By environment law one understands the whole of the legal rules, which aim at the protection of the natural environment and the preservation of the operability of the ecological systems.

Constitutional background

Since 1994 the German constitutional law in kind 20a of the Basic Law obligates the state of protecting the natural bases of life. This is not a fundamental right, but a state goal regulation in such a way specified, i.e. an order for program for the public force. Legislators and administration are generally obligated thereby, but not to certain legislative or administrative acting, which would be judicially in complainable.

Regulation beginnings

The environment law is not sharply definable right area. The starting point of the protection means the protection from impairments. In order to cause this protection, different approaches are possible:

1. One proceeds from the protection property and its endangerments and limits or minimizes the effects on the protection property. This beginning is the basis very many environmental laws. Well-known examples of it are the nature protection laws as well as the water conservation law and the national water laws.

2. One proceeds from well-known sources with environmental endangerments or - damages and limits the harmful effects outgoing from them. This can take place in two ways. On the one hand can be set pour-referred, i.e., one regulates the emissions outgoing from a source of endangerment. On the other hand can be set environmentalreferred, whereby one specifies entire eating ion maximum volume, which is to then hold by regulations at the individual sources or be reduced. The simple pour-referred beginning is appropriate for the German Immissionschutzrecht to reason, which regulates quasi "“unmethodically"”, i.e. without genuine total immission borders the emissions of certain emitters. The US-American Imissionsschutzrecht determines however health-oriented immission upper limits (so-called national Ambient air quality standard), which can be attained then by verschiedendste regulation beginnings at the sources of contamination.

3. To minimize certain ones environmentally hazardous materials or articles a regulation regime subjected around so from the materials or articles themselves or from handling them outgoing ecological hazards. Exemplarily are here in particular the waste and the chemical to call in beginnings the atomic energy law.

Some environmental protection regulations are to be assigned not clearly to one of the approaches mentioned, but follow as it were a mixed method; to it .in the federal immission control law e.g. belongs to parts.

Edge and overlap ranges of the environment law

One can rank many planerische regulations among the environment law, because they - apart from other objectives - serve environmental protection to more or less large extent. Their starting point is as it were before-shifted, by being to guarantee in the planning phase that certain environmental pollutions are omitted. Examples for this are above all the law over the environmental compatibility test, in addition, the building law book and the regional planning law.

Continue to exist in the meantime numerous punishing and irregularity facts, which are to serve environmental protection. The heavy Umweltschutzdelikte is in 29. Section of the special part of the penal code ("§"§ 324 - 330d) regulated; in most environmental laws additionally special punishing and irregularity regulations referred to the respective individual subject are contained. Many of these regulations are criticized with good reasons, because the punishability of a certain behavior often depends on official defaults, which are not always clear and clear. The experience showed that the criminal protection of the environment is a little effective. Reasons for it are among other things problems with the clear proof of causing of environmental damage. As within other ranges of the criminal law the deterring effect of the penalty clause is only small also, so that the environmental criminal law for environmental protection causes only little.

Finally there is a range of the overlap with the general health protection and the special health protection on the job. As it were besides many regulations with these objectives cause a protection from environmental pollutions; some are formulated also parallel however on both objectives.

Necessity for the standardization by an environmental law book

The environment law is scattered in many laws. If for example from Brussels a default is to be converted into national right, the legislative competence of the countries affected (e.g. water law, nature protection right) becomes altogether 17 different legal instrument in Germany procedure-effectively, first by the federation and then by the Lands of the Federal Republic. Punishing payments because of strongly late practical conversion of European Union guidelines by individual Lands of the Federal Republic (example: the obligation for the classification of Flora fauna Habitatareas in Lower Saxony) had to be carried out and/or submitted due to the external responsibility of the federation then the Federal Ministry of Environment. Therefore demanded environmental lawyers of environmental science-learn and for many years to summarize the environment law in an environmental law book (UGB) codified and to co-ordinate in the interest of a better law execution the single regulations better. Although prepared and partly already commentated drafts ("“UGB ProfE, SK-UGB; the last draft comes from 1997) for it is present, was missing so far on sides of the German Lands of the Federal Republic the political will to carry and put into practice this important project. To the failure of the so-called federalism commission the topic environmental law book came again in the context of the coalition contract of the large coalition on the political agenda. Since March 2006 there is already a first draft of the Upper House of Parliament for the change of the legislative competence within the environmental range - a condition for the success of the project UGB.

European Union environment law

Environmental protection originally did not belong to the tasks of the European community. For the 1970er years the criticism mehrte itself to the fact that the European handels and economic policy were "“blind"” regarding environmental protection criteria. In reaction to it with the contract by Maastricht 1992 the tasks of the community were extended, so that now in the contract for establishment environmental protection goals are contained of the European community (EGV):

Article 2 EGV: Task of the community is it to promote (...) in the whole community (...) a high measure of environmental protection and improvement of the quality of the environment (...).

Article 3 EGV: (1) The activity of the community in the sense of the article 2 covers in accordance with condition of the present Treaty and the Zeitfolge planned therein: (...) l) a policy in the area of the environment;

Since then numerous European Union guidelines and European Union regulations with objectives (also) within the range of environmental protection were issued. Similarly, as for the national level described above, an integration of the environmental protection regulations carries out itself into many other regulations inside also on European level, which are primarily politicoly-economic motivated.

The European environment law has large influence on the German environment law and its advancement. Germany followed some obligations, which followed from European guidelines, only retarded. Turned around it gives it in addition, individual ranges in which the advancement of the German environment law is obstructed by the fact that Europeanlegal defaults (predominantly however not environmental, but according to commercial law kind) them to oppose.

International environment law

As in other areas of the international right there are also none in the area of the environment law directly for jede/n valid regulations, but always contracts between states, in which these States of determined obligations are received, as e.g. in the Aarhus convention. Germany is contracting party of numerous international environmental protection agreements. To the most well-known the outline agreement of the United Nations over climatic changes of 1992 and pertinent Kyoto minutes belong.

A link list to the contracts, which were signed by Germany, arranged according to topics, is callable on the Website of the German Federal Ministry for environment, nature protection and reactor safety.

Literature

• Michael Kloepfer: Environment law. 3. Edition. Publishing house C.H. Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-52044-8
• Marcus Lemke: "“Genetic engineering - nature protection - Instruments of the environment law for retaining a of landscapes and restaurant economics"”. Nomos Verl. - Total one, Baden-Baden 2003. 291 S. (Zugl.: Bremen, Univ., thesis 2002) ISBN 3-8329-0191-4

See also

Environmental certificate

Related links

• www.umweltfibel.de
• The splintered environment law is to become in the future thing of the Federal Government (taz 9.11.2005)

Articles in category "Environment law"

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