TE PIRINGA FACULTY OF LAW
LAWS570-14A Special Topic: Comparative Environmental Law and Policy
2014 Outline
1.
Identification of Paper
Paper: LAWS570‐14A
This paper carries 30 points
2.
Staffing
Dr Peter Schutte
(Convenor)
Phone: 0223916104
Room: G.65
e‐mail: pschutte@waikato.ac.nz
Available as posted on Moodle and office door
3.
Description and Structure of Paper
The course will focus on various current environmental topics and different approaches to handle
these among New Zealand, the European Union, and other countries like e.g. USA/Canada. The
starting point will be an analysis of the fundamental structures of law, in particular environmental
law, in several jurisdictions. The survey will be based on existing legislation as well as on case law.
In addition, the key players of environmental law and policy will be identified.
The analysis will address current international topics of environmental law, such as participation
in environmental decision making, access to courts, justice for NGOs, the role and structure of
(transboundary) environmental impact assessments, promoting effectiveness (control &
enforcement, criminal law, other strategies, compensation), public private divide/ privatization
(general/ special: eco audit; reflexive law, etc.). Against this background major environmental
threats and challenges, such as climate change, fisheries, off shore exploitation, and protection of
natural resources will be discussed.
(b) Structure of the Paper
General
This is a Semester A paper. The teaching component comprises seminars held from 7 March 2014
on 6 June in 2014.
4.
Learning outcomes
The aim of the course is to enable the students to analyze the legal framework and the way of
legal decision‐making in environmental conflicts among various jurisdictions.
After successfully completing this course, a student will be able to better understand the
systematic background and the specific structures of environmental law conflicts in the relevant
jurisdiction in order to find the suitable legal or policy remedy. At the same time, the course will
enhance the students’ ability to develop a critical view on the instruments, actors, and regulations
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within their professional practice. Consequently, the paper will help students to work e.g. on
national as well as international conflicts, transactions, or large infrastructure projects, and on the
development of future regulation proposals.
5.
Workload
Students should expect to spend 300 hours in total on this paper. In addition to lecture
attendance, significant time will need to be spent on background and complementary reading.
Students should allow for periods of more‐focused research time in the preparation of
assignments and/or presentations.
6.
Required and Recommended Reading
Please refer to Lecture Schedule below.
Required and recommended reading will be posted for each seminar on the Moodle
(http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz), the University of Waikato’s online learning system. Any such
material is provided on the following terms:
University of Waikato owns the intellectual property rights, including copyright, in and to this site,
or has acquired the necessary licenses to display the material on the site. As a student of the Te
Piringa Faculty of Law, you are granted a limited license to use (access, display or print a single
copy) the material from the papers in which you are enrolled for the purposes of participating in
the paper only, provided the information is not modified. Materials may not under any
circumstances be copied, stored, distributed or provided in any form or method whatsoever to
any third party. Any other use of the material is prohibited. None of the material may be
otherwise reproduced, reformatted, republished or re‐disseminated in any manner or form
without the prior written consent of University of Waikato. To obtain such consent, please
contact the Te Piringa Faculty of Law.
7.
Online support
Online support for this paper is provided via Moodle.
8.
Assessment
School procedures for the presentation of course work are set out in the Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Graduate and Postgraduate Handbook which is available from:
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate.
See also paragraph 12 below on referencing guidelines and plagiarism.
An assignment template document including coversheet is available on the Law Student
Homepage http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/student
In workshops throughout the course, the students are asked to prepare and present one brief
summary of a reading assignment as well as one presentation on a specific topic or leading case.
This analysis/ presentation can be used as basis for the third part of the students’ assessment
being a final paper.
The presentation is to be held orally within the workshop. It must have a length of 30 minutes.
Students are asked to use supporting media, such as handouts, a power point presentation, etc.,
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if convenient to explain the issue. The topic must be defined with the Convenor at the beginning
of Term 1. A draft structure and a list of required and recommended literature for the fellow
students have to be presented to the convenor for review, discussion, and approval on or before
March 31st. All presentations must start with a description of the underlying environmental
problem or conflict before analyzing the legal framework. The presentations will be due on April
30th and to be held during the seminars in Term 2.
The final paper must include a comparative analysis of a selected environmental law topic. It has
to consist of 10.000 words (footnotes and bibliography excluded). The topic must be defined with
the Convenor at the beginning of Term 2. A draft structure has to be presented to the convenor
for review, discussion, and approval until May 16th. All papers must start with a description of the
underlying environmental problem or conflict in its specific national (e.g. cultural/ historical/
social/ industrial/ environmental) setting before analyzing and comparing the relevant political,
institutional and legal framework. The papers will be due on June 27th.
b)
Coursework: Final Examination Ratio: 100/0
c)
Assessment Components
Component
In‐class‐work
Presentation
Final Paper
Percentage of overall mark
10%
20%
70%
Due date
Term 1
April 30, 2014
June 27, 2014
d)
Handing in, marking time and collection
All assignments must be submitted electronically through Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz),
and include a coversheet. The coversheet template is provided on the Law Student Homepage
(http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/student). See Te Piringa - Faculty of Law Graduate and
Postgraduate Handbook, available at www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate. Where practical, it is the
policy of Te Piringa - Faculty of Law to return marked work to students within five weeks of
submission.
If you require assistance with Moodle, or encounter any problems, please contact the Help Desk.
You can send a message to Help Desk by using the instant message service in your paper’s
Moodle site (from the participants list within the People block). Alternatively, you can email them
directly at help@waikato.ac.nz or call 838 4008.
e)
Measurement of Achievement
Achievement in assignments and presentations will be measured in terms of levels of
understanding and knowledge gained, in terms of the originality and the sophistication of analysis
provided, in terms of coherent and logical structure, and in terms of the fluency and accuracy of
expression and referencing.
f)
Management of assessment deadlines, process for requesting extensions and special
consideration, and for appeals
i)
Extensions
Students are required to complete and submit all internal assessment by specified dates. The
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meeting of deadlines is a mark of professionalism and its enforcement is essential for fairness to
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all students taking the paper. Handing in course work on or before the due in date also facilitates
the timely return of marked work by academic staff. Students should meet requirements as to
time deadlines for course work, or make a request for an extension or special consideration in
appropriate circumstances (see Graduate Programmes Manual available from the Faculty of Law
Graduate website http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate/.) Failure to comply with
requirements as to the time deadlines for internal assessment without having successfully applied
either for an extension or special consideration with supporting evidence before the due date will
result in deduction of 2.5 marks for each day the work is late. Lateness of more than a week may
result in the work not being marked. No deadlines may be extended beyond two weeks after the
last teaching day of the semester(s) in which the paper is taught as final grades must go to the
Board of Examiners at this time. Unless an extension in writing has been granted, a lecturer may
refuse to accept a piece of work which is submitted after the specified date, and automatically
award it no mark, or may lower the mark as a penalty for lateness.
Applications for extension, on the form obtainable from the Resource Room, must be submitted
to the Chief Examiner or nominee. Students should not submit the extension form to the
lecturer, nor should students seek extensions from the lecturer via other forms of
communication. Extensions will be granted only on evidence of illness, family bereavement, or
serious personal accidents or circumstances. Please note that too many assignments due at the
same time is NOT an acceptable reason, neither are claims that computers and/or printers have
crashed. Account will be taken of the time in which the student has had to complete the internal
assessment before the supervening event occurred. It will be important to consider if the grant of
the extension will give the student in question an unfair advantage over other students. A
maximum period of 21 days will be given as an extension unless there are exceptional
circumstances. In determining applications the Chief Examiner or nominee may consult with the
Convenor or lecturer of the relevant paper.
When the Chief Examiner or nominee has made a decision on the application for extension, the
Resource Room Administrative Assistant will advise the student of the decision by email.
Following this, the extension form will be given to the relevant lecturer who will retain it until
after the assignment is marked and returned to students. The form will then be placed on the
student’s file. It should be noted that if an extension of longer than 14 days is granted, the
assignment will not be automatically printed out and delivered to the lecturer, therefore the
lecturer is responsible for ensuring the assignment is printed. In appropriate cases, when a
student’s application for extension is declined the Chief Examiner or nominee will inform the
student of the process for applying for special consideration.
ii)
Special Consideration
The Assessment Regulations 2005 as set out in the University Calendar 2013 list in detail the
university‐wide policies and procedures, which apply concerning missed examinations, impaired
performance or impaired preparation time for an examination, and missed or impaired course
work. Students are responsible for ensuring that they comply with these regulations. Application
forms for special consideration for internal assessment are available from the Resource Room.
iii)
Appeals (University Calendar 2013, Assessment Regulations 2005, Reg. 24)
A student may appeal against any decision taken under these regulations.
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An appeal, comprising a written statement of the circumstances of the appeal, together with
supporting evidence if available, must be submitted by the student in writing to the Director of
Student & Academic Services not more than seven days after the date on which notification of the
relevant decision is received.
Appeals under this section are considered and decided by the Deputy Vice‐Chancellor by
delegated authority of the Academic Programmes Committee.
A decision by the Deputy Vice‐Chancellor is notified in writing, and is final.
9.
University Calendar Regulations and Policies
Your attention is drawn to the following regulations and policies, which are published in the
University Calendar 2013.
Assessment Regulations 2005
Student Discipline Regulations 2008
Computer Systems Regulations 2005
Policy on the Use of Māori for Assessment
Student Research Regulations 2008
Ethical Conduct in Human Research and Related Activities Regulations 2008.
10.
Links to other papers
11.
Fees
Refer to http://calendar.waikato.ac.nz/admission/tableoffeesandcharges.html.
12.
(a)
Referencing guidelines and caution against plagiarism
Referencing must be in accordance with the New Zealand Law Style Guide.
(b)
All written work submitted for the purposes of assessment must be your own work.
Copying or paraphrasing all or part of another person’s work, be it published or
unpublished, without clear attribution, is plagiarism. Plagiarism is misconduct and is dealt
with under the disciplinary procedures of the University as outlined in the Student
Discipline Regulations 2008 in the University Calendar.
“Plagiarism means presenting as one’s own work the work of another, and includes the
copying or paraphrasing of another person’s work in an assessment item without
acknowledging it as the other person’s work through full and accurate referencing; it
applies to assessment presented through a written, spoken, electronic, broadcasting,
visual, performance or other medium.” See section 3, Assessment Regulations (2013
Calendar)
Unless approved otherwise by the examiners of the papers concerned, a student must not
submit as assessment material that is substantially the same as material submitted as
assessment for a different paper.
(c)
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The Te Piringa Faculty of Law’s policy regarding plagiarism is contained in the Te Piringa
Faculty of Law Graduate and Post‐Graduate Handbook and the Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Graduate Programmes Manual, available from http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate/.
13.
Health and safety
A new Law School’s Health and Safety representative is currently to be arranged.
14.
Class representation
At the commencement of the semester / intensive paper, a class representative will be elected
by the students in Comparative Environmental Law and Policy. This representative is
encouraged to communicate regularly with the Convenor. Students in this paper are encouraged
to liaise with their representative to discuss issues of concern. Contact details for the Student
Representation Coordinator, Academic Services Division, are as follows: Samantha Whittle,
Student Services, ext. 6264, CHSSG.25 email: student.reps@waikato.ac.nz
15.
Complaints procedures
The brochure Student Concerns and Complaints Policy provides details of the University’s process
for handling concerns and complaints and is available from Faculty and School Offices, The
Gateway and Student Services Division and is contained in the Calendar 2013. See also the
document Student Support Structure at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, available from the Resource
Room.
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Lecture Schedule
Lecture Schedule A Semester
Week Commencing
Programme of lecture topics
7 March, 2014
Opening Session





14 March, 2014
Introduction to Comparative
Environmental Law




21 March, 2014
Students’ and Convenor’s
backgrounds
Students’ expectations,
overview and aim of the paper,
teaching approach,
organisational matters.
methods,
problems,
structures and institutions,
legal instruments.
Continental vs. Common Law
The Continental vs. Common Law Divide
and its Effects on Environmental Law and
Institutions



28 March, 2014
Guest Speaker: Prof. Barry Barton, University of
Waikato
Environmental policy making
An Analysis of




4 April, 2014
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General Distinctions of the Legal
Traditions.
General Distinctions in the Area of
Public Law and Administrative Law.
General Distinctions in the Area of
Environmental Law.
Public institutions
Private key players
General: EU, and e.g. UK, USA, NZ
Specific topics: (e.g. fisheries,
shipping, nature protection,
renewables...)
The Precautionary Principle
Different Legal Approaches to Scientific
Uncertainty in Environmental Law and
Policy




11 April, 2014
Guest Speaker: Prof. Shaun Fluker, University of
Calgary
Structure and Meaning of the Principle
International Law
National Laws (Comparative Analysis)
Sectors (e.g. Chemicals, Fisheries,
Biodiversity)
Concepts of Public Participation
Participation in Environmental Decision‐
making and Access to Courts (particularly
for environmental NGOs),


International Public Law,
EU & National Laws (comparative
analysis)
14 April (Good Friday 18 April)
Teaching Recess
21 April (Mon 21 Easter Monday,Tues 22 Uni Hol &
Fri 25 Anzac Day)
Teaching Recess
2 May, 2014
Environmental Impact Assessments
Environmental Impact Assessments, Cost
Benefit Analyses, and Compensation
Models in International Public Law, EU,
and National Laws (e.g. NZ, USA)
9 May, 2014
Guest Speaker: Prof. Shaun Fluker, University of
Calgary
The protection of endangered species
16 May, 2014
Freshwater Ressource Management
Selected regulatory approaches to the
protection of endangered species in
International Public Law, EU and National
Environmental Law (eg. Canada, EU, New
Zealand)
Selected regulatory approaches to
Freshwater Management in EU and
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National Law (e.g. NZ, Germany)
23 May, 2014
Waste Management
Selected regulatory approaches in
International Public Law, EU and National
Law (e.g. New Zealand, Germany)
30 May, 2014
Fisheries Law
Selected regulatory approaches in
International Public Law, EU and National
Law (e.g. New Zealand, USA).
6 June (2 June Queen’s Birthday)
Guest Speaker: Prof. Barry Barton, University of
Waikato
Energy Futures; Energy Efficiency and
Renewables
Regulatory approaches in selected
National Laws (NZ, Germany)
9 June
Study Week
16 June
Examinations
23 June
Examinations
30 June
Teaching Recess
1
0