유럽 환경법의 구조와 동향에 관한 법적검토

Abstract

Article 174, Article 175 and Article 176 of the Treaty establishing the European community provides a fundamental framework for the environmental policies and laws of European community. EU environmental policies started to be actively developed and implemented since the market opening and the enforcement of laws and regulations related to industry and competition. The goal of European environment law is to improve and maintain the quality of environment, to promote a reasonable use of resources and to support environmental cooperation. Among principles of environmental policy are high protection level, prevention, precaution, polluter-pays, and a priority to pollution removal. European environmental laws are enforced by regulations and directives. Among the two, directives are preferred because they allow options for choosing means within the law of each nation. As a secondary law, directives are promulgated in relation to many areas, including environmental protection and noise reduction, preservation of environmental resources, nuclear safety and nuclear wastes, air pollution monitoring, etc. In response to the green growth and convention on climate change, European environmental laws recently provide more technical and professional directives. Those directives are characterized by proactive and preventive technical measures, rather than reactive and pollution-preventing ones of the past. Especially, major directives emphasize the responsibility of industry. That is derived from the idea that if the technology which can reduce polluting materials is adopted in the production stage, environmental protection would be more efficient. Among them are the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), eco-design of Energy-using Products (EuP), and Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances (REACH). On the other hand, as a response to the convention on climate change, EU takes a leading role in the implementation of Kyoto Protocol. And EU for the first time in the world implements carbon credit system including assigning, registration, and trading of carbon credits. Especially, ECX is the center of carbon trade, accounting for 80 percent of world carbon trade. And, EU legislates new laws for new and renewable energy development in a bid to promote environmental protection. Principles and practice, and recent trend of European environmental laws provide important insights to our environmental law and legislation. And in the future more studies will be needed because European standards are currently recognized as global standards in the world.