EU Environmental Law and the Internal Market

For some, a protectionist policy underlies most environmental measures. Lawyers working in the area of fundamental freedoms are very accustomed to discussing all issues within a free market framework and therefore often come to market-friendly decisions. Similarly, while environmental law has taken on a renewed intensity at European level, the tendency has been to analyse the subject rather narrowly, and studies fail to address the impact of environmental law on market integration.

Written by one of the foremost experts in the area, the book challenges current thought and re-assesses the rules of economic integration within an environmental framework. In so doing, it bridges the gap between environmental and trade law and provides a systematic, robust, and practically workable analytical framework of the conflicts opposing rapidly evolving environmental and climate change measures and internal market as well as competition rules.

The book is divided into three parts, beginning with a systematic and in-depth analysis of the key Treaty provisions regarding environmental protection, as well as an overview of secondary environmental law. Part two addresses the compatibility of EU and national environmental protection measures with the provisions of the TFEU on the free movement of goods and services, and the freedom of establishment. Part three examines the compatibility of environmental protection measures with treaty provisions on the freedom of competition and State aids. The book also includes discussion of all major cases handed down by the Court of Justice, highlighting the real impact of the conflicts.

Nicolas de Sadeleer, Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law at Saint-Louis University (Brussels), the Academy of Louvain

Nicolas de Sadeleer is professor of law at Saint Louis University (Brussels) ) and guest professor at Louvain University. He plays an active part in debates on EU legal and institutional issues. Author of Environmental Principles (OUP, 2002), and editor of Implementing the Precautionary Principle (Earthscan, 2007), he held various chairs (EU Marie Curie Chair, Jean Monnet Chair) and has taught in a number of universities across Europe.