EU Environmental Law, Governance and Decision-Making. By Maria Lee

Abstract

EU Environmental Law, Governance and Decision-Making should be on the reading list of any researcher, teacher and student of European Union (EU) environmental law. The 2014 edition updates the previous book EU Environmental Law: Challenges, Change and Decision-Making (2005, Hart Publishing) and introduces new material. ‘EU Environmental Law, Governance and Decision-Making’ provides in 10 chapters a concise yet comprehensive and critical introduction to key cross-cutting themes and substantive areas of EU environmental law. The book’s discussion spans an analysis of EU primary and secondary legislation, as well as in-depth analysis of key cases decided by the European Courts. More specifically the book provides an account of the formal legal framework for EU environmental standards, in particular the primary Treaty law relevant to the protection of the environment, with the first chapter on this topic also including a discussion of the significance of the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights to EU environmental law. The subsequent chapters develop further key themes that provide insights into EU environmental law as a particular type of environmental decision-making. Among these are the often contested role of experts, politics and institutions in environmental decision-making, the pursuit of sustainable development through EU environmental law, as well as a scene-setting chapter on ‘instruments and governance’. The latter introduces the reader to topical developments in environmental regulation, such as the use of economic incentive instruments, voluntary regulation as well as information as a tool of regulation. There are two further chapters that discuss cross-cutting themes, one on participation in environmental decision-making in the Member States, which focuses on the application of environmental assessment, including Strategic Environmental Assessment. A further chapter discusses participation in environmental decision-making at the EU level, which extends also to a discussion of access to information at the EU level as a precursor for the meaningful exercise of rights to participation.