Contents

[close]

ENV L REV 11 (2009) 150

Devolution as a Barrier to Environmental Reform: Assessing the Response to the Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland
Sharon Turner

In June 2007 the Review report, Foundations for the Future: A Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland, was launched into a completely changed political landscape ... Foundations for the Future acknowledged that the newly devolved Government of Northern Ireland would be confronted with the challenge of dealing simultaneously with a considerable backlog of unmet social, environmental and economic needs ... While Britain and the rest of Europe engage in the struggle to come to terms with the intensifying threat of climate change and global recession, devolution in Northern Ireland has not yet matured into a political framework within which issues beyond the traditional regional agenda can be addressed.

[close]

[close]

ENV L REV 11 (2009) 161

Environmental Law, the Black Sheep in Rome II's drive for Legal Certainty? Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 864/2007 on the Law Applicable to Non-Contractual Obligations in Context
Emmanuel Guinchard and Simone Lamont-Black

Early in 2009, the Rome II Regulation on the Law Applicable to Non-Contractual Obligations entered into force in the European Community. As the very first European Regulation on choice of law, it finally enables Environmental Lawyers to refer to a single primary source throughout the EC when dealing with conflict of laws issues, i.e. cases having a foreign element such as trans-boundary pollution cases, rather than asserting the law applicable according to the numerous Member States private international laws. This article focuses on the rules relating to environmental damage and in particular on Article 7 which appears to be the 'black sheep' of Rome II. In contrast to Rome II as a whole, Article 7 has no real background in European tradition, it is expressly grounded in Community law, and last but not least it deliberately creates uncertainty. Despite its character as an inverse mirror of the system of Rome II, Article 7 is a welcome solution in the interest of protection of the environment and reinforces Community policies in the absence of further harmonisation in this field since the burden of uncertainty falls on the alleged polluter for the purpose of deterrence.

[close]

[close]

ENV L REV 11 (2009) 173

Equator Principles and Social Rights: Incomplete Protection in a Self-Regulatory World
Nigel Clayton

The new equator principles EP2 now require lending banks, which have signed up to EP2, and also the borrower, to take account of the social rights of affected communities as provided by the rules in EP2. However, there continue to be criticisms by NGO's of individual EP2 banks, in particular, criticisms of the monitoring by EP2 banks of the covenants entered into by the borrower. There are also ongoing concerns by NGO's as to the transparency of certain actions of individual EP2 banks, with allegations that some individual EP2 banks are not complying with the provisions in EP2. A statutory system of regulation might address these issues. However, such a system is unlikely to be introduced on a world-wide basis. It is also unclear whether a statutory system would give better protection to affected communities. EP2 requires that affected communities are consulted. However, it is not necessary for the affected community to agree to the project in order for it to go ahead. It is suggested that this is a fundamental weakness in EP2. The balance in EP2 is tilted so as to enable such projects to happen even if the affected community does not wish for the particular project to take place. Again, it is unclear whether a statutory system of regulation would give greater protection to affected communities.

[close]

[close]

ENV L REV 11 (2009) 196

The New Directive on the Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide
Carrie Bradshaw

The Directive focuses on addressing the storage of CO2, opting to regulate capture and transport within existing regimes. Uncertainty as to the legality of CCS posed by existing EC legislation concerning water and waste is clarified. This note will provide a brief overview of the Directive and outline some of the key difficulties in the approach it adopts, starting with capture and transport before turning to storage.

[close]

[close]

ENV L REV 11 (2009) 204

Effective Implementation of Directives on Environmental Law: Re-Opening the Court's Regulatory Tool-Box: Case C-121/07 European Commission v France
Brian Jack

The present case was the first test of the Commission's new enforcement strategy before the European Court of Justice. The importance of the issues raised is testified by the fact that the case was heard by the full Grand Chamber of the Court.

[close]

[close]

Links to other issues

Volume 2 (2000) :   4

Volume 3 (2001) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 4 (2002) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 5 (2003) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 6 (2004) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 7 (2005) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 8 (2006) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 9 (2007) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 10 (2008) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 11 (2009) :   1   2   3

[close]