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4700 results in Environmental law

Page 106 of 235

  • 7 - Dieselgate and the Protection of the Environment by Public Authorities

  • from Part II - Challenges Related to the Application of European Product Law
  • Edited by Eléonore Maitre-Ekern, Universitetet i Oslo, Carl Dalhammar, Lunds Universitet, Sweden, Hans Christian Bugge, Universitetet i Oslo
  • Book:
    Preventing Environmental Damage from Products
    Published online:
    21 April 2018
    Print publication:
    19 April 2018, pp 153-175

  • Summary

    In 2015, the Volkswagen company admitted it had manipulated about eleven million cars worldwide in order to hide the fact that the emissions of nitrogen oxides exceeded the legal limit. Subsequent investigations by the public authorities revealed that cars from other manufacturers had also been modified for the same purpose. The present contribution describes and assesses the steps taken by public authorities, in particular in the United States, by the EU and in some EU Member States, to ensure and enforce compliance with existing car emission ceilings. It identifies deficiencies in the enforcement system and suggests ways to improve the present situation within the EU.

  • 11 - Complexities and Conflicts in Controlling Dangerous Chemicals

  • from Part II - Challenges Related to the Application of European Product Law
  • Edited by Eléonore Maitre-Ekern, Universitetet i Oslo, Carl Dalhammar, Lunds Universitet, Sweden, Hans Christian Bugge, Universitetet i Oslo
  • Book:
    Preventing Environmental Damage from Products
    Published online:
    21 April 2018
    Print publication:
    19 April 2018, pp 276-302

  • Summary

    Endocrine disrupters or endocrine disrupting chemicals (ECDs) were recognised by the Beyond 2020 Strategy as an “emerging policy issue”. The annual costs to human health and the environment from the use of EDCs are estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of Euros in the EU alone. There is hence an acute need to reduce and prevent these risks in line with the high levels of human health and environmental protection that the EU is pursuing. The EU represents the only legal system where EDCs are explicitly addressed in laws underpinned by the precautionary principle, i.e., the REACH Regulation, the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR), and the Plant Protection Products Regulation (PPPR). However, as this chapter demonstrates, significant delays, not to mention gridlock in the regulatory plan, are being caused by the very complexity of endocrine disruptive risks, numerous legal loopholes, friction between the huge economic interests involved in the EDCs marked, and finally the need to reduce their production and use for reasons of human and environmental health. Basing the analysis on the recent legislative struggle over how EDCs should be defined, this chapter argues for of the incorporation of a precautionary stance as early the risk assessment phase.

  • 3 - Principles for the Design of a Policy Framework to Address Product Life Cycle Impacts

  • from Part I - Structural Issues Associated with Regulating the Life Cycle of Products
  • Edited by Eléonore Maitre-Ekern, Universitetet i Oslo, Carl Dalhammar, Lunds Universitet, Sweden, Hans Christian Bugge, Universitetet i Oslo
  • Book:
    Preventing Environmental Damage from Products
    Published online:
    21 April 2018
    Print publication:
    19 April 2018, pp 57-86

  • Summary

    Adopting a law-and-economics perspective on product related environmental impacts is a complex operation, because of the many diffuse emissions from the different life cycle phases, and the many laws and policies employed to address them. The emergence of the notion of the circular economy has increased these complexities, as the number of policy objectives has increased, now covering issues like product durability. This has led in turn to new regulations, including durability standards on vacuum cleaners and lighting products, but also bringing into relief the disharmony between the different environmental parameters such as product durability, on the one hand, and product energy efficiency, on the other. How an appropriate policy mix that is able to address these impacts is therefore of key concern, along with the relationship between different product parameters and different laws. In this chapter, the authors discuss principles on which an appropriate policy mix can be designed to address various life cycle impacts. The various existing laws and policies, their synergies and contradictions, are outlined first, including examples of their effect, before the authors describe principles on which a policy framework addressing product life-cycle impacts could be based.

The Law of the River
  • Transboundary River Basin Management and Multi-Level Approaches to Water Quantity Management
  • Cathy Suykens
  • Published by:
    Intersentia
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    15 April 2018
  • A healthy water sector has been identified as a crucial contributing factor in reaching and maintaining a healthy society, from an environmental, human health and economic perspective. However, freshwater resources are under increasing pressure and climate change is expected to have a substantial impact on the hydrological cycle and freshwater resources. Considering the fact that the territories of 145 States worldwide, and 60 per cent of EU territory, run through transboundary lakes and river basins, their good governance is essential in tackling the challenges ahead. To this end, solid inter-regional and international upstream-downstream cooperation mechanisms are necessary. The Law of the River takes a comparative perspective by analysing the relevant legal and policy frameworks in the European Union and the United States, with the goal of providing Critical Success Factors to transboundary river basin management. Each Critical Success Factor has resulted in a specific set of recommendations, both geared toward the level of the EU and the International River Basin Districts. The main focus of this book is on water quantity management, specifically floods, scarcity and droughts. The relevant EU requirements for water quantity management in transboundary waters (International River Basin Districts) and the way these have been implemented in a specific river basin in the EU, the Scheldt, are scrutinized. Moreover, a case study of the river basin mechanism governing the Delaware River in the United States has been conducted with the aim of identifying lessons learned for the EU. The key theme running through the book is based on the social-ecological resilience theory and the water security paradigm. This book proposes an Enhanced Cooperation Model, whereby the notion of "River Basin District Security" is set forth as a comprehensive assessment tool to be used in transboundary river basins.

  • Chapter I - Introduction

  • Cathy Suykens
  • Book:
    The Law of the River
    Published by:
    Intersentia
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    15 April 2018, pp 1-46

  • Summary

    SUBJECT AND PROBLEM DEFINITION

    1. This book deals with transboundary river basin management in the European Union, primarily from the perspective of water quantity management.

    2. Since the entry into force of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in 2000, the EU has attempted to shift the governance of water resources away from the traditional administrative boundaries toward hydrological boundaries through the river basin approach. The “sister Directive” of the WFD, the 2007 Floods Directive (FD), has also adopted this approach. The focal point of the WFD and FD is the River Basin District (RBD), which is defined as “the area of land and sea constituted by one or more river basins, including their associated groundwaters and coastal waters”. This focus is a reflection of the “principle of holistic water management at catchment level”: the management of water from source to sea, including both surface waters and associated groundwaters. For transboundary waters, the Directives require Member States to designate International River Basin Districts (IRBDs). In these IRBDs, States have a duty to cooperate through joint institutional mechanisms to attain the objectives of the Directives. As the IRBD is the natural hydrological unit, it is important that there is coherence in policies and measures within this unit. Indeed, measures promulgated upstream in one jurisdiction have an impact on the state of the water system in another jurisdiction further downstream and vice versa. The river basin approach therefore entails several legal challenges and questions. How should Member States cooperate in these IRBDs and which tools should they use?

    The first assumption of this book is that the EU legal framework is inadequately equipped to foster effective transboundary river basin management, as will be demonstrated by selected examples in the following paragraphs. The WFD stipulates, for IRBDs falling entirely within the EU, that Member States must ensure coordination with the aim of producing a single International River Basin Management Plan (RBMP). However, if Member States do not succeed in agreeing on such a single RBMP, they may adopt RBMPs covering at least the parts of the IRBD located on their territory. The same logic applies to the drafting of Flood Risk Management Plans (or FRMPs) for IRBDs. This means that the failure to jointly produce the RBMPs and/or FRMPs does not have any legal repercussions for the Member States concerned in terms of compliance and punitive measures.

  • Chapter IV - Case Study: Transboundary Water Governance in the United States with a Focus on the Delaware Basin

  • Cathy Suykens
  • Book:
    The Law of the River
    Published by:
    Intersentia
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    15 April 2018, pp 233-296

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION

    The main question with regard to river basin management relates to the identification of the mechanism or process used to address the issues inherent to transboundary water bodies, and once these are identified, the appropriateness of the level of authority at which this should be done. Inter-jurisdictional water quantity management issues have existed in the United States since the country was formed. Over time, the states and the federal level have been seeking solutions to the question how to appropriately govern water resources that cross the state boundaries, i.e. in terms of finding the appropriate scale, the material scope, and so forth. The manner in which these transboundary water resources have been managed, has undergone great changes over the past century.

    In Chapters II and III of this book, fragmentation in the context of water resources management in the EU and its Member States, here with respect to the Scheldt basin, has been identified as an important issue. Within one International River Basin District in the EU, a vast number of competent authorities operate, both at the hydrological scale and beyond, with different characteristics, e.g. in terms of legal personality, decision-making powers, levels of government, and so forth. The US has struggled with similar issues: (i) functions of the federal agencies often overlap, (ii) different aspects of water management are regulated by the states and the federal level, and where these are regulated by the federal level, they are implemented differently in the states, (iii) water quantity and water quality are governed by different institutions and there is oft en a lack of integration, and (iv) different water doctrines exist in the East and West of the country. In the US especially, different aspects of water resources management belong to competence spheres of different federal and state agencies, e.g. the EPA Office of Water is involved in broad aspects of water management, but the Drinking Water Office is involved in drinking water quality, Wastewater Office, Science/Tech Office and Watershed Management in surface water quality, and so forth.

    The primary responsibility and competence with regard to water quantity management lies with the states. The federal level has several tools to intervene, based on the Constitution and case law. Over time, the awareness grew that the Supreme Court adjudication mechanism for transboundary water disputes was wholly inappropriate, as the Court itself declared.

  • Chapter VI - Conclusions

  • Cathy Suykens
  • Book:
    The Law of the River
    Published by:
    Intersentia
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    15 April 2018, pp 345-354

  • Summary

    Since the entry into force of the WFD in 2000, the EU river basin approach has triggered an important shift in the environmental law landscape. This river basin approach brings about interesting legal challenges and opportunities. As established in the previous chapters, International River Basin Districts are subject to highly complex and fragmented multi-level governance systems. Member States sharing these International River Basin Districts are subject to EU-law requirements related to water management and need to ensure, to some extent, a coordinated implementation in these districts. This book has addressed the question to what extent the European legal framework warrants cooperation between Member States in International River Basin Districts with regard to water quantity management. The final conclusions of this book will be formulated in the sections below.

    RESILIENCE THEORY AS A TOOL FOR EVALUATION

    This book has built on social-ecological resilience theory to identify appropriate benchmarks for the evaluation of transboundary river basin management. Resilience theory is well equipped as a theoretical framework, because it revolves around finding ways for a certain legal or governance mechanism to thrive in the face of changing circumstances. River basins are inherently susceptible to such changing circumstances. Indeed, as was explained in Chapter I, several phenomena and uncertainties are associated with the management of freshwater resources. A major type of uncertainty that should be taken into account relates to the hydrological cycle and the impact of climate change on this cycle, for example changes in annual runoff, decrease of groundwater flow and the intensification of extreme events. However, climate change is not the only type of uncertainty river basin management schemes need to take into account. Other relevant factors include the performance of infrastructure relevant to the basin, economic and political volatility, demographic developments, and increased urbanisation. These phenomena are synergistic –climate refugees are a good illustration of this point.

    Six benchmarks were formulated, which constituted a clear theme throughout this book:

  • (a) Integrated river basin management at the hydrological scale and nested governance;

  • (b) Equitable and reasonable utilisation and “no harm”;

  • (c) Transfer of information across jurisdictions;

  • (d) Meaningful public participation;

  • (e) Adaptability: monitoring and opportunities for learning; and

  • (f) Effectiveness and enforcement.

  • Chapter III - ‘Come Hell and High Water’ –The Law of the Scheldt District

  • Cathy Suykens
  • Book:
    The Law of the River
    Published by:
    Intersentia
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    15 April 2018, pp 121-232

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION AND APPROACH

    GENERAL

    As explained in Chapter II, the Water Framework Directive and Floods Directive have steered requirements with regard to water management applicable to Member States along hydrological boundaries. Member States sharing the International River Basin District of the Scheldt are thus subject to these requirements. Chapter II, however, also revealed vulnerabilities in the legal framework embodying this river basin management approach.

    This Chapter will examine the institutional mechanism for water management in the Scheldt, which supplements the analysis carried out in Chapter II. The feedback loop in this regard will be explained in the section 1.2 below. The knowledge gained through the “five pillars”-structure adopted in the preceding Chapter is highly relevant to the data presented in this Chapter III. Chapter II has mapped the substantive and procedural obligations applicable to Member States, and indicated which of these are a matter of best effort and a matter of result. The Chapter has shown the “ins and outs” of the institutional mechanisms for transboundary water management, which avail themselves to the Member States. A full picture emerges through a combination of theory and practice, which is why the legal knowledge gained in Chapter II needs to be supplemented by an analysis of how these requirements have been translated into the reality of a specific river basin.

    For the sake of analysis, this Chapter will tease out one aspect of the umbrella concept of water quantity management, i.e. flood risk management, for reasons explained in detail in section 1.3.

    APPROACH TO FINDING THE SCHELDT PUZZLE PIECES

    The International River Basin District Scheldt (IRBD Scheldt) is defined as the area of land and sea, designated by the Parties to the 2002 Scheldt Treaty in accordance with the Water Framework Directive, which consists of the river basin of the Scheldt River, the related basins and the related groundwaters and coastal waters.

    The IRBD Scheldt has a surface of approximately 36,500 km2, and comprises France, Belgium (the Flemish Region, Walloon Region and Brussels Capital Region) and the Netherlands. The largest part of the Scheldt River, as pictured, runs through the Flemish Region, 32.9%, and the Walloon Region, 10.3%, in Belgium, followed by France and the Netherlands. Only a marginal proportion of the river flows through the Brussels Capital Region.

  • Chapter V - Recommendations

  • Cathy Suykens
  • Book:
    The Law of the River
    Published by:
    Intersentia
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    15 April 2018, pp 297-344

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION

    The bottleneck analysis presented in Chapter II and the evaluation of two specific river basins in Chapters III and IV allow a more normative approach in the present chapter.

    Chapter I has explained that the primary focus of this book is on the European legal framework for the governance of International River Basin Districts, from the viewpoint of water quantity management. Based on the data presented in Chapters I through to IV, stemming from the review of international, European and national legislation, jurisprudence and literature, Critical Success Factors (CSF) for transboundary river basin management have be identified. These constitute the groundwork for the specific recommendations which are geared to the EU legal framework in its capacity as facilitator of IRBD management and also to IRBDs as institutional mechanisms. The CSFs will be explained in section 1.1. The next step is to apply the lessons learned to International River Basin Districts, and the underlying EU legal framework. The recommendations associated with this application can be divided into two broad categories: addressing the EU primary law approach to water management and enhancing the cooperation in International River Basin Districts. The latter aspect can be further divided into the EU secondary law and the operationalisation at IRBD levels.

    The goal of this book is to improve river basin management in International River Basin Districts, using water quantity as an example. To this extent, this chapter will address the primary EU-law dichotomy between water quantity and water quality, because this is a prerequisite for achieving integrated river basin management. In contrast, the chapter will not present an exhaustive set of recommendations for amendments to water quantity provisions in EU secondary law, because this goes beyond the scope of this book. The recommendations associated with EU secondary law focus on the manners in which the EU legal framework can further facilitate cooperation in and management of International River Basin Districts.

    CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

    EVALUATIVE COMPARISON

    Before explaining the Critical Success Factors, it is relevant to recap the evaluation exercise and provide a schematic overview of the river basin management regimes analysed in this book.

  • Chapter II - The EU Legal Framework for Transboundary Waters with a Focus on Water Quantity Management

  • Cathy Suykens
  • Book:
    The Law of the River
    Published by:
    Intersentia
    Published online:
    12 October 2018
    Print publication:
    15 April 2018, pp 47-120

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION AND DELINEATION OF SCOPE

    This chapter analyses the European legal framework for cooperation regarding transboundary waters primarily from the viewpoint of water quantity management. As explained in Chapter I, for the purposes of readability, water quantity management is used as an umbrella term encompassing scarcity, droughts and floods. The reasons from choosing water quantity as the main lens through which transboundary water management is viewed, have been explained in Chapter I as well.

    It is noteworthy that although water quantity is teased out in this Chapter, it should not only be seen as a self-standing category but also in its relation to water quality. In other words, this Chapter will set forth the role of water quantity management in the EU legal framework, as well as its link with water quality management. For example, in the discussion of the evolution of the legal basis for “quantitative management of water resources” pursuant to the EU Treaty, the comparison with the legal basis for water quality management will be highly relevant. In contrast, this Chapter will not delve into the EU-law requirements for water quality management, i.e. the requirements aimed at combating pollution of water bodies in the EU.

    Analysing water quantity management in transboundary waters in the EU requires both an analysis of the EU primary and secondary law framework for the quantitative aspects of water resources, but also the mechanisms this framework provide to induce cooperation in these transboundary waters. Such a comprehensive, twofold, approach is necessary to identify the bottlenecks and in turn formulate recommendations at the end of this book.

    The analysis will be guided by the five pillars of transboundary water governance as identified by the Global Water Partnership: (i) scope, (ii) substantive provisions, (iii) procedural provisions, (iv) institutional mechanisms and (v) dispute settlement. These five pillars allow a comprehensive overview of all relevant aspects that form part of the framework. By using the pillars and the encompassing approach these enable to adopt, bottlenecks entrenched in said EU legal framework will be systematically identified. The chapter will both focus on the applicable EU regime for water quantity management, pursuant to primary and secondary law, and the manner in which this regime facilitates cooperation between EU Member States in shared waters.

Page 106 of 235