EU rules for the environment
Before environmental protection and sustainable development became fundamental objectives in EU treaties, environment policy was mainly developed through the environment action programmes that laid down EU priorities in the environmental field for the next few years. Today binding environmental regulations are one of the more extensive areas of Community legislation.
The environment in EU treaties
The Single European Act of 1987 made environmental protection an explicit part of the common objectives for European cooperation. When the Treaty of Amsterdam entered into force in 1999, sustainable development became an objective with the same status as economic and social development. The European Parliament also gained codecision powers in the environmental field and consideration for the environment has to be integrated into all EU activities. The treaty that is in force today was amended most recently by the Treaty of Nice in 2003, when a declaration was adopted on the importance of promoting environmental protection both in the EU and globally.
The EC treaty currently in force states that environmental protection and the improvement of the quality of the environment shall be part of the general objectives of the EU (Article 2). It also states that the environmental protection requirements must be integrated into all Community policies in order to promote sustainable development (Article 6).
It is planned that the proposed Treaty of Lisbon will come into force on 1 January 2009. In all important respects the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty on environment, sustainable development and environmental integration correspond to the wording of the current treaty. An addition is made to Article 174 to clarify that EU environment policy at international level is to be particularly concerned with the objective of combating climate change.
Different types of environmental legislation
EU legislation in the field of the environment is based both on the treaty articles on environmental protection and on the articles intended to facilitate mobility in the internal market. The rules on environmental protection are set out in Articles 174-176 of the EC Treaty. They describe the objectives and principles of environment policy. This is the legal basis for the power of the EU to adopt legal instruments and minimum rules in the field of the environment. Article 176 states that it is possible for a Member State to introduce more stringent regulations to protect the environment, on condition that they are not contrary to fundamental EU principles.
The legal basis for environmental legislation that is adopted to facilitate the functioning of the internal market is set out in Article 95. This legislation establishes a harmonised level for environmental protection in the EU that only permits individual countries to introduce stricter requirements in certain exceptional cases.
No matter whether environmental legislation is based on the articles on the environment or the internal market, it is adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers (codecision) on the proposal of the Commission. In isolated cases EU environmental legislation has been adopted on a legal basis in, for instance, agricultural policy or trade policy, where the European Parliament only has an advisory role. The Commission's proposals in the environmental field increasingly contain higher demands for impact analyses as a result of the Commission's Better Regulation initiative. Several decisions concerning the environment are also taken by the Council of Ministers in other configurations.
About treaties
A treaty is an agreement between the governments of the member countries. It contains fundamental regulations that make up the framework for the more detailed common regulations drawn up in EU cooperation.
Treaty of Amsterdam
The EU's fundamental law that came into force on 1 May 1999. It contains additions and amendments to the treaties that form the basis for the EU.
Treaty of Nice
A new fundamental EU treaty that was adopted by the European Council in Nice in December 2000. It includes a new division of power between the Member States, based on an enlarged EU. It came into force in February 2003.
