The Implementation of European Environmental Directives: Are Problems Caused by the Quality of the Directives?

Abstract

European Directives must be implemented in national legislation. Given the large amount of infringement procedures before the European Court of Justice, many mistakes are being made in this implementation process. Problems concerning the quality of Directives, such as a lack of coherence between Directives, unclear terms and definitions, questions concerning the scope of Directives et cetera, are not felt at the European level, but place the Member States in a difficult position when implementing the Directives. This article shows how these factors contribute to the occurrence of implementation problems in the field of environmental law. These problems cannot be solved by the Member States, but should be taken into account in the legislative process at the European level.

The transfer of Building with Nature approach in the context of EU Natura 2000

“…In accordance with Article 226 of the EC Treaty, the Commission can enforce sanctions against member states for non-compliance with the directives by referring the cases to the European Court of Justice. The European Court of Justice issued more than sixty rulings concerning the Birds Directive and forty-five rulings concerning the Habitats Directive (Beijen, 2010). Most of them were infringement procedures initiated by the European Commission for incorrect, incomplete or late transposition into national legislation, for instance in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy.…”

“…Similarly, only ecological criteria could be used to designate SACs under the Habitats Directive. Strict designation requirements of both directives explain the unwillingness of the member states to designate SPAs and SACs (Beijen, 2010).…”