Compensatory Application Provisions of Plant Protection Products to Protect Biodiversity

For the protection of biodiversity, the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) pursues the goal of establishing compensation areas to balance unavoidable indirect effects on nature and the environment caused by the application of plant protection products. Whether there is a legal basis for this within either European Union or national law is one of the most debated and pressing issues currently in the authorisation procedure for plant protection products in Germany. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive legal assessment of whether it is legally permissible to make plant protection product authorisations contingent to compensatory application provisions to protect biodiversity.

Offshore Oil Spill Incidents in Brazil

Brazil has performed an important role in the oil and gas industry mainly because its offshore E&P activities. The volume of oil produced in offshore fields had increased 88% in the last decade. Although the offshore exploration had begun in the 70’s of the last year, only in the year 2000 was promulgated a law enforcing the companies to notify any accidental release to the environment. Besides the Brazilian Navy and the National Petroleum Agency, the Brazilian Federal Environmental Agency - IBAMA is entitled to receive these notifications. Although IBAMA receives the oil spill communications since 2001, only in 2010 the Agency began to include this information in a database. This paper discusses the offshore oil spill data received between 2010 and 2011.

A COMPUTERIZED INFORMATION SYSTEM ON CRUDE OILS

ABSTRACT In cooperation with the German Federal Environmental Agency, a one-year investigation was made by the Institute for Water Research in Dortmund to collect physical and ecological information on 200 crude oil species. Data of primary interest were the composition of crude oils, the boiling points of their refinery fractions, their pour points, densities, viscosities, surface tensions, and flammabilities, and the dependence of these parameters on temperature and weathering. Biodegradability data and specification of cleanup methods for the different types of crude oils give efficient support to oil spill emergency authorities. For fast and easy retrieval, data are stored in an IBM 4341/3031 computer as a substructure of the already operational “Databank on Harmful Substances,” which is an information system on physical, chemical, and ecological properties of 20,000 chemicals, developed in cooperation with the German Federal Environmental Agency.