PART 2 chap 1 : EU Environmental Law Instruments

Overview of Legal Instruments in EU Environmental Law

• EU legislative measures cover a wide range of environmental sectors, including water, air, nature, waste, noise, and chemicals, as well as cross-cutting issues such as environmental impact assessment, access to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making, and liability for environmental damage.

Primary Legislation

• Consists of EU Treaties, including the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which contain provisions regarding the environment.
• Also includes the General Principles of EU law, which are applied by the European Court of Justice.
• General Principles of EU law include:
  • Fundamental rights (human rights)
  • Principle of proportionality
  • Principle of legal certainty
  • Principle of equality before the law
  • Precautionary principle
  • Right to a fair trial

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

• Became legally binding on EU Member States with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2009.
• Brings together the fundamental rights of everyone living in the European Union.
• Sets out the full range of civil, political, economic, and social rights.
• Divided into six titles: Dignity, Freedoms, Equality, Solidarity, Citizen's Rights, and Justice.

Secondary Legislation

• Comprises legally binding and non-binding acts, including regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations, and opinions.
• Legally binding acts are listed in Article 288 of the TFEU.
• Non-binding acts include resolutions, communications, declarations, and action programs.

Regulations

• Designed to ensure the uniform application of Union law in all Member States.
• Supersede national laws incompatible with their substantive provisions.
• Binding in their entirety and directly applicable.
• Example: REACH regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006) concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals.

Directives

• Set out a goal that all EU Member States must achieve.
• Leave it to the Member States to adopt their own national laws to reach these goals.
• Not directly applicable, requiring transposition into national law.
• Example: Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances (Seveso II Directive).

Decisions

• Binding in their entirety, but only to whom they are addressed.
• Address specific situations and may be directly applicable.
• Example: Council Decision 81/691/EEC on the conclusion of the Convention on the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources.

Recommendations and Opinions

• Do not confer any rights or obligations, but provide guidance on the interpretation and content of Union law.
• Have moral and political significance, but are not legally binding.
• Example: Commission Recommendation 2013/179/EU on the use of common methods to measure and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and organisations.

Finding and Identifying EU Secondary Legislation

• EU legislation is freely available on the EUR-Lex database.
• The EUR-Lex "simple search" screens offer searches by word, document number, date, OJ reference, CELEX number, and more.
• Since 1st January 2015, EU legislation has been given a unique, sequential number.

Overview of Legal Instruments in EU Environmental Law

• EU legislative measures cover a wide range of environmental sectors, including water, air, nature, waste, noise, and chemicals, as well as cross-cutting issues such as environmental impact assessment, access to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making, and liability for environmental damage.

Primary Legislation

• Consists of EU Treaties, including the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which contain provisions regarding the environment.
• Also includes the General Principles of EU law, which are applied by the European Court of Justice.
• General Principles of EU law include:
  • Fundamental rights (human rights)
  • Principle of proportionality
  • Principle of legal certainty
  • Principle of equality before the law
  • Precautionary principle
  • Right to a fair trial

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

• Became legally binding on EU Member States with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2009.
• Brings together the fundamental rights of everyone living in the European Union.
• Sets out the full range of civil, political, economic, and social rights.
• Divided into six titles: Dignity, Freedoms, Equality, Solidarity, Citizen's Rights, and Justice.

Secondary Legislation

• Comprises legally binding and non-binding acts, including regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations, and opinions.
• Legally binding acts are listed in Article 288 of the TFEU.
• Non-binding acts include resolutions, communications, declarations, and action programs.

Regulations

• Designed to ensure the uniform application of Union law in all Member States.
• Supersede national laws incompatible with their substantive provisions.
• Binding in their entirety and directly applicable.
• Example: REACH regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006) concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals.

Directives

• Set out a goal that all EU Member States must achieve.
• Leave it to the Member States to adopt their own national laws to reach these goals.
• Not directly applicable, requiring transposition into national law.
• Example: Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances (Seveso II Directive).

Decisions

• Binding in their entirety, but only to whom they are addressed.
• Address specific situations and may be directly applicable.
• Example: Council Decision 81/691/EEC on the conclusion of the Convention on the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources.

Recommendations and Opinions

• Do not confer any rights or obligations, but provide guidance on the interpretation and content of Union law.
• Have moral and political significance, but are not legally binding.
• Example: Commission Recommendation 2013/179/EU on the use of common methods to measure and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and organisations.

Finding and Identifying EU Secondary Legislation

• EU legislation is freely available on the EUR-Lex database.
• The EUR-Lex "simple search" screens offer searches by word, document number, date, OJ reference, CELEX number, and more.
• Since 1st January 2015, EU legislation has been given a unique, sequential number.

This quiz covers the various legal instruments in European Union environmental law, including those related to water, air, nature, waste, noise, and chemicals, as well as cross-cutting issues.