บทบาทของเจ้าพนักงานควบคุมมลพิษตามพระราชบัญญัติส่งเสริม และรักษาคุณภาพสิ่งแวดล้อมแห่งชาติ พ.ศ. 2535 / ศรวณีย์ อินทสอน = Roles of the pollution control officer under the Enhancement and Conservation of National Environment Quality Act B.E. 2535 / Sarawanee Intasorn
The research reveals that the appointment of the PCO as it is now is not in line with the concept and the rationale of the law which require the PCO the act as the expert of the government sector in the operation preventing and rectifying pollution problems. As the roles and authority of the PCO in each aspect directly relates to his/her qualifications in order to facilitate effective law enforcement on the prevention and rectification of pollution problems, restricitions and obstacles regarding the exercise of power of the PCO still prevail. In addition, there exists insufficient clarity with regard to the protection of the rights of the public affected by the order of the PCO within the Pollution Control Committee which is an organization considering the petition filed in objection to the order of the PCO and relevant procedures. It is therefore proposed that the provision of law and the organization examining the exercise of power of PCO be revised as follow 1) PCOs should be divided into two levels, i.e., command level and operation level; 2) Prescription of time for the operation of the competent officer under the Factory Act, B.E. 2535 (A.D. 1992) should be clearly defined; 3) The Sub-committee for the Coordination of Environment Management and Industry should be empowered to decide the conflict between the PCO and the competent officer; 4) Ministerial Announcements appointing PCO not in line with the law should be repealed; 5) The PCO receiving report under Section 80 should be clearly defined; 6) Competent officer under other laws with power to oversee pollution point source should be empowered to order suspension or revocation of permit, closure or cessation of use or exploitation in connection with pollution point source due to non-compliance with environmental requirement; 7) Criminal punishment on violation of order under section 82 (2) should be increased; and 8) The Pollution Control Committee should be empowered to appoint specialized sub-committee to initially consider the petition objecting the order of the PCO as well as to revise decision making procedure for fairer treatment. In practice, the PCOs should be given training and work manual and budget should be provided for assistance and support with regard to tools and equipment for regional and local PCOs to enable them to examine various types of pollution.
