The Industrial Licensing Act provides that the municipalities entitlement to concession power may be brought up for review by Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (‘NVE’) 20 years after the concession was granted (13).

Then at the provincial level the key instrument within Ontario is the Water Resources Act, which prohibits out-of-basin water transfers; and within Quebec it's the Water Resources Preservation Act, which prohibits out-of-province water transfers.

Key EU initiatives to foster resource conservation and biodiversity include: ongoing implementation of the air quality and water framework directives as well as the Birds and Habitats directives; the implementation of the New European Fisheries Fund; the Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection; the "Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Initiative".

31. Considers that water abstraction must be by law in line with concerns which take environmental protection into account and sustainable development, thus maintaining water-dependent eco-systems and the capacity of the resource to meet demands of future generations, e.g. rate of replenishment of groundwater, levels of consumption and remaining amounts; legal authorisations and permits for large scale public and all commercial abstraction of water may be granted only after careful examination of abstraction body by the water authorities in the Member States;

It has entered into a public process to review how licenses are to be granted pursuant to the Ontario Water Resources Act, which states “The purpose of this regulation is to provide for the conservation, protection and wise use and management of Ontario's surface water because Ontario's water resources are essential to the long term environmental, social and economic well-being of Ontario”.