Prompted by recent events in the EU’s international environmental cooperation, this thought-provoking book explores the establishment and use of multilateral environmental compliance mechanisms as part of the EU’s external environmental action. Expanding upon current discussions in external relations law, this timely book uses a doctrinal approach to analyse EU engagement with this key instrument of treaty-based international environmental governance.

Prompted by recent events in the EU's international environmental cooperation, this thought-provoking book explores the establishment and use of multilateral environmental compliance mechanisms as part of the EU's external environmental action. Expanding upon current discussions in external relations law, this timely book uses a doctrinal approach to analyse EU engagement with a key instrument of international environmental governance. The author examines the role of compliance mechanisms in EU environmental action, from establishing these treaty-based mechanisms within EU legal boundaries, to utilising non-compliance decisions at EU level. The book concludes with an evaluation of the extent to which EU law enables the EU to preserve, protect, and improve the global environment with the aid of compliance mechanisms, as required by its own Treaties. Multilateral Compliance Mechanisms in EU Environmental Law will be an essential resource for scholars in environmental law, European law, international relations, and public international law. It will also be beneficial for EU officials and policymakers, and environmental advocates and campaigners.

This report seeks to perform a comparative analysis of compliance mechanisms under selected multilateral environment agreements (MEAs). It seeks to contribute to UNEP's work on implementation mechanisms for international instruments. The report identifies strategic opportunities for interlinkages and synergies in compliance mechanisms among MEAs.

The book sheds new light on the achievements, challenges and legal complexity of the EU as a global environmental actor.

The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters – known ubiquitously as the Aarhus Convention – is having an ever-increasing influence on domestic and EU environmental law and procedure. Recent years have seen a steady flow of case law from the UK courts, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, a raft of civil procedure reforms in response to concerns about whether the costs rules in domestic environmental litigation are compatible with the Convention and an infraction by the European Commission against the UK alleging various systemic breaches. Even the EU itself has been the subject of a ruling by the Compliance Committee that the CJEU's rules on standing for judicial review of EU legislation are too narrow to comply with the Convention. This book, written by several of the leading experts in the field, provides a comprehensive guide to the implementation of the Convention in each of the UK's jurisdictions, the three pillars of the Convention (access to information, public participation and access to justice) and the mechanisms by which the rights under the Convention can be enforced.

This Manual expands upon Guidelines on Compliance with and Enforcement of MultilateralEnvironmental Agreements (MEAs). Many States participated in the developmentand negotiation of the Guidelines, which were adopted by the UNEP GoverningCouncil in 2002. While this Manual is not a negotiated document, it also is the result ofa collaborative process involving a wide range of numerous individuals around the world.These people assisted in drafting case studies and other contributions, reviewing the text,and suggesting substantive and formatting changes.

The adoption of administrative procedures in global governance has the potential to foster proper consideration of marginalized actors’ interests, yet risks entrenching the dominance of the well-resourced and powerful. Accordingly, this book proposes a new framework for evaluating the extent to which administrative procedures in the compliance systems of multilateral environmental agreements constrain power and promote regard for the interests of affected states, which are frequently developing and transition countries. This framework is applied to the compliance systems under the Montreal Protocol, the Kyoto Protocol and CITES, which address critical global environmental issues of ozone-layer depletion, climate change and trade in endangered species, respectively. The analysis shows that, under certain conditions, administrative procedures limit the influence of states’ asymmetric power on compliance deliberations. Furthermore, systematic adoption of these procedures increases the opportunities for affected states’ interests to be voiced and considered in compliance decision-making processes.

Juxtaposing perspectives, this insightful book brings together the various dimensions of the relationship between EU law and international law. As the multifaceted interplay between these two legal orders has become increasingly complex with expanding EU policy areas and the development of the EU as a global (normative) actor, this book offers a timely contribution to this important field of study.

Taking stock of all the major developments in the field of international environmental law, this text explores core assumptions and concepts, basic analytical tools and key challenges.

This book explores how compliance with international environmental law has changed over time, offering a critical analysis of its current shifting patterns. Beginning with an overview of compliance with international environmental law, the book goes on to explore in detail: compliance in the different legal regimes instituted by Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), the addition of new subjects of international law, the legal relations between developed and developing countries, and the emergence of new compliance mechanisms in global environmental law. The analysis takes two key developments into consideration: the evolution in forms of compliance and non-state involvement in compliance with international environmental law. In the final section, three case studies are provided to demonstrate how these changes have occurred in selected areas: climate change, biodiversity and water resources. Throughout the book, topics are illustrated with extracts from specific international environmental law jurisprudence and relevant international environmental law instruments. In doing so, the book offers a comprehensive analysis of compliance with international environmental law, providing original insights and following a clear and systematic structure supported by reference to the sources. This book will be of interest to professionals, academics and students working in the field of compliance with international environmental law.