§ 42-17.8-1 - Purpose.
SECTION 42-17.8-1
§ 42-17.8-1 Purpose. – (a) The Rhode Island general assembly hereby finds that voluntary, publiccompliance with environmental laws, rules and regulations is a principalcomponent in effectively protecting the environment of the state; and thatvoluntary compliance is most effectively achieved through the implementation ofregular, systematic and objective self-evaluative activities such asenvironmental audits and/or the implementation of an environmental managementsystem designed to monitor and assure continuing compliance with all applicablelaws, rules and regulations.
(b) In order to encourage persons who conduct regulatedactivities to perform voluntary self-evaluations of their compliance programsand management systems, and to thereby improve compliance with environmentalstatutes and/or regulations, the Rhode Island general assembly finds that it isin the public interest to encourage such activities by promotingconfidentiality of communications relating to the voluntary self-evaluations tothose who properly and timely report the findings of the self-evaluations tothe regulatory authority or authorities responsible for protecting theenvironment of the state.