States are encouraged to take an early and comprehensive approach to assessing their individual capabilities to implement an MEA that is under negotiation. This process frequently requires an assessment of existing laws and institutions in light of the pending agreement and a clear evaluation of what steps may be necessary before the State becomes a Party to the agreement. The earlier and more completely a State engages in this assessment and evaluation, the better are its chances to achieve full compliance with the MEA in a timely manner. Ideally, the assessment should begin before negotiations commence in order to allow the State to identify its goals and what it desires the pending MEA to achieve. It can be helpful for the assessment of domestic capabilities to continue through the negotiations, as the negotiations may raise the possibility of different options that were not foreseen in the initial assessment.
Among other factors, a State should assess whether there are any structural, institutional, legal, economic, or other national policy factors that may affect its ability to comply with the provisions of the MEA at the national, provincial (as appropriate), and local levels. This exercise should involve all relevant government and regulatory bodies whose authority involves the subject matter of the pending MEA. States that regulate environmental matters primarily or partially at the sub-national or local level may need to focus more heavily on ensuring internal cooperation and coordination, so that all government bodies regulating environmental matters are involved in this assessment. The federal States of the United States, Canada, and Australia offer useful examples of how this has worked in practice.
In addition to assessing domestic capacity to implement MEAs, States have developed approaches to assess the environmental, social, and economic impacts of trade agreements. This approach is called a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA), and is discussed below. Note that while SIA does not specifically address domestic capacity to implement MEAs, the methodology — which looks at the existing legal and institutional arrangements and potential implications of different policy options in international (trade) agreements — could be adapted to the context of assessing domestic capacity for adopting and implementing MEAs.