EU Environmental Law discusses the reality for legal practice throughout the EU, as environmental law of the Member States is becoming ever less 'national'. Consequentially European environmental regulation is becoming more complex and interrelated, making it an emerging field of study for European law graduates, and an area of increasing exposure to the legal profession. This book gives readers a thorough overview of core European environmental law, with a section on the basic framework and principles, as well as on substantive law issues giving insight into the legislation in the different sectors and the most topical developments.
This book examines issues of censorship, publicity and teenage fandom in 1950s Britain surrounding a series of controversial Hollywood films: The Wild One, Blackboard Jungle, Rebel Without a Cause, Rock Around the Clock and Jailhouse Rock. It also explores British cinema's commentary on juvenile delinquency through a re-examination of such British films as The Blue Lamp, Spare the Rod and Serious Charge. Taking a multi-dimensional approach, the book intersects with star studies and social history while reappraising the stardom of Marlon Brando, James Dean and Elvis Presley. By looking at the specific meanings, pleasures and uses British fans derived from these films, it provides a logical and sustained narrative for how Hollywood star images fed into and disrupted British cultural life during a period of unprecedented teenage consumerism.
This significant book investigates the political economy of environmental policy in Europe with a careful analysis of how EU directives are realised in the member states. The authors explore this issue through a comparative evaluation of the implementation of three pieces of EU environmental legislation in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Areas covered by the legislation include air emission standards for waste incinerators, the electricity supply industry, and the certification of environmental management systems. The results vary across cases even though overcompliance is observed in certain cases. The regularity arising from the different case studies is related to the determinants of the environmental outcomes that are observed. When environmental directives are implemented they are likely to interact with parallel policy processes and these interactions can exert a strong positive or negative influence on the success of the policy in question. The central policy problem is the fact that these interactions are very difficult to anticipate at the policy formulation stage. It leads the authors to propose that effective environmental policy should therefore be adaptable in order to cope with these unanticipated effects.
Voluntary environmental agreements (VEAs) – generally agreements between government and business – have been regarded by many as a key new instrument for meeting environmental objectives in a flexible manner. Their performance to date has, however, also led to considerable criticism, with several parties arguing that they are methods for avoiding real action that goes beyond "business-as-usual". Is either of these positions justified? The aim of this book is to highlight and learn the lessons from existing experience, looking not just at results but also at specific elements of agreements and also at the process of the agreement itself. Lessons are drawn from experience from across the world, covering the full range of environmental challenges, and from the perspective of key stakeholder groups. Importantly, the book also presents tools for assessing and improving existing agreements and includes recommendations and guidelines for future agreements in key areas such as climate change. It also deals at length with the problem of how such agreements might be used in developing and transitional economies. The overall view of the book is that there is a real potential for the future use of VEAs as part of the policy mix and as a tool for sharing the responsibility for meeting environmental objectives. For the agreements to play this role, however, significant steps are needed to ensure that they are effective, efficient, equitable and appropriately linked to a portfolio of other instruments. The book is divided into four sections. First, existing agreements, their development and efficacy are considered; second, the prospects for voluntary agreements in developing and transitional economies are discussed; third, a range of authors examine the role of VEAs as part of the policy mix to combat climate change; and, finally, the book concludes with an examination of how new tools for evaluating and improving VEAs could be utilized in the future. Voluntary Environmental Agreements will be of interest not only to academics, governments and businesses wishing to understand this specific instrument, but also to those already implementing or considering applying VEAs to meet their environmental objectives.
Taking over 10 years to develop, the new EU Water Framework Directive is the most significant legal instrument in the water field to emerge from Brussels for some time and will have a profound effect on how water is managed in Europe over the next 25 years. The book outlines its basic features. It explains how the current approach to water management will have to change in order that European Member states and those countries currently in accession negotiations can meet the requirements of the directive, describing a number of examples of current practices as possible systems which could be used in the new approach. The concept of river basin management is outlined, and the potential institutional problems associated with implementing such a system are discussed including the problems associated with cross-border river basins, a common situation in Europe. Examples of existing river basin authorities and international collaboration are given as possible models. The directive requires the establishment of programmes of measures to improve water status. Some countries already use such a concept, and examples are quoted. As a result of its implementation, the directive aims to achieve good water status in all natural surface waters and groundwater in 15 years. For surface waters, the definition of 'good' is based on a new concept of 'ecological quality' taking into account biology, chemistry and their physical features. For groundwater, it includes quantitative status. The approach taken is an integrated one which has to consider all the naturally occurring and human factors which affect the waters. The difficulties of interpretation of the new concept of 'ecological water status' are discussed and some of the examples of current biological and chemical classification schemes that are used in Europe are examined. The directive also alters the way in which pollution is to be controlled - the 'combined' approach. This concept is explained. The EU Water Framework Directive: An Introduction is an invaluable source of guidance on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive for all those concerned with water management including water quality planners and scientists, pollution control and environmental staff in the water and wastewater industries and environmental regulators who all have to adapt to the new approach to their work. Contents Introduction The EU Water Framework Directive Principal Obligations of the Directive Implementation of the Directive River Basin Districts River Basin Characteristics Environmental Objectives Programme of Measures River Basin Plans Groundwater Waters Requiring Special Protection Priority Substances Monitoring Economic Instruments Recording and Reporting Summary Timescales and Future Developments
At a time when Europeans across the continent are focused on the EU's future direction, this book provides an important contribution to the current debate. Created for reasons quite unconnected with the environment, the EU has been given a compelling new justification by the success of its environmental policy. A number of factors – including a number of threats that came to prominence in the 1980s, and the new concept of 'sustainable development' – are responsible for pushing environmental policy to the forefront of its agenda. Nigel Haigh, a leading authority on the development and implementation of EU environmental policy, traces its evolution from obscurity to centrality. Drawing on a range of articles and lectures, he demonstrates how the EU has not only adapted itself to take on entirely new subject matter, but also has contributed to solving problems which individual Member States could not have dealt with on their own. The book goes on to contextualise the issues throughout its history and offers insight into the future role of the EU in environmental matters. This book is a valuable resource for academics and scholars as well as professionals and policy makers in the areas of environment and sustainability, politics, international relations and European affairs.
Prepared by government experts from all 46 member states of the Council of Europe, this publication seeks to help promote a better understanding of the relationship between human fights and environmental issues by setting out details of relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and the principles upon which these judgements are based. These include: the right to life (Article 2), the right to respect for family life (Article 8), the right to a fair trial and access to a court (Article 6) and the right to receive and impart information and ideas (Article 10) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Reflecting the concerns over environmental sustainability, there has been an increasing focus on the protection of our water resources and on the proper management of our waste. Our economic growth can only be sustainable when it does not represent a threat to human health and to fauna, flora, and eco-system in the long-term. A long-term resilience, new business and economic opportunities, and environmental sustainability can be achieved through circular economy model that offers us a world of opportunity to rethink and redesign our economic activities and consumption patterns. With an aim to give the reader a new perspective on this issue, this book covers European Union’s water and waste management legislation and the Czech Republic’s transposition of this legislation, and includes a comparative analysis of the performances of the EU Member States on the implementation of new water and waste management policy strategies.
"Despite more than 25 years of Community Environmental Policy - which has been successful in its own terms - general environmental quality in the European Union is not recovering significantly, and in some areas, it is worsening. This present report confirms both that situation and the fact that the unsustainable development of some economic sectors is the major barrier to improvement. Up to now what has been missing has been an assessment of whether the actual economic, sectoral and environmental policies over the next decade or so will bring improvements, or whether there are trends and developments pushing us off target and seriously challenging substantial progress. This report is designed to address this issue, providing information on the current state and future trends that is of direct use for deciding on sound and effective measures to really improve and protect the environment and move towards more sustainable development."--Editor.
