Abstract
Since the emergence of the concept of sustainable development, lawyers across the globe are trying to come to grips with its legal status and the potential legal consequences (See Bosselmann, Sustainability law. Ashgate Publishing, 2008; French, Sustainable development. In: Fitzmaurice M, Ong DM, Merkouris P(eds) The research handbook on international environmental law. Edward Elgar, 2010, and Barstow Magraw D. Hawke LD, Sustainable development. In: Bodansky D, Brunnéé J, Hey E (eds) Oxford handbook of international environmental law. Oxford University Press, 2007). Nowadays, the concept of sustainable development is represented in legally binding texts at international, European, and national levels. Taking EU law as an example, both the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) refer to sustainable development in several articles. This clearly means that sustainable development is part of EU law. The real question, however, is whether this reference to sustainable development in binding law has any significant consequence for legal practice. Can, for instance, the Court of Justice of the European Union annul a decision of the European Commission should this decision be qualified as conflicting with sustainable development? Such a far-reaching and dramatic annulment is most unlikely under EU law, while the potential legal consequences of sustainable development will probably be more subtle. This chapter provides insight into the appearance of sustainable development in international and EU law and gives observations on its possible legal effects and the importance of national decision-making in view of sustainable development.
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Notes
- 1.
See Klaus Bosselmann, Sustainability Law, Ashgate Publishing, 2008; Duncan French, Sustainable Development, in: Maglosia Fitzmaurice, David M. Ong, Panos Merkouris (2010) The Research Handbook on International Environmental Law, (Chap 3) Edward Elgar, and Daniel Barstow, Magraw, Lisa D. Hawke, Sustainable Development, in: Daniel Bodansky, Jutta Brunnéé and Ellen Hey (2007), Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law, Oxford University Press.
- 2.
- 3.
The text of the UNFCCC can be found at http://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/background_publications_htmlpdf/application/pdf/conveng.pdf.
- 4.
See French, o.c., Philippe Sands, International Environmental Law, third ed. (2012) p. 206–216, the International Law Association (ILA) New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development, published in International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics 2: 211–216, 2002, and Resolution No. 7/2012 from the Committee on International Law on Sustainable Development reaffirming the Delhi Declaration (http://www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/1017).
- 5.
Bosselmann, Sustainability 2010, 2, 2424–2448 (free access under http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/8/2424)
- 6.
Cesare Romano, The peaceful settlement of international environmental disputes, (2000), p. 255–256
- 7.
The separate opinion can be found at http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/92/7383.pdf; see also Bosselmann (2008), p. 12.
- 8.
See the separate opinion, pp. 105–106 (bottom page number).
- 9.
See the separate opinion, p. 107 (bottom page number).
- 10.
See the separate opinion, p. 85 (bottom page number).
- 11.
Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization, http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/04-wto.pdf
- 12.
The ruling from 12 October 1998 is published on http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/58abr.pdf; see para 153.
- 13.
The Committee on International Law on Sustainable Development reaffirming the Delhi Declaration (http://www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/1017), guiding statement 1
- 14.
The Maastricht Treaty introduced these references into Article 2 and Article 130u of the European Community Treaty.
- 15.
The article reads: “The Union shall define and pursue common policies and actions, and shall work for a high degree of cooperation in all fields of international relations, in order to: (…) foster the sustainable economic, social and environmental development of developing countries, with the primary aim of eradicating poverty (…)” (Art. 21(2)(d) TEU).
- 16.
For a discussion of EU policymaking in view of sustainable development, see Ludwig Krämer, EU Environmental Law, 7th edition (2012), Sweet & Maxwell, 9–11.
- 17.
The full text of Article 11 of TFEU is: “Environmental protection requirements must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the Union’s policies and activities, in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development.” An extensive examination of the external integration principle has been given by Nele Dhondt, Integration of Environmental Protection into other EC policies, 2003, Europa Law Publishing. Regarding the incorporation of “sustainable development” into the external integration rule, she argues that it aims at the reconciliation of ecological objectives with socioeconomic ones, which is, in fact, the same as the meaning of sustainable development in international law (p. 72).
- 18.
Jans and Vedder discuss Article 11 of the TFEU mainly in view of the legitimacy of acts in light of the environmental objectives. They state in line with Nele Dhondt (o.c. p. 183) that only in very exceptional cases will a measure be susceptible to annulment. They do not elaborate specifically whether such an annulment can be foreseen for short falling action in view of promoting sustainable development. Jans, Vedder, European Environmental Law, 4th edition, (2012) Europa Law Publishing, pp. 25–27
- 19.
C-43/10, decision from 11 September 2012. See also Article 267 TFEU.
- 20.
See Article 4 of the Water Framework Directive, 2000/60.
- 21.
Para 69
- 22.
Para 69
References
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Peeters, M., Schomerus, T. (2016). Sustainable Development and Law. In: Heinrichs, H., Martens, P., Michelsen, G., Wiek, A. (eds) Sustainability Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7242-6_9
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