欧洲新水政策及其对完善我国水污染防治法的启示

欧盟新水政策建立了相互独立的水管理系统,把所有地表水都应纳入"良好生态状况"和"良好化学状况"的一般性保护中,注意运用综合方法、水价杠杆、广泛的公众参与等保护水环境.我国水污染防治法在立法目的、公众参与、水环境管理体制等方面可以借鉴欧盟新水政策的经验加以完善.     

Judicial Review in the European Community: The Environment, Subsidiarity and the Question of Intensity

This paper examines the manner in which the EuropeanCourt of Justice has developed certain principles enunciated inthe Treaty into judicial review standards. It focuses on thelimited intensity of that review in relation to subsidiarity andthe environmental principles. The paper contends that reviewcould be intensified by use of institutional declarations on theprinciples as aids to interpretation.     

Science,Politics, and Persistent Organic Pollutants: The Role of Scientific Assessments in International Environmental Co-operation

International measures to address environmental problems increasingly rely on scientific information, and a growing number of international agreements require periodic scientific re-assessments. However, the arena of scientific assessment, governed by a combination of scientific criteria and political interests, is not well-understood, and few case studies have mapped the influence of scientific assessment on the birth and development of environmental policy issues. This article examines the role of scientific assessments and the science-politics interplay in international attempts to regulate persistent organic pollutants (POPs), focusing on the processes within the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The study shows that scientific and political activities are intrinsically linked in international POPs work. Scientific and political agendas are co-constructed with no clear boundary between the science and politics spheres. Scientific assessments played a prominent role in constructing POPs as an issue of international concern, setting agendas and shaping policies.     

Explaining differences in EMAS participation rates across Europe: the importance of institutions,incomplete information and path dependence

What factors shape environmental policies across Europe? In order to answer this question most economists would probably adopt a Public Choice approach. This approach has convincingly explained some aspects of environmental policies that exist in a similar fashion across Europe. But why do many environmental policies differ across European countries? This article argues that in order to understand differences in environmental policies in Europe North’s analysis of institutional change focusing on formal and informal institutions, incomplete information and path dependence is useful. North’s approach is applied to explain differences in a particular field of European environmental policy: The implementation of the EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. The starting point of the analysis is the observation that participation of companies in EMAS markedly differs between countries. It is shown that these differences can be explained with differences in formal and informal institutions in the three Member States, incomplete information of relevant actors, and path dependence.