The protection of the environment is arguably one of the most successful policies in the European integration project. When originally conceived, the instrument establishing the European Economic Community included no specific provision on the environment. However, this did not prevent the Community's institutions from adopting environmental legislation as early as the 1970s. The original Treaty of Rome has been amended several times since its adoption and the protection of the environment is now one of the key policies of the European Community.

EC environmental legislation has grown over the years and now represents one of the most complex and challenging legal regimes for the protection of the environment. The significant body of legislation which now exists has given rise to numerous disputes over its application and interpretation.

This collection of documents in EC environmental law comprises extracts from those EC Treaties, Regulations, Directives, Decisions and other acts of EC institutions which are essential for anyone interested in environmental protection in the law of the Member States and at the EC and international levels. This collection aims to provide practitioners, scholars and students with the essentials necessary to understand, advise upon and apply this body of law. The main objective of the volume is to bring together the principal documents in an accessible form that provides the reader with the key information on the relevant areas of law. This book also serves as a companion to the second edition of Philippe Sands' textbook Principles of International Environmental Law (2nd edition, 2003, Cambridge University Press) and to Sands and Galizzi's Documents in International Environmental Law (2nd edition, 2004, Cambridge University Press).