ACCESS TO JUSTICE AT NATIONAL LEVEL FOR BREACHES OF EU ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (1): THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-366
Author(s):  
Astrid Epiney ◽  
Benedikt Pirker

The present contribution assesses the case law of the European Court of Justice interpreting the provisions of the Aarhus Convention relating to access to justice. Cases have dealt with the temporal scope of application of provisions on access to justice, projects implemented by specific acts of national legislation and their exclusion from the obligations under the Convention, interim relief and the effet utile of provisions on access to justice, the range of possible pleas for judicial review, the role of procedural errors, permissible costs of proceedings, access to justice for environmental associations under different provisions of the Convention and the annulment of a permit and its relationship with the right to property. As is also shown, this case law is at the same time relevant – though not binding – for Switzerland as a non-eu Member State, but party to the Convention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-574
Author(s):  
Boas Kümper

The report surveys in two parts the development of the law on project-related planning and thus relates in particular to the planning and approval of space-consuming infrastructure projects such as traffic routes and power lines. For this purpose, German administrative law has long provided for the specific instrument of plan approval (Planfeststellung). In this context, the Federal Administrative Court has extensive first-instance jurisdiction and uses this to shape large parts of German approval law, including beyond the actual area of plan approval law, be it in terms of legal protection and procedure, be it with regard to the requirements of substantive environmental law. On the other hand, the revision of the law on environmental protection induced by the decisions of the Aarhus Compliance Committee and the European Court of Justice has been used by the German legislator to extend procedural specifics of the plan approval to other approval decisions of environmental relevance. This firstly indicates the contours of a general law on project approval and, secondly, the nature of the plan approval as an instrument for the implementation of projects in the public interest is more strongly emphasized.


Author(s):  
Miryam Rodríguez-Izquierdo Serrano

Este artículo propone un análisis sistemático de la posición de las sentencias del Tribunal de Justicia en el sistema constitucional de fuentes. El análisis parte de dos premisas: la primera es la de que los órdenes normativos supranacional y estatal tienen autonomía formal, pero no material; la segunda es que la integración del Derecho de la Unión en el ordenamiento estatal no puede explicarse sin la jurisprudencia del Tribunal de Justicia. Se describen los efectos de las sentencias del juez europeo en el orden supranacional, para luego ver cómo se transfieren al sistema de fuentes estatal, teniendo en cuenta la función integradora de la Constitución tanto en el plano interior como en el exterior.This article is a review of the different kind of rulings made by the European Court of Justice, in order to find their function and position in the Spanish Law system. The analysis is made under two assumptions: the first one about the formal autonomy but material dependency between EU and Spanish law systems; the second one is that the European Court of Justice case law rules over the interaction between both systems. Formal and substantive effects of ECJ rulings over both systems are described and analysed, considering the integrating role of the Spanish Constitution.


1999 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 373-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albertina Albors Llorens

The judgments of the Community judicature are often subject to intense scrutiny by the media and by academic writers. The European Court of Justice, in particular, is regularly accused of being by and large an “activist” court, namely a court that construes EC law in the light of the objective the judges are trying to pursue. In particular, it is argued that the European Court uses the teleological method of interpretation to enhance the effectiveness of Community law at the expense of the written legal texts. Several studies have been published on the supposed “activist” role of the European Court and as many (or more) have been written in defence of the Court. The common denominator of all these works is that they are selective.


Author(s):  
Reinhard Zimmermann

The gradual emergence of a European private law is one of the most significant contemporary legal developments. Comparative law scholarship has played an important role in this process and will continue to do so. This article discusses the Europeanization of private law as a new and challenging task for comparative law. The second section considers the Europeanization of private law, describing the creation of the European Union and the role of the European Court of Justice. The third section discusses European legal scholarship. The fourth section cites the contributions of comparative law. The last two sections discuss current and future trends for the European private law.


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