The EU Regulatory Framework to Deal with the Environmental Effects of the Mining Activities - Assessing the Effectiveness

Abstract

There is no doubt that minerals are essential to human welfare, as they are critical for a wide range of economic activities. However, their extraction or even their procession is associated with significant environmental challenges and can also have social impacts when the implementation of mining projects competes with different choices of the neighboring communities concerning land-use. The main aim of this Article is, thus, to analyze whether the current EU Regulatory Framework dealing with the environmental aspects of the mining activities is effective in terms of minimizing or even avoiding their environmental impacts. After the analysis of the relevant horizontal, sectoral and specific Legal Instruments, the main conclusion is that from a general point of view the relevant EU Legislative Framework, although rather fragmented, can be evaluated as sophisticated and comprehensive in terms of dealing with the environmental impacts that come along with the mining activities in their entire life- cycle in a quite satisfactory manner. In this context, certain issues which can increase the overall effectiveness and relate, inter alia, to the extension of the scope of application of critical Directives and the strengthening of the relevant requirements, should be subject to a thorough analysis and discussion with the aim to promote sustainable mining at the EU level.