The ECJ's 'Hard' Control over Compliance with International Environmental Law: Its Procedural and Substantive Aspects

Author: Shigeta, Yasuhiro¹

Source: International Community Law Review, Volume 11, Number 3, September 2009 , pp. 251-305(55)

Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, an imprint of Brill

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Abstract:

This study shows that the ECJ, while not directly applying and interpreting environmental treaties, exercises procedurally and substantively 'hard' control over compliance with EC legislation implementing those treaties, in the fields of nature conservation and hazardous waste management, on certain conditions and within certain limits. This study also shows that the ECJ's acknowledgment of its exclusive jurisdiction on the marine environment as seen in the 2006 MOX Plant case has contradictory effect on its substantively 'hard' control: such acknowledgment, although being a plus factor where there is no Community measure, becomes a minus factor since it in practice means that there already exist Community measures. Although the above observations are also instructive to other international judiciaries' study, structural and situational differences should be considered.

Keywords: COMPLIANCE CONTROL; INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW; EU LAW; ECJ; NATURE CONSERVATION; HAZARDOUS WASTE; EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION; MOX PLANT CASE

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1163/187197309X460555

Affiliations: 1: Associate Professor, Osaka Gakuin Univ., Japan

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