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Topic four, Part Three: protecting the EU Environment Through Implementing…
Topic four
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Principles
Preventive action principle: The EU legislator is requested to act promptly, so as to avoid the risk of
environmental damage
Precautonary principle: It requests the EU legislator not to refrain from adopting decisions until available scientific evidence has been achieved. P.ej.: Mad cow case
Polluter pays principle: polluters may be imposed taxes and fines (‘preventive action’) and are subject to the obligation to repair environmental damage that has been caused (‘reparation’)
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The external dimension of the EU high level of protection of the environment: unilateral measures and international treaties
Unilateral measures
- C- 308/06 Intertako
- C-188/07 Commune de Mesquer v. Total
- C-366/10 Air Trasport Association of America et al. v Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
International Treaties
2015 the Commision has issued a guideline document `Trade to All: Toward a more responsible trade and investment policy´
- Open markets do not require us to comprise on core principles
- The stategy is about ensuring Eu trade policy is not just about interests also about values
- Trade agreements and trade preference programs are used as levers to promote, around the world, ESG values
Part Three: protecting the EU Environment Through Implementing rules and Sanctions. The Mny Facets of the Enforcement of EU Environmental law
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EU environmental law virtually encompasses already all subject-matters
falling within a broad definition of ‘environment’
Monitoring the application of EUEL- the latest Commission Report on the "Monitoring the application of European Union law" sets the implementation of the European Green Deal on the top of EU prioritird to check MS´compliance of EU law
The EU as a privileged actor in enforcing environmental rules and standars
The EU position id "privileged" vis- à- vis somestic and international law due to:
- Wider geographic scope of application of EU law compared to national legislation
- Stronger means of enforcement compared to international law
EUEP goals
The EU treaties do not provide a legal definition of environment. Yet,
art. 191 TFEU takes a broad stance, encompassing
- The environment stricto sensu
- Human health
- Explotation of human resources
EUEP specific principles:
- integration. A backbone for combating climate change
Art. 11 TFEU
Art. 37 Charter FREU
- High level of protection
191.2TFUE
- Correction at source
Integration takes an holistic approach to EP and conditions the contents of all other other EU policies and actions
- Transport has been traditionally subject to regulatory measures to reduce emissions, acoustic pollution
- Energy policy
- Fundamental Freedoms
Before EU was entitled to enforce environmental measures, it assumed nevertheless that different environmental standards would affect fundamental freedoms – especially movement of goods and services – due to different environmental costs of firms
Against this background, the EU developed a complete set of rules initially meant to avoid regulatory competition among Member States,and thereafter fostering environmental protection as a flagship EU policy
Along these lines, `new generation´trade agreements have been concluded between the EU and third States