IMPEL was founded in 1992 as an informal network of European supervisory authorities and institutions. IMPEL is a unique network in its focus on the implementation and enforcement of environmental law, and its work was significantly presented within The Sixth Environment Action Programme of the EU. The most significant achievement of IMPEL was the preparation of Recommendation 2001/331 of the European Parliament and the Council of April 4, 2001. Due to the sustainability of the financing of the network, it was decided to change the statute of the organization and in 2008 IMPEL became an international non-profit association. The association continued the activities of the existing informal network and continues to work in the same spirit. EU member countries, EU acceding and candidate countries and Norway became members of the association just as it was the case for the informal network. Switzerland became a member in 2011, Kosovo and Albania were accepted in 2014. As of January 1, 2022, 55 environmental authorities in 36 countries are members of IMPEL, including 28 EU member countries, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as Serbia, Turkey, Iceland, Kosovo, Albania, Switzerland and Norway.
Gerard Wolters became the first chair of the IMPEL Board and Terry Shears became the vice-chair. IMPEL management representatives are regularly elected at the General Assemblies held twice a year. At the General Assembly in December 2021 in Ljubljana, which took place via video conference due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ana Garcia from Portugal was elected as chair, Jean-Luc Perrin from France as vice-chair for projects and Kristina Rabe from Germany as vice-chair for administration and finance.
As part of the enforcement and implementation of environmental law, IMPEL is committed to contributing to the effective application of EU environmental legislation through capacity building, raising awareness, sharing good practice, providing handbooks and tools, promoting cooperation to provide feedback to legislators and regulators on the practicality and enforceability of environmental legislation.
There are several ways in which IMPEL can help strengthen the implementation of environmental legislation in Europe, including:
- helping countries to achieve compliance faster, for example by sharing knowledge, skills and best practices and conducting peer reviews;
- helping the implementing organizations to use their limited resources more effectively, for example by developing technical guidance and promoting the use of risk-based approaches to targeted efforts;
- coordination of measures between countries, for example in the enforcement of regulations to combat the illegal transboundary movement of waste;
- facilitating communication between different actors and networks, for example prosecutors, judges and ombudsmen;
- informing about the policy with practical experience and expertise.
The establishment of IMPEL as an organization with legal subjectivity had been considered for several years in the longer term. The status of a formal organization appeared to be advantageous not only from the perspective of the activity financing system, but also from the perspective of ensuring continuity of activity and the growing need for cooperation with other organizations. As a formal international association, IMPEL has greater flexibility, visibility and autonomy, and has gained a better position in obtaining funds for IMPEL's main activity - the implementation of projects. Its own projects, as well as external ones, in which it participates or provides patronage.
The transformation of the network into an independent international association of environmental authorities created the need to reshape IMPEL's relationship with the European Commission. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between IMPEL and the Commission on September 15, 2009, which recognizes IMPEL's role in improving the implementation and enforcement of EU environmental legislation and describes the cooperation between IMPEL and the Commission in this area. The European Commission remains an important sponsor of IMPEL. Since 2008, the Commission has financially supported IMPEL through the LIFE+ Regulation. In the field of international waste transport, IMPEL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and is a member of the Environmental Network for Optimizing Regulatory Compliance on Illegal Traffic (ENFORCE).
In December 2015, IMPEL also formalized its cooperation with the THEMIS network by signing a Memorandum of Understanding.
At the second meeting of EU environmental law enforcement networks in Oxford (UK) in September 2017, IMPEL signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE) and Envicrimenet.
IMPEL also actively cooperates with other strategic partners such as the EU Forum of Judges for the Environment (EUFJE) and the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI).