History of the Environmental EU Legislation
This presentation is covering the history of the environmental EU Legislation. Many of environmental issues under discussion today have a long history. Awareness of environmental issues increased generally in the 1960s. Community lawmakers recognized the need to create common standards to protect consumers in order to ensure the free circulation of goods among the Member States. After the First United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm, in 1972, the European Community adopted its fi rst, from sixth, environmental action programme (1973-1976) setting out the principles and priorities that would guide its policies in the future.
The Second environmental action programme (EAP) (1977 - 1981) a follow up to the first in terms of approach and objective, with simply a greater range of problems to be dealt with. Nature Protection received special attention. The first and second environmental action programmes set out detailed lists of actions to be taken to control board range of pollution problems. Eleven principles were listed and priorities for environmental policies, which have remained valid in subsequent action programmes.
The third environmental action programme (1982 -1986) was adopted in 1982, tried to provide an overall strategy for protecting the environment and natural resources in the European Community. It shifted the emphasis from pollution control to pollution prevention, and broadened the concept of environmental protection to include land use planning and the integration of environmental concerns into the other EC policies.
The fourth environmental action programme (1987-1992) to give substance to the new obligations for integration of the environmental dimension into other Community policies by emphasizing four areas of activity: effective implementation of existing Community legislation, regulation of all environmental impacts of ‘substances’ and ‘sources’ of pollution, Increased public access to and dissemination of information and job creation. This was an initial commitment for the strategic reorientation of environmental policies in the EC. “Sustainable development” gradually became a normative reference for environmental policy in the EU from the beginning of the 1990s onwards.
Strategic reorientation visible at the end of the 4th AP was then explicitly formulated in the Fifth Environmental Action Programme (1993 -2000). The general approach and strategy of the 5th EAP, differed from previous programmes. As its title ‘Towards Sustainability’ implies, the programme set longer term objectives and focused on a more global approach. The 5th EAP legislation in the late 90s was impressive. It included: new complex and holistic framework legislation, such as the Ambient Air Quality Directive (96/62), the Water Framework Directive (2000/60) or the IPPCDirective (1996/61), formulating an ambitious work programme for several decades.
Furthermore policy preparation at EU level became much more participatory, inviting environmental NGOs to play a role in committees, expert networks and numerous consultation processes and hence to slightly counterbalance infl uential industry lobbying at all levels of the Commission.
The 6th EAP is a decision of the European Parliament and the Council adopted on 22nd July 2002. It sets out the framework for environmental policy-making in the European Union for the period 2002-2012 and outlines actions that need to be taken to achieve them. The 6th Environment Action Programme identifi es four priority areas: climate change, nature and biodiversity, environment and health and natural resources and wastes. The 6th EAP promotes full integration of environmental protection requirements into all Community policies and actions and provides the environmental component of the Community’s strategy for sustainable development.