Introduction

The EU is currently engaged in far-reaching regulatory activity over a broad range of areas relating to environmental protection, many of which are not confined to the borders of Europe – pollution control, nature conservation and biodiversity, town and country planning, waste (including the ‘end of life’ of some products), ozone depletion, regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), protection of endangered species and rainforests, and climate change. This accretion of environmental law has been a key trend in the European Community (EC) since the early 1970s, when the (then) European Economic Community (EEC) pledged in its First Environmental Action Programme (1973) primarily to enact legislation to combat existing pollution. This was a significant goal, but of only marginal importance when compared to the over-riding aims of the European body politic at that time, which was concerned with fostering economic growth and competition in the Community by the establishment of a common market. Nevertheless, during its relatively short history, the environmental law of the EC has deployed the full scope of available legal instruments and regulatory techniques over a wide range of policy areas. Importantly, EC environmental law has also operated as a testing ground for principles (particularly subsidiarity and integration) and regulatory techniques (most notably environmental impact assessment (EIA)) before they have been applied to the core areas of Community policy.