The departmental investigation of the Ministry of the Environment identified deficiencies related to the movement of information on the oil pollution within the area of government of the Ministry. The investigation conducted in the Ministry of the Environment gave a legal assessment of the competence of different departments and offices. According to the assessment, the Estonian Border Guard Administration is responsible for the detection, removal and notification of marine pollution. In the case of environmental offences, the Environmental Inspectorate is responsible for offence proceedings and conducting primary procedures in the course of environmental criminal matters. During the inspection of matters related to the pollution discovered on 28 and 29 January on the north-west coast of Estonia, evidence has been collected and officials involved in the events have been interviewed. The analysis of the collected data revealed that the officials of the Environmental Inspectorate had enough information on the extent of the pollution to classify this pollution as an emergency. The inspection revealed that the Environmental Inspectorate behaved correctly and lawfully in processing the pollution case. Deficiences were found in the activities of the Environmental Inspectorate in informing the Ministry of the Environment and the general public. The administration of the Ministry (the Minister, the Secretary General and the Leader of the Crisis Management Team) were not informed of the marine pollution in time and a sufficiently clear assessment of the extent of the pollution was not given. The investigation revealed that adequate information necessary for assessing the situation and providing the required information was available already on 29 January. As a result of these deficiencies the Environmental Inspectorate significantly damaged the reputation of the Ministry of the Environment. In addition, the Environmental Inspectorate disregarded an important principle of public administration: informing the general public. An assessment of the fax message received from the tanker vessel Flawless was not given in the course of supervisory control due to the lack of evidence of the possible relatedness of this vessel to the pollution. The Marine Rescue and Coordination Centre of the Estonian Border Guard Administration as the first authority to receive this fax message was able to give an assessment of the circumstances described in this message. The summary of supervisory control has been forwarded to the Minister who will decide in the days ahead who should be punished and how.
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