It is a truism that there is no legislator at the global level identical to the legislator at the national level. The principle of state sovereignty is difficult to reconcile with the idea of a world legislator. This was true in previous centuries. It is still true at the beginning of the 21st century. The role of the state is predominant in the development of international law, whether it is through treaties, customary law or any other source of international law. International law is first and foremost made by states.

The European Community and the law of treaties together represent a rather vast topic, which can be approached from various angles. In this article, the topic will be studied from the angle of the law of treaties rather than that of Community law, and the reason is largely that recent developments in Community law shed an interesting perspective on the law of treaties.

In this article, the meaning and scope of the legal personality of the European Communities will be discussed. As a complementary exercise the question will be raised if the European Union as such is in the possession of a similar capacity.

In nearly every area of environmental protection the question of economic instruments, which may range from trade restrictions to levies for environmental purposes, has been raised. This also holds true for the area of climate change. In the negotiations leading to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, the use of economic instruments was at the very centre of the debates. Although a number of economic mechanisms have been included in the Kyoto Protocol itself, the discussion concerning the use of economic instruments for purposes of combating climate change continues.