Other new initiatives proposed by the EU include a proposal for a Directive on Civil Liability for Damage caused by Waste. It is aimed at allowing compensation to be payable to victims of damage caused by waste from funding that has been earmarked for this purpose. Detailed proposals from the Commission will be produced for civil liability for damage caused to the environment from certain types of pollution. The Commission currently, however, appears to have moved its attention to liability for environmental damage. Coupled with this, the United Kingdom now significantly considers liability for contaminated land in sections 57-60 of the Environment Act 1995.

An important aspect of the work of the EU is to provide access to environmental information. In May 1990 (1210/90 EEC 7 May 1990) the European Environmental Agency (EEA) was established. The aims of the EEA are to ensure there is 'objective, reliable and comparable information' to the Member States and the EU. This is to enable the implementation and review of EU measures and to ensure that the appropriate measures are taken to protect the environment.

Since the 1980s the EU has adopted a more strict approach to environmental protection. The 'precautionary principle', for example, enablesmore stringent measures to be taken even where there doubts from the scientific community, or where the degree of risk or environmental harm cannot be numerically ascertained. Pollution prevention, for example through promoting the use of clean technologies, best environmental practice and waste minimisation strategies is reflected within EU legislation as the preferred approach as opposed to remedial action following a pollution event. Assessing the risk to the environment is based on predicting what the scientific evidence in the future is likely to be. The Precautionary Principle is in Article 13OR of the Maastricht Treaty and in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration.

Combining law, policy and general guidelines may enable further developments in developing principles to protect the environment. Several efforts in achieving pollution prevention and environmental harm arise through the implementation of the best available technology (BAT) or the best environmental practices (BEP) or the best practicable environmental option (BPEO). Cost-benefit analysis is also taken into consideration through the best available technology riot entailing excessive costs (BATNEEC). These will be discussed further when we look at the IPC and IPPC regimes within the UK.

Summary
In general, environmental laws remain fragmented. Certain aspects of EU of law will be dealt with in the relevant units of this module covering all three environmental media land, water and air. However UK environmental law will be focused upon mainly, the details of the Directives and the means by which they are implemented within the UK will not be focused upon for the specific legislation discussed later as it is beyond the scope of this course. . You will simply need to have an appreciation of the fact that UK environmental law owes its origins to international decisions as well as domestic, which has been outlined within this unit.


Further Reading
The EU website will provide you with further background on the EU legal system and the various Environmental Instruments.
EU Institutions.
The European Environment Agency.