practice in the Criminal and the Administrative Tracks”. The Environmental Lawforce Database, with data from over 1,150 judgements in environmental criminal cases from the years 2003-2007 and data from 650 administrative fining files from those same years, was constructed as part of this project. It went partly online in December 2011. With regard to the research project as well as the database you find more information further on this website.