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Pesticides have become indispensable in modern agriculture, aiding in crop protection, and ensuring food security. However, their extensive use has raised concerns about environmental contamination and human health risks. This manuscript reviews the prevalence of organophosphate pesticide (OPP) use in Nigerian agriculture and explores methods for detecting pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables. Despite the critical role of pesticides in safeguarding crop yields, the lack of regulatory enforcement and monitoring in Nigeria poses significant challenges. The review underscores the importance of understanding the health implications of pesticide residues in food. While acute and sub-chronic health effects of OPP exposure have been studied, there remains a need for a focused review of the long-term impacts, particularly in the context of limited regulatory oversight. Additionally, the manuscript highlights gaps in knowledge regarding the effects of pesticides on biodiversity, ecosystems, and vulnerable populations such as children, pregnant women, and the elderly. Recommendations include longitudinal studies to assess cumulative and delayed health consequences, systematic reporting of poisoning incidents, and routine analysis of food products to ensure safety. By addressing these gaps, a more comprehensive understanding of the consequences of OPP usage in Nigeria can be achieved, facilitating the development of effective risk management strategies to protect both the environment and public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the social, psychological, economic, and regulatory elements that influence Kuching, Sarawak, residents' involvement in illegal gaming. Using a non-probability purposive sampling technique and a structured questionnaire, data were gathered from 366 respondents. To get a wide variety of respondents, the survey was administered online. Key findings show that social influence, financial difficulty, and psychological pressure all strongly influence gambling behavior, with accessibility to illicit internet gambling platforms appearing as a key contributing factor. The study also shows that the problem is made worse by lax regulatory enforcement, which lets players bet with little concern about potential legal consequences. Regression analysis shows that both psychological health and economic stability are significantly harmed by consumer involvement in black market gaming. To address the root reasons of gambling habits, the study suggests community-based initiatives, economic interventions, the creation of legal alternatives, and more stringent regulation and oversight of online gaming platforms

The relevance of studying the effectiveness of the existing financial monitoring system, particularly the adequacy of its regulatory framework, is driven by the intensification of processes related to the legalization of criminal proceeds involving financial institutions. This includes the entrenchment of shadow schemes in payment transactions, expansion of money laundering channels, and terrorism financing. Regulatory gaps have also emerged in overseeing the cryptocurrency market and digital financial services. This study aims to systematize the legal and regulatory framework and evaluate the effectiveness of the financial monitoring system, outlining prospects for further research. The research methodology involves balanced summarization, specification, systematization, generalization, and statistical analysis. Macroeconomic prerequisites for enhancing financial monitoring include socio-economic, political, and moral-ethical factors. The study notes that the effectiveness of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing efforts is not always clear-cut, such as the unclear relationship between the intensity of measures and their effectiveness in preventing regulatory violations and the lack of accurate information about potential offences before disclosure. An objective understanding of financial monitoring effectiveness can be achieved through integral assessments. A methodology for calculating an integral indicator of effectiveness is proposed, which identifies weaknesses in the existing system. The need for new measures to strengthen the coordination of the financial monitoring system, especially under martial law, is emphasized. Based on the research results, recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the financial monitoring mechanism are formulated, including the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies for identifying financial transactions; the use of machine learning technologies; enhancement of monitoring in the cryptocurrency market; strengthening the oversight of transactions related to international terrorism; and developing an effective mechanism to combat financial crimes. These proposals may be useful for financial monitoring and economic security agencies in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the challenges of controlling short-term rentals (STR) in an era of intermediation by digital platforms, focusing on the process of regulatory enforcement. Drawing on evidence from large European cities, it investigates how public authorities identify and tackle STR deemed illegal, how operators of illegal STR seek to escape detection, and the relationships between city governments and digital platforms in the process of regulatory enforcement. The article shows what digitalisation and 'platformisation' do to the possibility of (local) state regulation of housing informality and illegality in the European context. As platforms have been reluctant to release individualised STR listings to local authorities, the latter have had to rely on imperfect, 'DIY' methods of data gathering in the physical and digital worlds, in the context of attempts to regulate STR for public interest objectives such as the protection of the long-term residential stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online gambling has become one of the biggest challenges faced by the Indonesian government in recent decades. This study uses a qualitative approach with a case study design to analyze the government's communication strategy in combating online gambling in Indonesia. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with online gambling victims, conducted directly and via the Zoom and Google Meet platforms. Thematic analysis techniques were used to analyze data. The results show that the communication strategies of the government in tackling online gambling have not been fully effective, mainly due to limitations in message delivery, use of communication channels, and enforcement of regulations. It is hoped that through this collaborative approach, the prevalence of online gambling can be significantly reduced, and the community can be better protected from its negative impacts. This research is expected to serve as a reference for future studies in the fields of communication, law, and public policy related to online gambling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research suggests that the structural design of American state environmental agencies impacts their performance, with agencies that combine environmental protection with other functions like public health or natural resource management regulating pollution emissions less stringently than those that focus exclusively on environmental protection. Using a set of panel data models, this study assesses this claim across several major U.S. environmental programs, including those regulating air pollution, water pollution, and hazardous waste. The results are mixed. Though support for the agency structure hypothesis is found in some models, taken together, the findings tend to refute the notion that an environmental agency's structure has systematic, predictable impacts on its regulatory performance across programs and regulatory activities. Rather, they suggest that the effects of agency design may be more nuanced and context-dependent than articulations of this theory commonly suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of studying the effectiveness of the existing financial monitoring system, particularly the adequacy of its regulatory framework, is driven by the intensification of processes related to the legalization of criminal proceeds involving financial institutions. This includes the entrenchment of shadow schemes in payment transactions, expansion of money laundering channels, and terrorism financing. Regulatory gaps have also emerged in overseeing the cryptocurrency market and digital financial services. This study aims to systematize the legal and regulatory framework and evaluate the effectiveness of the financial monitoring system, outlining prospects for further research. The research methodology involves balanced summarization, specification, systematization, generalization, and statistical analysis. Macroeconomic prerequisites for enhancing financial monitoring include socio-economic, political, and moral-ethical factors. The study notes that the effectiveness of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing efforts is not always clear-cut, such as the unclear relationship between the intensity of measures and their effectiveness in preventing regulatory violations and the lack of accurate information about potential offences before disclosure. An objective understanding of financial monitoring effectiveness can be achieved through integral assessments. A methodology for calculating an integral indicator of effectiveness is proposed, which identifies weaknesses in the existing system. The need for new measures to strengthen the coordination of the financial monitoring system, especially under martial law, is emphasized. Based on the research results, recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the financial monitoring mechanism are formulated, including the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies for identifying financial transactions; the use of machine learning technologies; enhancement of monitoring in the cryptocurrency market; strengthening the oversight of transactions related to international terrorism; and developing an effective mechanism to combat financial crimes. These proposals may be useful for financial monitoring and economic security agencies in Ukraine.

The idea of environmental justice centers on treating everyone equally and involving them meaningfully in the creation and implementation of environmental laws, rules, and policies, irrespective of their nationality, race, or income. Protecting Vulnerable Communities from Environmental Hazards: Environmental Justice and Law" is a study that attempts to investigate how well legal frameworks shield marginalized communities from environmental hazards, which frequently disproportionately impact vulnerable groups. The goals are to evaluate the effectiveness of the current environmental laws, look into the difficulties in putting them into practice, and examine how the public policy and judicial systems contribute to environmental justice for these communities. This study's methodology combines both qualitative and quantitative techniques. A thorough analysis of case studies, legal precedents, and court decisions is complemented by the gathering of primary data via surveys. 252 respondents from a range of communities at risk from environmental hazards, including air and water pollution, are included in the survey sample. In-depth interviews with legal professionals, community leaders, and environmental law specialists are also included in the study to obtain a better understanding of the difficulties in achieving environmental justice. Significant flaws in the implementation and enforcement of environmental laws are revealed by the findings. The lack of access to legal remedies, inadequate government intervention, and weak regulatory frameworks continue to disproportionately harm vulnerable communities. Legal protections are frequently present but either not enforced properly or are completely disregarded. The study comes to the conclusion that improved enforcement of current laws, stronger legal frameworks, and increased involvement of marginalized communities in decision-making processes are urgently needed. In order to achieve environmental justice, the conclusion highlights the necessity of reforms that guarantee equal access to legal protection and give marginalized populations' needs top priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of studying the effectiveness of the existing financial monitoring system, particularly the adequacy of its regulatory framework, is driven by the intensification of processes related to the legalization of criminal proceeds involving financial institutions. This is manifested in the entrenchment of shadow schemes during payment transactions, the expansion of money laundering channels, and the financing of terrorism. Additionally, regulatory gaps have emerged in the oversight of the cryptocurrency market and digital financial services. The aim of this study is to systematize the legal and regulatory framework and assess the effectiveness of the financial monitoring system, outlining prospects for further research. The research methodology includes methods of balanced summarization, specification, systematization, generalization, and statistical analysis. It is established the macroeconomic prerequisites for deciding on measures to enhance the effectiveness of financial monitoring include socio-economic, political, and moral-ethical factors. It is noted that the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing system does not result from obvious patterns such as the unclear relationship between the intensity of measures to combat offenses and the effectiveness of preventing violations of established regulatory requirements; the absence of reliably accurate information about potential offenses until their disclosure. It is proved an objective understanding of the level of effectiveness of financial monitoring can be obtained through the use of integral assessments. It is proposed the methodology for calculating an integral indicator of the effectiveness of financial monitoring, allowing the identification of weaknesses in the existing financial monitoring system. Emphasis is placed on the need for new measures to strengthen the coordination of the existing financial monitoring system, especially under martial law conditions. Based on the research results, recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the financial monitoring mechanism it is formulated and substantiated, namely: the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies for identifying financial transactions; the use of machine learning technologies; improvement of the financial monitoring system in the cryptocurrency market; strengthening the monitoring of financial transactions related to international terrorism; and the formation of an effective mechanism to combat financial crimes. These proposals may be useful for the practical activities of financial monitoring and economic security agencies in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can firms extract policy concessions by hiring former members of Congress (MCs)? I argue that firms use personnel with a background in politics to keep regulators away. With an empirical focus on tax enforcement, I present comprehensive evidence that firms can use MCs to avoid regulatory enforcement. Hiring MCs decreases firm-level tax rates—highly connected MCs who served on committees responsible for tax policy produce the largest decrease. Leveraging a novel hand-coded dataset of tax audits, I show that hiring an MC is associated with a lower probability of being audited. The change in enforcement has important consequences: hiring an MC is associated with smaller fines and with uncertain tax positions being automatically accepted due to lapses in the statute of limitations. This indicates that rules are enforced differently against politically connected firms, shedding new light on the role of connections in the American political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes whether, and if so, why, national inspectorates adopt different enforcement strategies when controlling the provision of welfare services, such as health care, eldercare, and the compulsory school. The findings show that the Swedish Schools Inspectorate uses a predominantly strict strategy, while the Health and Social Care Inspectorate relies on a more situational strategy. To explain this variation in enforcement strategy, the article tests four hypotheses derived from the literature on regulatory enforcement. The findings suggest that the variation between the agencies is not primarily the result of differences in resources or the authority to issue punitive decisions, as suggested by previous research. Instead, we find support for the hypothesis that the definition of quality can explain variation in adopted strategies, and partial support for the hypothesis that differences in regulatory mission can account for a variation in the agencies' formal enforcement strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the correlation between the environmental legal practices of different countries and their environmental performance. It entails an empirical analysis of cross-sectional environmental data collected from 34 countries, including members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the BRICs nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). Then the study explores the correlation between a country’s environmental performance and both the environmental policy stringency and regulatory enforcement. The findings from this global assessment are subsequently corroborated through an examination of China’s environmental time series data spanning a decade, revealing a significant relationship between a country’s environmental performance and regulatory enforcement. These results validate the Incomplete Law Theory within the field of environmental law. Moreover, as the second most populous and the third-largest country in terms of land area globally, China’s environmental protection strategies and performance play a pivotal role in influencing international environmental outcomes. Consequently, the study conducts a case study on China’s environmental legal practices and provides suggestions for enhancing China’s allocation strategies of residual legislative power. The study advocates for the optimization of residual legislative power allocation within local environmental law enforcement agencies and a balanced distribution of public and private residual legislative power. This approach reinforces the government’s role in strategic formulation.

While union presence and joint regulation of work and employment has declined, the state maintains a key role in directly regulating employment standards in areas including health and safety, minimum wage enforcement and subcontracting. Based on an empirical study of enforcement agencies in Britain, this article argues that the nature of regulatory work and its reshaping by both exogenous and endogenous pressures ultimately influences the impact of regulation itself and how it is enforced. Major shifts in the skills, knowledge and networks critical to the nature of labour inspection work parallel developments within the workplaces they are responsible for regulating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weevaluate the effect of rotating inspections carried out by China's central government in 2016 to 2017 in response to the country's air pollution crisis on the environmental performance of targeted cities and coal power plants. Using a staggered difference-indifferences (DID) design, we find that during one-month inspections concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2) at coal power plants in targeted cities are on average lower by 25 to 52% compared to not-yet-inspected cities but revert by 54 to 62% on average once scrutiny ends. Following inspections, SO2 pollution increases more quickly at stateowned plants accountable to the central government, compared to state-owned plants accountable to the local (city or below) government. Our results suggest that for most plants SO2 concentration changes during inspections may have been due primarily to the operation of end-of-pipe SO2 removal devices, while following inspections local state-owned plants may have reduced output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we find that foreign firms cross‐listed in the US issue significantly more and better‐quality management earnings forecasts after their home countries sign the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Consultation and Cooperation and the Exchange of Information (MMoU), a nonbinding arrangement established by the International Organization of Securities Commissions to enhance the cross‐border enforcement of securities laws. Specifically, we find that after the MMoU, relative to their domestic counterparts in the US, foreign firms cross‐listed in the US are not only more likely to issue management earnings forecasts but also issue them more frequently. They also tend to issue better‐quality earnings forecasts, as measured by lower surprise, higher precision, greater timeliness, more disaggregation, lower optimism and fewer errors. We find that the observed effects of the MMoU signing are stronger for cross‐listed firms from countries with weaker institutional environments, resulting in greater enforcement concerns after the MMoU, and for firms with less foreign institutional ownership before the MMoU. Collectively, our findings support the conjecture that after a US‐listed foreign firm's home country enters the MMoU, the firm has more incentives to engage in voluntary disclosure due to greater concerns about regulatory enforcement and increased information demand from investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires coverage for mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits to be no more restrictive than for medical/surgical benefits in commercial health plans. State insurance departments oversee enforcement for certain plans. Insufficient enforcement is one potential source of continued MH/SUD treatment gaps among commercial insurance enrollees. This study explored state-level factors that may drive enforcement variation. Methods: The authors conducted a four-state multiple-case study to explore factors influencing state insurance offices' enforcement of MHPAEA. They interviewed 21 individuals who represented state government offices, advocacy organizations, professional organizations, and a national insurer. Their analysis included a within-case content analysis and a cross-case framework analysis. Findings: Common themes included insurance office relationships with other stakeholders, policy complexity, and political priority. Relationships between insurance offices and other stakeholders varied between states. MHPAEA complexity posed challenges for interpretation and application. Policy champions influenced enforcement via priorities of insurance commissioners, governors, and legislatures. Where enforcement of MHPAEA was not prioritized by any actors, there was minimal state enforcement. Conclusions: Within a state, enforcement of MHPAEA is influenced by insurance office relationships, legal interpretation, and political priorities. These unique state factors present significant challenges to uniform enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how investors perceive audit quality when regulators adopt different enforcement styles to communicate audit inspection findings, and when the audit firm responds to the inspection findings. We employed a 2 × 3 between‐subjects experimental design, with regulatory enforcement style (critical or supportive) and audit firm response (defensive actions or remedial actions or control) as the independent variables. We find that investors perceive a relatively high level of audit quality when the audit firm chooses to take remedial actions, regardless of regulators' enforcement styles. In contrast, investors perceive a relatively low level of audit quality when the audit firm chooses to take defensive actions in response to regulators that impose a critical enforcement style. Additional analyses show that investors' perception of audit quality mediates the joint effects of regulatory enforcement styles and audit firm response on willingness to invest. Our findings suggest implications for the ways that regulators adopt different enforcement styles, which should be of interest to audit practitioners and regulators, as the findings show the potential consequences of different firm response strategies to inspection findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes indications of goal displacement in regulatory enforcement agencies as reported by enforcement professionals from a range of regulatory domains. The findings suggest that the occurrence of this phenomenon in these agencies may be more prevalent and multifaceted than expected. Among the goal-displacement types reported as most impactful were goal narrowing, induced by calamities, goal diversion through ongoing organizational reform, and goal diversion brought upon by strict regimes of output management. A systematic exploration of these various goal-displacement types as conducted here sheds light onto the intricate nature of goal alignment of these agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) is an important energy source for many countries, but requires large quantities of water for its development, and may pollute water resources. Regulations are one of the main tools to achieve government policy on natural resource protection. South Africa, which is energy-constrained, but also water-scarce, is currently considering UOG extraction as an additional energy resource. UOG development could commence as soon as regulations to protect natural resources such as water have been published. Such regulations are, however, often not effectively enforced, which negatively affects the protection of water resources during UOG extraction. This study addresses these enforcement challenges in South Africa. It focuses on the science–society–policy interface by proposing a civic informatics platform to assist with on-the-ground enforcement of regulations via a mobile application. This mobile application aims to address both groundwater monitoring and management as well as UOG extraction operations in a single platform, to enable regulators to protect groundwater resources more effectively during UOG extraction, while simultaneously enhancing transparency in the UOG industry.

This research aims to analyze the influence of information asymmetry, religiosity, organizational culture, and regulatory enforcement toward fraud tendency of village government officials. This study employed a survey approach as the method to obtain data. Regression analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses. From seventy-one respondents working as village government administrators in thirty-five villages in Magetan Regency, East Java Province, this study has found that information asymmetry, religiosity, organizational culture, and regulatory enforcement significantly affect the village government officials’ tendency to commit fraud.

This article analyses the relationship between community pressure, regulatory pressure and corporate environmental performance. Using a sample of 2192 firm-year observations in environmentally sensitive industries for the period 2007–2012, we find that increased community pressure is negatively associated with corporate pollution levels and thus positively associated with corporate environmental performance. Furthermore, intensified community pressure can strengthen regulatory enforcement, but it cannot increase the size of the government subsidy allotted to environmental issues. Finally, regulatory enforcement partly mediates the relationship between community pressure and environmental performance. This study contributes to the understanding of firms' environmental management and the interaction of community and regulatory pressure. JEL Classification: G38, M41, Q53, Q56 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for effective governance of soil resources is critical. This article outlines five levels of national soil governance against which states may assess themselves and highlights those the authors consider to be in the top category. Responding to the question Which countries or political states can be viewed as ‘global standard bearers of soil governance?’ it describes exemplars of national and subnational best practice that, if widely emulated, could significantly improve the condition of land and soil globally.

Adverse events continue to occur in the direct-to-consumer market for unapproved regenerative interventions and the US FDA alone cannot adequately address the problem. Other public health strategies are needed to provide better patient protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Street‐level interpretation and enforcement are critical to defining the meaning of law. To understand street‐level regulatory decisions, prior studies have highlighted internal office conditions, neglecting the influence that peer offices can have. This study examines the role of horizontal inter‐office interaction among frontline offices and illustrates how and under what conditions it shapes the meaning of law. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data on Japan's Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act, this study reveals that inter‐office interaction occurs within fixed groups and comes to shape shared interpretations of law that regulators believe are legally valid. This implies that under legal ambiguity, inter‐office interactions develop institutionalized notions of appropriateness and reinforce the perception of legal consistency, which bolster the legitimacy of enforcement. Although peer office networks encourage convergence on the interpretation of law, because of their clustered structure, legal meanings develop differently across various groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally believed that public agencies are especially prone to goal displacement, but research has remained relatively limited. In this conceptual paper, we explore why and how goal displacement might affect public regulatory enforcement agencies. Central to our approach is an analysis of the ambiguity of enforcement goals, arguing that the ambiguity related to the evaluation of goal achievement makes enforcement agencies vulnerable for goal displacement. The underlying reason is that this type of ambiguity increases the risk of neglecting the complexities of enforcement goals. We specify three types of complexity neglect and describe their potential goal-displacement effects. We provide examples of goal-displacement-reinforcing factors to clarify conceptual notions. We conclude that in the absence of a sound tradition of ex-post effect evaluations, goal displacement might be much more prevalent in enforcement agencies than is often assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How street-level organizations enforce regulations carries important governance implications. Through reviewing the regulatory enforcement literature and categorizing it into three broad governance modes, this article discusses the individual and organizational capacity prerequisites for street-level organizations to enact the corresponding government–society relationship and improve governance outcomes. Through analyzing enforcement challenges faced by street-level officers in Beijing's recent food safety reform, the article also identifies the essential capacities for street-level organizations to regulate under a legal-hierarchical governance mode. The article hopes to inspire further research to uncover specific governance capacity requirements for other administrative organizations under different governance modes. Points for practitioners: Apart from policy effectiveness, government regulators should also sometimes pay attention to their impacts on governance. Despite frontline regulators' discretion, street-level organizations may improve governance outcomes by devising and implementing regulatory enforcement programs and strategies in line with the governance mode the government is engaged in as what they do enacts the specific government–society relationship in the governing process. Administrators in charge of street-level organizations may benefit from cultivating capacities essential to actualizing the respective governance mode. Absence of these capacities is likely to undermine governance effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has developed and implemented policies targeting individuals for regulatory non‐compliance in the post‐2008 crisis period. This article develops a tripartite framework that differentiates between individual–firm, regulator–individual, and regulator–firm interactions to capture the complexity of these enforcement proceedings. Drawing on interviews with stakeholders, administrative decisionmaking observations, and documentary analysis, it outlines the process of individualizing responsibility for non‐compliance and finds that this approach poses evidential and investigative challenges for the regulator as a result of individual and corporate responses. The evidence shows that individuals are more likely than firms to engage in an adversarial response to an investigation rather than to settle. At the same time, through an inverse process of "corporatization" of the enforcement proceedings, firms may employ resources and strategies aimed at obscuring individual responsibility or binding together more closely the corporate and the individual case. The article concludes that the prospects of a successful outcome in investigating individuals depend not only on regulators' activities but also on corporate responses and on which managers are considered assets to the firm and which may be thrown to the wolves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uncontrolled expansion of plantation activities within peatland areas is one of the major trigger causing forest and/or land fire (Fire) in Indonesia. To deal with such problems including other influencing variables such as land use management, Indonesian law provides various options of regulatory instrument. The law indicates strong message that the Fire must be stopped, reflected through stipulations on regulatory instruments including command and control type of regulation (direct regulation) and alternative approaches to hold compliance. After exacerbate Fire in 2015, many protests from the people, neighborhood countries and broader international parties encouraged Indonesian government to be more active in conducting regulatory enforcement of some regulatory instruments. Some of the examples are the imposed administrative sanction and lawsuit against companies within 2015 to 2017. However, the regulatory enforcement has not been assessed as to whether it has obtained significant improvement to stop Fire. This paper attempt to assess whether regulatory enforcement on selected Fire cases has met the regulatory objective particularly to stop the Fire. This research finds that output of the applied enforcement for violation on Fire provisions remains incoherent with the regulatory objective while the strategy of enforcement is not well-systemized.

Introduction: Noise exposure has long been an occupational health concern and has been an important area of focus of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) since its founding. Nevertheless, it remains unclear what effects OSHA's noise standards have had on employer efforts to reduce risks. Consequently, a review of OSHA noise standard violations was performed to clarify the violation trends between 1972 and 2019. Methods: Using the OSHA Information System, researchers identified 119 305 violations involving four noise standards between 1972 and 2019: 29 CFR 1910.95, occupational noise exposure in general industry; 1926.52, occupational noise exposure in construction; 1926.101, hearing protection in construction, and 1904.10, recording criteria for cases involving occupational hearing loss. Violation frequencies of noise standard subparagraphs and relationships to factors such as industry differences were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t tests. Results: The most commonly violated noise standard was 1910.95 in manufacturing. Such violations rose between 1972 and 1985 and then declined steadily. Whether in general industry or construction, four noise standards were most‐frequently cited: lack of feasible administrative or engineering controls (1910.95[b] and 1926.52[d]) and inadequate hearing conservation program (1910.95[c] and 1926.52[b]). These violations were more highly penalized (mean = $1036.50) than other subparagraph violations (mean = $915.80). Programmed and unprogrammed inspections generated similar violation quantities except between 1980 and 1985, when programmed inspections exhibited a sharp spike in violations. Conclusion: The study identified trends in OSHA noise standard violations and possible explanations for those trends. The study findings can support development of more practical noise‐exposure protection policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory theory suggests that providing agencies with multiple sanctioning options allows them to dispose promptly of less serious matters and thereby conserve resources to pursue serious offenders. However, agencies dependent on third‐party monitoring may have their enforcement agendas skewed toward more trivial violations. We consider these competing expectations by analyzing enforcement actions at the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) from 1999 to 2004. The FEC – an agency heavily dependent on third‐party monitoring – expanded its enforcement options in 2000 by creating two new programs to pursue low‐level offenders, while leaving its monitoring strategy unchanged. We hypothesized that more sanctioning options would allow the FEC to allocate its resources more efficiently, and thus deal more effectively with the skew created by third‐party monitoring. We found instead that although the FEC disposed more promptly of low‐level infractions, it was no more effective at focusing on serious violations. Our results suggest that for many agencies, expanding enforcement options without addressing monitoring has limited ability to resolve enforcement problems.

Leniency offers corporations the possibility to come clean about their involvement in cartel conduct (for example, price-fixing, bid-rigging) in exchange for immunity or reduction of financial penalties. In Europe, nearly 60 percent of detected cartels are discovered through leniency. This makes leniency the most applied detection tool for uncovering cartel conduct violations. What are the considerations in applying for leniency or refraining from doing so? How do those considerations relate to private law enforcement through civil liability regarding business cartels? These questions are discussed based on semi-structured interviews (n = 34) with cartelists, competition lawyers and in-house legal counsel to study theoretical assumptions underpinning leniency arrangements in the Netherlands. This study investigates four scenarios on the use of leniency suggested in the literature and finds empirical support for only two. Strategic use of leniency and false confessions occur in the Netherlands, but to a lesser extent than the existing literature suggests. Moreover, various disincentives, and especially the rise of private enforcement, make leniency an unattractive and uncertain option for cartelists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory behavior and effectiveness in authoritarian settings are subject to alternative characterizations. By tracing enforcement processes through a variety of case studies, this article proposes and refines a new model, at least with respect to energy efficiency regulations in China: authoritarian but responsive. Local rulemaking and operationalization is authoritarian, with strong and coordinative bodies of regulation, strategic plans, and active involvement of local authorities. Local authorities, however, often find themselves facing a welter of laws imposed on companies that create competing priorities for these local officials who then must struggle to find pragmatic solutions. On numerous occasions, such satisficing behavior by local officials makes them responsive to the performance and demands of regulated firms. Embedded in the decentralized authoritarian context, the authoritarian but responsive approach is found to be a rational choice of local governments and different from previous conceptualizations. It helps local governments coordinate across a diverse array of regulatory issues. Drawing on environmental enforcement in China, the model provides consistent explanations for the seemingly changing and discretionary enforcement incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the role that regulatory strictness plays on the enforcement of financial reporting transparency in the U.S. banking industry. Using a novel measure of regulatory strictness in the enforcement of capital adequacy, we show that strict regulators are more likely to enforce restatements of banks' call reports. Further, we find that the effect of regulatory strictness on accounting enforcement is strongest in periods leading up to economic downturns and for banks with riskier asset portfolios. Overall, the results from our study indicate that regulatory oversight plays an important role in enforcing financial reporting transparency, particularly in periods leading up to economic crises. We interpret this evidence as inconsistent with the idea that strict bank regulators put significant weight on concerns about the potential destabilizing effects of accounting transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the realm of global environmental governance, accountability has been key to the debate concerning pervasive environmental deterioration. Among the factors underlying this deterioration, a perceived challenge is the lack of clear mechanisms for identifying to whom the actors in environmental governance in general, and in other sectors, for example, hydropower, agricultural land, mining, and infrastructure in particular, are accountable to for their actions. To investigate the challenge of this situation, this article explores the ways in which the protest movements of grass-roots communities and nongovernmental organizations endeavour to hold government and foreign corporations accountable for the actions they have taken which have contributed to environmental degradation in Cambodia. Drawing on two case studies, this article argues that these protest movements have played an increasing role in requiring environmental accountability from both government and corporations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussion regarding the regulatory status of genome-edited crops has focused on precision of editing and on doubts regarding the feasibility of analytical monitoring compliant with existing GMO regulations. Effective detection methods are important, both for regulatory enforcement and traceability in case of biosafety, environmental or socio-economic impacts. Here, we approach the analysis question for the first time in the laboratory and report the successful development of a quantitative PCR detection method for the first commercialized genome-edited crop, a canola with a single base pair edit conferring herbicide tolerance. The method is highly sensitive and specific (quantification limit, 0.05%), compatible with the standards of practice, equipment and expertise typical in GMO laboratories, and readily integrable into their analytical workflows, including use of the matrix approach. The method, validated by an independent laboratory, meets all legal requirements for GMO analytical methods in jurisdictions such as the EU, is consistent with ISO17025 accreditation standards and has been placed in the public domain. Having developed a qPCR method for the most challenging class of genome edits, single-nucleotide variants, this research suggests that qPCR-based method development may be applicable to virtually any genome-edited organism. This advance resolves doubts regarding the feasibility of extending the regulatory approach currently employed for recombinant DNA-based GMOs to genome-edited organisms.