The politics of regulatory reform: 'New' environmental policy instruments in Finland

This contribution analyses the adaptation of new environmental policy instruments in Finland. As an environmental forerunner country, Finland has been characteristically active in using market-based instruments and eco-labels. However, voluntary agreements have been used much less. All in all, EU membership, deregulation trend and new administrative cultures have produced a general pressure to reform the national regulatory system. The design of the NEPIs that have been adopted was heavily disputed. The different ministries and stakeholders seem to be especially vulnerable to conflict, because of their different mentality in environmental governing. At first, the national environmental ministry was strongly committed to a legalistic culture and showed very little interest in NEPIs.