Environmental policy European Communities

Integrated Product Policy Building on Environmental Life-Cycle Thinking (2003) European Communities, Report No. 302, Brussels, Belgium. 

European Council (2008) Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the council of 16 December 2008 on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy, amending and subsequently repealing council directives 82/176/EEC, 83/513/EEC, 84/156/ EEC, 84/491/EEC, 86/280/EEC and amending directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. Official Journal of the European Communities... 

Council of the European Communities (2008) Decision 2008/105/EC on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy. Off J Eur Community L 348 84... 

In 2000, the European Commission issued a communication on the precautionary principle (EU 2000), in which it adopted a procedure for the application of this concept. The precautionary principle is not defined in the treaty, which prescribes it only once - to protect the environment. But in practice, its scope is much wider, beyond that of environmental policy, and, specifically where preliminary objective scientific evaluation, indicates that there are reasonable grounds for concern that the potentially dangerous effects on the environment, human, animal, or plant health may be inconsistent with the high level of protection chosen for the Community. The precautionary principle is implemented, for example, in the EU food law and also affects, among others, policies relating to consumer protection, trade and research, and technological development. 

EU (2008). Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 estabhshing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy. Directive 2008/56/EC. 

In a description of environmental problems, the coherence between processes in all compartments and organisms belonging to the compartments should be considered. Environmental policy in the past was often focused on a single compartment there was no international agreement on the selection of criteria for priority pollutants (I). This situation is illustrated by the number of priority pollutants selected by authorities in the European community and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The European community lists 126 priority pollutants, and the USEPA lists 114 59 pollutants are common to both lists (I). 

Commission of the European Communities. 2000. Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Environmental Quality Standards in the field of water policy and amending Directive 2000/60/EC. 

Heyvaert, Veerle (2006) Guidance without constraint assessing the impact of the precautionary principle on the European Community s chemicals policy. In Etty, T (ed) Yearbook of European Environmental Law, vol 6. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 

There has also been a shift in governmental use of policy tools from input to output centred instruments (Pierre and Peters 2000), with evaluations and inspections being examples of two policy instruments that have grown in importance (Johansson 2006). It has also been suggested that these changes have been fostered by the expansion of the European Union, mainly because regulations are the EU s most common policy instrument (Majone 1996). Regulations dominate within the area of environmental policy in Europe, even if economic and communicative policy instruments also are used (Mac Neil et al. 2002). 

The Environment and the European Community, The Analysis of Political Integration, European Integration and Environmental Policy, Eds., J.D. Liefferink, P. Lowe and A.P.J. Mol, Belhaven Press, London, UK 1997, 2, 1. 

The most well-known legal principle in the field of chemicals policy is the Precautionary Principle it is so well-known that it hardly requires any further introduction here. It was introduced into EU environmental law through the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. The principle s value as a guide for decision making in different policy areas is often questioned, and some analyses of its impact on EU chemicals policy indicate that its influence is not that significant (Heyvaert, 2006), though it can be hard to determine exactly how influential the principle has been for important law cases from the Court of Justice of the European Communities. 

The next step was to demonstrate, on a large scale, the feasibility of the processes developed at laboratory scale to separate and purify the waste solvent streams into their original components for reuse. An offer of co-financing was received from the European Union s LIFE — environment. LIFE (Financial Instrument for the Environment) is a financial instrument used by the European Commission to support the development and implementation of the Community environmental policy as described in their Fifth Community Action Programme. 

On 2 October 2002, the EC published a Communication to the Council of the EU and the European Parliament entitled Towards a strategy to protect and conserve the marine environment (COM (2002) 539), which sets out objectives and related actions (European Commission, 2004a). The Commission Communication represents the first Step in the incremental development of the European Marine Strategy for the protection and conservation of the marine environment. The Environment Council Conclusions of 4 March 2003 welcomed the Commission Communication, endorsed the approach and the outline of its objectives and requested an ambitious Strategy by 2005. Currently a proposal for a directive establishing a Framework for Community Action in the field of Marine Environmental Policy (Marine Strategy Directive or MSD) is on the table awaiting final approval by the parliament and the Commission (European Commission, 2005). 

CLRTAP and its protocols set a precedent for international environmental policy that the European Community adopted to a large extent. The following sections review the development of EU environmental policy and then highlight the linkages between the two institutions policies and policy development. 

The 5th ECEP s goals were first, to follow through with the Community s commitments set in the Single European Act of 1986 to develop and implement effective environmental policy, and second, to fulfill the Maastricht Treaty s objective of promoting sustainable growth while respecting the environment. (EUROPA website)... 

Since the late 1980s, acid rain politics has been a matter taken up increasingly aggressively by the European Communities, the pillar of the European Union that addresses economic and environmental cooperation. The European Council of Environmental Ministers and the European Commission have come to play increasingly important roles in shaping acid rain policy measures in Europe. The European Council of Environmental Ministers brings together the environmental ministers of the member states to set the... 

Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, Integrated Product Policy Building on Environmental Life-Cycle Thinking, Commission of the European Communities, June 2003 ENDS, The wheels of integrated product policy grind slow, July 2003, 342, 28. 

Within the UK, environmental protection is embodied in overarching statutes, e.g., the Environmental Protection Acts of 1990 and 1995, which require both an integrated approach, as embodied in the European Community Water Framework Directive, and a precautionary approach, as embodied in the 1999 Pollution Prevention and Control Act. Statutes are supported by Government Circulars and statements of policy, codes of practice, and orders and policies from agencies such as the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive. 

Knill, C. and A. Lenschow, 2005. Compliance, communications and competition patterns of EU environmental policy making and their impact on policy convergence. European Environment 15,114-128. 

Environmental policy in all European NATO countries, with reference to legal regulations about recycling, are nearly the same as the environmental policy in European Community, EC. ... 

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