EG-Umwelthaftungsrichtlinie und deutsches Recht – Struktur der Richtlinie und Hinweise für die Umsetzung –

Der Beitrag untersucht die Struktur der Umwelthaftungsrichtlinie 2004/35/EG (UHRL) und analysiert den Gesetzentwurf zu deren Umsetzung, den das Bundesumweltministerium (BMU) am 4.3.2005 vorgelegt hat. Er erg?nzt den Beitrag von Führ/Lewin/Roller NuR 2006, 67 ff., der den auf die Biodiversit?t bezogenen Aspekten der Richtlinie gewidmet war. Es werden die zentralen Regelungen der Richtlinie beleuchtet, namentlich die Definition des Umweltschadensbegriffs, die Vermeidungsund Sanierungsvorschriften und ihr Verh?ltnis zu der Kostentragungspflicht des Betreibers sowie die Ausnahmetatbest?nde des Art. 8 Abs. 3, 4. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser strukturellen Analyse wird der Gesetzentwurf des BMU untersucht. Der Beitrag kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass der Gesetzentwurf grunds?tzlich geeignet ist, die Umwelthaftungsrichtlinie in deutsches Recht umzusetzen, regt aber Verbesserungen an und unterbreitet Empfehlungen für die erg?nzende Umsetzung durch die L?nder.     

Action oriented strategic planning: The concepts of infrastructure and functional domains

The problem is how to translate limited and uncertain knowledge about the future environment into operational strategic policy decisions. Because the strategic policy decisions must be made with a long time perspective in mind (10 to 10 years), planners tend to formulate strategies which are overly broad. A solution to the broad and uncertain approach is to employ a system that relys upon the use of the infrastructure. When the infrastructure is divided into permanent and complete societal functions, then specific opportunities can be presented to the organization. Examples of functional domains that may be relevant to strategic long-range planning are: industrial capabilities, pieces of legislation, regulation and training. Our knowledge about evolving world trends is usually available in functional terminology (i.e., the evolving “information society”, the “leisure society”, the “energy crisis”, and the “food crisis”, etc.) Knowledge about the future behavior of the Functional Domains may enable organizations such as governments and/or corporations, to create the required infrastructure for capitalizing on possible opportunities.     

High-temperature superconductivity research: an indicator of national science-and-technologypolicy responsiveness

High-temperature superconductivity has been used as a probe for evaluating science and technology policy-making in various countries. Differences in response time and behavior have been detected among the three main actors: The US, Japan, and EEC. While the US had by far the highest response rate, national research laboratories and the universities with extensive government grants responded significantly slower than did corporate research laboratories and universities with less government support. The study suggests that dependency on large governement contracts dampen the ability to make quick decisions and change policy direction mid-stream. In Europe, the response process has been slow and indicates a need to re-evaluate science policy to increase responsiveness to major events.     

Bureaucratic innovation in urban government: A policy model

The paper reports the results of a study examining the diffusion of innovations across four different units of local government. Using partial correlation coefficients to test a hypothesized model, the variables were successful in explaining the adoption of process innovations but showed limited success in explaining product adoptions. Socioeconomic variables were not found to be significant direct determinants of innovation. Demands for innovations, organizational characteristics, and the organizational environment were much more important predictors of the use of innovations by local governments.