Details
- Offers a critical assessment of the legal principles at work in the enforcement of EC environmental law
- Challenges the conventional wisdom that the general principles of rights and remedies in EC law are not applicable to environmental law
- Features a comprehensive analysis of the case law, including coverage of enforcement before national courts, the European courts, and enforcement by the Commission
It is widely accepted that the future development of environmental law depends not on further legislation, but on more effective enforcement. Within the EC legal system, the conventional view is that the enforcement deficit is due to the fact that the environment is distinct from other fields of Community law. EC environmental law normally does not confer rights on individuals and may therefore not be judicially enforced in the same manner as rules concerning the internal market, competition and gender discrimination.
The Enforcement of EC Environmental Law
explores and challenges this assumption. Drawing from constitutional aspects of EC law, the author examines to what extent the general case law on procedures and remedies may be transposed to the field of environment, whilst at the same time taking stock of the existing environmental case law and the distinctive features of environmental legislation. In a critical exposition and assessment of 50 years of jurisprudence by the European Court of Justice as well as recent legislative developments, the author explores the potential of enforcement of environmental law through law suits by individuals as well as the European Commission. By demonstrating that the environment is not so different from other fields of law in terms of rights and remedies, the book provides not only new insights to the enforcement of EC environmental law but also to the central characteristics of Community constitutional law.
Readership: Scholars and students of EC and international environmental law, and the EU legal system more generally. Practitioners involved in litigation on matters of EC environmental law.
1: Introduction
Enforcement
Rights
Evolution
2: EC Environmental Law in the National Legal Order
Introduction
Direct effect
Consistent interpretation
Duties on national courts and authorities
Conclusion
3: Judicial Review before National Courts
Introduction
Jurisprudential harmonization of procedural law
The Aarhus Convention and implementing EC legislation
Procedural requirements
Acts susceptible to review
Standing
Grounds and intensity of review
Legal consequences and basic remedies
Interim relief
Reparation on the basis of direct effect
State liability
Sanctions
Conclusion
4: Preliminary References
Introduction
General conditions
Interpretation
Judicial review
Sanctions
Conclusion
5: Judicial Review before Community Courts
Introduction
Direct and individual concern
Internal review
Judicial review
Interim relief
Community liability
Conclusion
6: Enforcement by the Commission
Introduction
Article 226 EC
General and persistent (GAP) infringements
Article 228 EC
Structural deficits
Rights of private parties
Horizontal enforcement
The complementary role of private enforcement
7: Conclusion
Introductory remarks
Private enforcement against national authorities and private parties
Private enforcement against Community institutions and bodies
The Aarhus Convention
Recommendations
Final conclusion
Pål Wennerås, Advocate, Attorney General of Civil Affairs, Norway
Contributors:
Dr Pål Wennerås, advocate in the office of the Attorney General of Civil Affairs, Norway
"Wenneras is an excellent and original thinking young scholar, whose doctrinal genius never gets in the way of his passion for what EC law can mean for the environment. By situating this very technical aspect of EC law in the equally complex context of the Community's environmental policy, this book in many respects is more informative and challenging than existing legal literature that approaches remedies in a policy vacuum. Conversely, compared to the current literature focusing specifically on remedies in EC environmental law, the added value of this book stems from the contribution it makes to suggesting ways out of the enforcement paralysis that undermines its effectivenessWenneras deserves full praise for this original and important book." - Han Somsen, Common Market Law Review 46, 2009
"...provides a clearly written and well-argued case for a change of approach. Given the ever-increasing importance of European envoronmental law...the book has a potentially wide readership which will doubtless benefit from reflecting on the assumptions it challenges and the recommendations it makes." - Environmental Law & Management
