The Marine Strategy Framework Directive: A New European Approach to the Regulation of the Marine Environment, Marine Natural Resources and Marine Ecological Services

Abstract

This article reviews the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which requires the Member States of the European Union (EU) to put in place measures to achieve and maintain good environmental status of marine waters by 2020. Apart from redressing a long-standing lacuna in EU law, the Directive is also the first concerted attempt by the EU to apply an ecosystem-based approach in the regulation and management of the marine environment, marine natural resources and marine ecological services. The legislative history, conceptual approach, structure and content of the Directive, as well as some of its unique regulatory features, are discussed here. This article concludes that the Directive is primarily focused on harmonising the regulatory and administrative activities of the Member States and that it is too early in the transposition process to identify the practical impacts of the new instrument on the activities of offshore industries and businesses. The Directive nonetheless has the potential to become the principal source of marine environmental management measures in the EU for many decades to come.