Environmental issues tend to become even more diverse and complicated with the development of science and technology. The use of DDT threatened people’s health and overall environment. The development of bio science caused the appearance of living modified organisms. For the most part, understanding science and technology is the key to environmental problems. Environmental standards, criteria and methods for water processing, environmental pollution prevention technology, etc are all outcomes of the development of science and technology.
The country’s current environment-related laws make it obligatory for pollution-causing parties to comply with the objectives set by the authorities rather than provide criteria that regulate technologies preventing or removing environmental pollution. In regard to how to attain such objectives, i.e. types of environmental engineering technologies to be used, the country’s current environment-related laws leave it entirely to businesses or individuals. Heavy dependence on objective standards or adoption of environment management methods by pollution media has become a factor that make it difficult to cope with risks associated with environmental engineering technology. The system of the new technology certification and verification under The Support for Environmental Technology and Environmental Industry Act has its inherent limitations, as the certification and verification efforts are made based on the relevant technology developers’ free will. That is, technology developers are supposed to apply for new technology certifications in consideration of various incentives offered. If the said incentives are not attractive enough, new technology developers will not apply for new technology certifications. These environmental engineering technologies that can be used without applying for new technology certifications result in an inability to control the relevant risks properly under The Support for Environmental Technology and Environmental Industry Act.
Such a problem overlaps with the regulation methods centered on media-based performance criteria, causing a loophole in regulation and management. That is, existing media-based environment-related laws focus on performance rather than on technology, which put no restrictions concerning risks associated with environmental engineering technologies that businesses can choose to employ to attain performance objectives. It means serious loopholes in regulation and management, which has something to do with the arbitrary nature of the new technology certification/verification system.
It appears that the system of risk assessment stipulated in The Framework Act on Environmental Policy, which serves as a basic component of environmentrelated laws, and The Environmental Conservation Act, which serves as a law for protection of people’s health against environmental pollution, contributes nothing at all to the control of risks associated with environmental engineering technology due to its too abstract method of regulation.
Due to such a problem, the country needs to positively consider adopting the methods of integrated environment management that the EU uses and the diverse technological standards adopted by the United States. The proper use of diverse technological standards such as those employed by the United States will put a stop to the concern about the occurrence of other environmental risks associated with the use of improper environmental engineering technology to some extent, in addition to bringing about the reduction of environmental pollution. The adoption of the method of integrated environment management will relieve concerns about transfer of pollution to environmental media to a considerable degree by making businesses focus only on the criteria of allowable emissions under the relevant laws applying to their own facilities. In the meantime, continued efforts for the following should be made: improvement of the new technology certification/verification system; enhancement of the reliability of risk assessment; securing justifiableness of the relevant measures; provision of support for development and appraisal of environmental engineering technology, and; legislation of reinforcement of risk communication.
In addition, this study attempted to find out solution of risk management of the environment engineering technology that was not researched in all of the countries. So, the study investigated criminal justice theory of post modern safety country that was background and that ‘modern’ liberalism law-abiding country’s criminal law made change to be ‘modern’ social welfare country’s criminal law and then to be ‘post modern’ safety country criminal law, and to investigate risk criminal law theory. The environment engineering technology accepted environment engineering technology that was new technology in modern society (Ulrich Beck) took small scaled risk to avoid large-scaled risk of environmental contamination to be similar to emergency evacuation not to overcome by traditional criminal law theory that risk criminal law theory worried about. The pursuit of safety country could be not only flow of the times but also reaction of the history so that classification of times of the study was not needed.
Therefore, unrest of environment engineering technology could be that toward unknown thing and that toward men. To overcome unrest, two ways were used:
Unrest toward men was resolved according to traditional principles of the criminal law concerning emergency evacuation, that is to say, 1) principle of justice of the goal, 2) principle of appropriateness of means, 3) principle of superior benefit.
The study suggested alternatives of criminal policy supplementarily from point of view of sanction on the condition that good system could assure of safety of environment engineering technology. The criminal justice policy of environment engineering technology needed not to introduce special law of criminal law, and it could play role by legislation of common matters of criminal law concerning scientific technology. Concern about risk society was thought not to be persuasive at environment engineering technology.