The aim of this study is to analyze the consequences of the fact that smaller businesses exempted from environmental requirements when starting a new business (in this case limited to car repairs), often are prioritized away in the municipality's environmental supervision due to resource shortage. Some businesses receive a regular supervision, whereas others, with the same type of preconditions, can be left without supervision for several years. The investigated consequences mainly concern whether this results in a risk for an increased environmental impact from the businesses not visited due to lack of supervision. Other factors which are being investigated are whether the requirement for equal treatment under the Administration Act is likely to be jeopardized as a consequence of this situation. Furthermore, if the requirements for supervision provided for in the Environmental Supervision Regulation are at risk of failure to comply. Research on this problem is limited, and therefore necessary because resource shortage in environmental supervision is something that several municipalities in Sweden are facing. Another problem is that there is no guidance from advisory authorities on how these activities should be handled in needs investigations and monitoring plans. The study has been carried out in the form of a case study with delimitation to smaller businesses without trial requirements, operating in Ulricehamn and Tranemo municipalities, which share a common environmental unit. Operational supervision visits have been carried out in eight businesses where no supervision has been carried out for a long time. The results from the businesses have been compared to results from businesses with the same conditions, but where a regular supervision has taken place. The results of the comparison show that the majority of shortcomings were found in those businesses where no regular supervision had been carried out. The highest percentage of deficiencies were found in the categories "self-monitoring control" and "emission to water". The result indicates that there is an increased environmental impact due to the fact that certain types of environmentally hazardous businesses are continuously being prioritized away, which in the long run can lead to the goal of a sustainable development being affected. The result of this study can be used as a tool for municipalities in the processes of prioritizing resources and for the risk assessment that is included in future needs and monitoring plans, as it illustrates the increased environmental impact arising due to the lack of supervision.

Miljöbalken är en svensk ramlag som syftar till att skydda människors hälsa och miljön på ett hållbart sätt, men i och med att balken är en ramlag kanden också ge upphov till tolkning. Förordningar och föreskrifter tillsätts för att tydliggöra miljöbalkens regler och minska detta tolkningsutrymme. Enyrkesverksam grupp som i sitt dagliga arbete kommer i kontakt med miljöbalken är miljö- och hälsoskyddsinspektörer. Denna kvalitativa intervjustudiesyftar till att undersöka hur inspektörers arbete och upplevelse av tolkningsutrymmet har förändrats sedan miljötillsynsförordning 2011:13 trädde ikraft, då förordningens syfte är att tydliggöra ansvarsfördelningen av kemikalietillsynen. Inspektörernas upplevelser av tolkningsutrymmet analyserasmed hjälp av Michael Lipskys teori om närbyråkrati. Studien visar på att majoriteten av miljö- och hälsoskyddsinspektörerna upplever ett tolkningsutrymme i miljöbalken, och att inspektörerna kandefinieras som närbyråkrater då de har ett stort inflytande på hur lagen implementeras. Resultatet visar även att det inte har skett någon förändring iinspektörernas arbete sedan miljötillsynsförordning 2011:13 trädde i kraft, vilket kan bero på en tröghet i implementeringsprocessen.