Chapter 2. The Legal Framework for European Community (EC) Action to Protect and Preserve the Marine Environment

Abstract

This chapter provides some general remarks on the main elements which makes the European Community (EC) system a “new legal order of international law”, including its legal subjects, sources, institutional framework, instruments, decision-making processes and compliance mechanisms. It focuses on European environmental law and the capacity of the Community to take action at the internal and international levels concerning matters related to the protection and preservation of the marine environment. With the development of the European integration process and the further amendments of the original Treaty, the European Economic Community (EEC) evolved into a wider entity, which includes, inter alia, environmental protection among its primary objectives. The Community, unlike states, does not have “sovereignty” or “jurisdiction” but only powers which are attributed to it, explicitly or implicitly, by its member states.Keywords: European Community (EC); European Economic Community (EEC); European environmental law; European integration process; marine environment; member states