Problems of implementation and enforcement of EC environmental law at community and member state levels : France and Spain as case studies

• Main Author: Gérard, Nicole
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1998
• Subjects: 340
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.651396

Despite a considerable body of environmental legislation, environmental degradation continues. The failure of environmental legislation to attain its protective goals is in part due to the widely acknowledged poor compliance with legal provisions. This thesis aims to discern the causes of the complex phenomenon of poor implementation and enforcement of environmental rules within the framework of European Community law. A pragmatic approach has been chosen. In order to narrow the scope of the research, and yet to examine a wide spectrum of the types of problems that may arise, two very different types of Community environmental legislation have been selected: one all-encompassing and administrative in nature (the Environmental Impact Assessment directive), the other narrow and technical (the Large Combustion Plants directive). These are followed from the flaws embedded in the legal text that may give rise to subsequent problems, through difficulties inherent in implementing the rules, to enforcement where infringements are suspected. Part I examines the role played by the institutions at Community level. The first chapter deals with the decision-making process, which affects the final quality of environmental law, thereby influencing its subsequent application. Next, the involvement of Community institutions and the pressures placed upon them in monitoring the performance of Member States are investigated. The final chapter of Part I concentrates upon attempts at supra-national level to enforce these rules where infringements arise. The lion's share of implementation and enforcement tasks fall to the Member States, therefore Part II traces the same Community rules at national level. Insight into the variation that may exist across Member States is sought by following their progress in two significantly different national contexts (France and Spain). The purpose of Part II is to achieve an understanding of what happens to Community norms once injected into national legal systems, where they become national law. This implies a study of the various factors which undermine implementation, both formal and practical, and enforcement of environmental rules. Indeed, no single dramatic factor empties the Community rules of their substance or impedes their application. Rather the purpose of the Community rules is chipped away as various actions apply their discretion during the implementation and enforcement processes.