Implementation Strategy in Regulatory Design
and Incentives to Promote Adaptation to
Climate Change Resilience - Lessons from the
Past.
Prof. Dr. Barbara Pozzo
Ordinario di diritto comparato
Università degli Studi dell'Insubria
Dipartimento di Diritto, Economia e Culture
• A research project called “Training action for legal
practitioners”, which aims at analysing the interpretation and
implementation problems of Directives due to their linguistic
and drafting incoherence, with particular regard to
environmental law Directives,
• A research project on the implementation of Directive
2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
27 September 2001 on the promotion of electricity from
renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market,
with particular regard to different incentive-policies in several
European countries.
08/04/2013
Two experiences
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In order to achieve effective implementation of
Directives in the environmental field we can learn
from previous experiences in order to avoid all
those obstacles that arise out of:
• a particular drafting strategy that does not take
into account the multilingual character of EU
legislation and the peculairities of environmental
law terminology;
• not taking into account the different national
backgrounds and legal processes, that
necessarily bring to a specific path-depency.
08/04/2013
Thesis
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• AIM: DRAFTING LEGAL OBLIGATIONS
• in order to ensure their uniform
application and to achieve an
effective harmonization of the laws of
EU Member States, and not a merely
nominal and apparent one.
08/04/2013
Part I - The terminology problems in the
definition of environmental obligations
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• AS result of compromises deriving from the difficulty in finding
an agreement as to the definition and use of shared concepts.
• “compromise terminology”: can derive from different
reasons:
• 1. general reasons, that affects all directives
• 2. specific reasons for the environmental law sector
08/04/2013
TERMINOLOGY IN ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW DIRECTIVES
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• The directive is drafted in English by non English
native speakers, who have in mind civil law
categories, so that the directive is written in
English, but thought in Polish, French, German.
• The English language is used to transmute civil
law concepts, giving rise to a hybrid terminology,
which will be difficult to correctly implement in
the legislation of MS.
08/04/2013
General perspective
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• due to the need of an interdisciplinary approach
in the environmental field, in some sectors the
use of a terminology which is taken from the
language of biology or ecology, results in a
terminology that is “a-technical” from a legal
perspective.
• In some cases, this is the result of a specific
political choice to delegate to other sciences the
task of defining legal concepts, with the illusion
that this would allow for the use of, so to speak,
«neutral» terms.
08/04/2013
Environmental Field
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• These apparently neutral terms do not provide
any useful information from a legal point of view,
thus placing lawyers in front of interpretation
problems of no easy solution.
• The inclination of EU legislation to employ as
much as possible a «non-legal» terminology,
often making use of words taken from common
vocabulary, involves the risk that the words lose
their demarcative function.
08/04/2013
Consequences:
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• Directive 2003/87/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 13 October
2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas
emission allowance trading within the
Community (Emissions Trading Directive) and
• Directive 2004/35/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004
on environmental liability with regard to the
prevention and remedying of environmental
damage (ELD).
08/04/2013
Two examples
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• The EU legal framework for
greenhouse gas emission allowances
is contained in Directive 2003/87/EC
(Emissions Trading Directive), that has
created a EU-wide trading scheme for
greenhouse gas emission allowances,
i.e. a market of tradable pollution
rights.
08/04/2013
1. The definition of Greenhouse
gas emission allowances
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• An emission allowance does not only entail the
authorization to emit a certain pollutant, but
also includes the right to be sold and transferred
and this makes it substantially different from a
traditional emission permit.
• Consequently, emission allowances should be
considered a sui generis instrument, whose legal
nature and discipline require a new definition by
the legal system.
08/04/2013
Importance of the definition of
allowance
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Without a definition….
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trading system cannot be
supposed to work properly and efficiently.
• It is indeed an artificially created market with the
aim of using its incentives in order to control
pollution in a more efficient way, but at the same
time it is necessarily integrated in a regulated
framework.
• In order for such a market to function efficiently,
it is necessary that the object of the market is
well defined, defensible and tradable.
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• …. an emissions
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……affects many aspects of no little importance, such as:
• the rights that can be asserted by allowances holders and
their protection,
• the circulation of allowances,
• the securities that can be created on allowances,
• the type of applicable liability,
• the accounting and tax treatment of allowances,
• the treatment of allowances in the event of insolvency
proceedings,
• the possibility of revocation or withdrawal of allowances, etc.
08/04/2013
Legal qualification of emissions
allowances….
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• Sets only the essential elements of emission allowances,
without clearly specifying all their legal characteristics, and
without giving any indication as to their legal nature.
• article 3(a), definition of «allowance»: «an allowance to emit
one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent during a specified
period, which (…) shall be transferable in accordance with the
provisions of this Directive».
• It refers to a technical-scientific data,
• It says little about the object of the emissions trading scheme
from a legal point of view
08/04/2013
Directive 2003/87
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• meaning of EU legal terms cannot be
inferred from a single language version,
but should be derived from all legal
versions of the relevant provision
• In this case, does not bring to relevant
results
08/04/2013
ECJ case law
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• both employing «quota»,
• neologism
• «neutral» term, thus providing a
possible solution to overcome the
difficulties in defining the new
mechanism.
08/04/2013
Italian, French
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• Using already existing concepts, the Directive risks to create
even more confusion, superimposing an additional language
to the existing ones.
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• Allowance
• Zertifikat
• Derecho de emision
08/04/2013
English, German, Spanish
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• The expressions employed in the English, French and German
versions seem to refer to the concept of authorisation in a
wide sense – «allowance to emit», «Zertifikat das zur Emission
(…) berechtigt», «quota autorisant à émettre» –, thus stressing
the public origin of allowances and almost seeking to
purposely exclude the existence of a «right».
• By contrast, in the Italian version we find the expression
«diritto di emettere» and the Spanish version employs the
expression «derecho de emisión» even to name the allowance
itself, so that one is led to assume that the legislative intention
was instead to grant a «true» right to allowances holders.
08/04/2013
Authorisation or right?
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Art. 19 : «Any person may hold allowances» (En)
Italian «possesso» of allowances,
French «détention»,
Spanish «titularidad»
German «Besitz»/«Inhaber».
• The different language versions do not appear to be
equivalent and in addition the German one seems to bring
further uncertainty, since the meaning of Besitzer and Inhaber
is not the same in Germany and Austria
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•
•
•
•
•
08/04/2013
Who is holding the allowance?
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→ Result in discrepancies in national legislations
→ Compromise the harmonization process
France: allowance is a moveable good
Germany: negative definition: allowance is not a financial
instrument
UK: permit
Italy: authorization
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• Absence of definitions
• Linguistic divergencies
08/04/2013
Implementation phase
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• CORE DEFINITIONS:
1. ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE
2. DAMAGE
3. BOUNDARIES OF LIABILITY
08/04/2013
ELD -TERMINOLOGY
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• Since the 1993 Green Paper, the
Commission stressed that: “A legal
definition of damage to the environment is
of fundamental importance, since such a
definition will drive the process of
determining the type and scope of the
necessary remedial action — and thus the
costs that are recoverable via civil
liability”.
08/04/2013
1. ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE
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• (a) damage to protected species and natural habitats, which
is any damage that has significant adverse effects on reaching
or maintaining the favourable conservation status of such
habitats or species. The significance of such effects is to be
assessed with reference to the baseline condition, taking
account of the criteria set out in Annex I; Damage to protected
species and natural habitats does not include previously
identified adverse effects which
• result from an act by an operator which was expressly
authorised by the relevant authorities in accordance with
provisions implementing Article 6(3) and (4) or Article 16 of
Directive 92/43/EEC or Article 9 of Directive 79/409/EEC or, in
the case of habitats and species not covered by Community
law, in accordance with equivalent provisions of national law
on nature conservation.
08/04/2013
Art. 2 ELD
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• (b) water damage, which is any damage that significantly
adversely affects the ecological, chemical and/or quantitative
status and/or ecological potential, as defined in Directive
2000/60/EC, of the waters concerned, with the exception of
adverse effects where Article 4(7) of that Directive applies;
08/04/2013
Water damage
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→ reflects the different approaches to the problem given in
individual national contexts and is very different from the two
other. While the first two categories: species and natural
habitats on the one hand, the waters on the other hand, assume
significance as they are already covered by previous legislation,
soil is instead taken into account only to the extent that its
contamination create a risk to human health.
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• (c) land damage, which is any land contamination that creates
a significant risk of human health being adversely affected as a
result of the direct or indirect introduction, in, on or under
land, of substances, preparations, organisms or microorganisms;
08/04/2013
Land damage
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Art. 2
“a measurable adverse change in a
natural resource or measurable
impairment of a natural resource
service which may occur directly or
indirectly”.
08/04/2013
2. Damage
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3. BOUNDARIES OF LIABILITY
• →in the various linguistic versions there are differences
concerning the content of the obligation that had to be
introduced
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• Since the Commission Communication on "A Sustainable
Europe for a Better World: A European Union Strategy for
Sustainable Development", prepared by the Commission for
European Council in Gothenburg in 2001
08/04/2013
• PROBLEMATIC ISSUE: DEFINITION OF STRICT LIABILITY
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• "EU legislation on strict environmental liability",
• EU-Rechtsvorschriften Annahme der über die
verschuldensunabhängige Umwelthaftung“,
• - "Mettre en place une législation de plein droit de
responsabilité environnementale";
- “Approvare una legislazione UE su una rigida
responsabilità ambientale” ;
• -"Adoptar la normativa comunitaria sobre un régimen
ambiental estricto de responsabilidad”
08/04/2013
LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES
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• Italian version: responsabilità
oggettiva
• French version a responsabilité
stricte
• Spanish version: Régimen
ambiental estricto de
responsabilidad
08/04/2013
In the Directive Proposal (2002)
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• any reference to strict liability has completely
disappeared
• Art. 8
• → obligations of the operator, who "shall bear
the costs for the preventive and remedial actions
taken pursuant to this Directive ",
• → without necessity of proving fault or
negligence
08/04/2013
Directive 2004/35
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• (a) environmental damage caused by any of the
occupational activities listed in Annex III, and to
any imminent threat of such damage occurring
by reason of any of those activities;
• (b) damage to protected species and natural
habitats caused by any occupational activities
other than those listed in Annex III, and to any
imminent threat of such damage occurring by
reason of any of those activities, whenever the
operator has been at fault or negligent.
08/04/2013
Art. 3
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"negligencia o culpa" in the Spanish version,
"negligência ou culpa" in the Portuguese version,
“faute ou une négligence” in the French version,
"Schuld of nalatigheid" in the Dutch version,
“Dolo o colpa” in the Italian version,
“vorsätzlich oder fahrlässig” in the German version.
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•
•
•
•
•
•
08/04/2013
Fault or negligent
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. Differencies in the terminology remains as far as fault and
negligence are concerned
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• Not all the MS have introduced a strict liability regime
→ Infringement procedure against Italy
08/04/2013
Implementation process
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Definitions:
1. Resilience (scientific background, but which?)
2. Adverse Impact (measurable?)
3. Adverse impact with reference to damage in ELD?
08/04/2013
Draft Directive on Adaptation
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• In the perspective of elaborating a legal framework for
adaptation in the EU, we must bear in mind that this is a
very new issue, where a consistent terminology has not
been created yet. So we will not be able to make
reference to a past consolidated experience, as in other
environmental fields like soil or water.
• For this reason, we should especially focus on the
problem of creating a coherent terminological
background that should avoid - in the implementation
phase - divergent interpretations.
08/04/2013
Conclusions
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