The Water Framework Directive - the effectiveness of the law implementing the Water Framework Directive in England and Wales
(2005)Department of Law
- Abstract
- The Water Framework Directive adopted in December 2000 was to be implemented by the Member States within three years. It requires a holistic approach to be taken towards water resource management and obligates Member States to implement measures that will achieve a general water quality of ''good status'' by 2015. The legal mechanisms required to implement the measures were therefore to be in place in national legislation by December 2003. This thesis aims to assess the effectiveness of the law in England and Wales in achieving the good status water quality. The theoretical framework upon which the paper is based is Staffan Westerlund's legal research material. The effectiveness of a law is comprised of two parts: the first deals with how... (More)
- The Water Framework Directive adopted in December 2000 was to be implemented by the Member States within three years. It requires a holistic approach to be taken towards water resource management and obligates Member States to implement measures that will achieve a general water quality of ''good status'' by 2015. The legal mechanisms required to implement the measures were therefore to be in place in national legislation by December 2003. This thesis aims to assess the effectiveness of the law in England and Wales in achieving the good status water quality. The theoretical framework upon which the paper is based is Staffan Westerlund's legal research material. The effectiveness of a law is comprised of two parts: the first deals with how effectively the legal obligations have been incorporated into national law or if there is an ''implementation deficit''. The second part deals with how effective the legal enforcement tools are, or if there is an ''enforcement deficit''. The thesis is descriptive and analytical. It examines relevant legislation in England and Wales, in the light of the requirements of the WFD, in order to assess the effectiveness of the national law. It is found that both an implementation deficit and an enforcement deficit are evident in the legislation of England and Wales. As regards the implementation deficit, it is diffuse pollution mainly from agriculture that is the main area of concern, but also non-implementation of the combined approach will have consequences for the achievement of the good status water quality. Another issue is how the Environment Agency is bound to implement measures&semic it must hold itself within the boundaries of the law, and is not empowered to itself regulate activities in order to answer to the needs of a changing and unpredictable environment. For that it must wait for the legislator. An enforcement deficit is found. Despite the relative power endowed the Environment Agency, it shows great reticence in bringing prosecutions and this, together with low penalties being handed out by the courts, does not act as strong enough deterrents to prevent recommittals or to others. Administrative enforcement tools are used, although information as to what extent and in which situations is not readily available. The provision of administrative fines could go someway to remedying the situation, although at the expense of the ingrained common law perception of the right of the innocent against wrongful conviction. Summarising, it cannot be held that the transposition of the WFD into the national legislation of England and Wales has resulted in an effective law, able to achieve good status water quality by 2015. The European Commission has announced it intends to take a greater involvement as regards non-compliance of the WFD. It remains to be seen what will be done. At present, the future does not look promising. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1558139
- author
- Haraldsson, Joanna
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2005
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Miljörätt
- language
- English
- id
- 1558139
- date added to LUP
- 2010-03-08 15:55:22
- date last changed
- 2010-03-08 15:55:22
@misc{1558139,
abstract = {{The Water Framework Directive adopted in December 2000 was to be implemented by the Member States within three years. It requires a holistic approach to be taken towards water resource management and obligates Member States to implement measures that will achieve a general water quality of ''good status'' by 2015. The legal mechanisms required to implement the measures were therefore to be in place in national legislation by December 2003. This thesis aims to assess the effectiveness of the law in England and Wales in achieving the good status water quality. The theoretical framework upon which the paper is based is Staffan Westerlund's legal research material. The effectiveness of a law is comprised of two parts: the first deals with how effectively the legal obligations have been incorporated into national law or if there is an ''implementation deficit''. The second part deals with how effective the legal enforcement tools are, or if there is an ''enforcement deficit''. The thesis is descriptive and analytical. It examines relevant legislation in England and Wales, in the light of the requirements of the WFD, in order to assess the effectiveness of the national law. It is found that both an implementation deficit and an enforcement deficit are evident in the legislation of England and Wales. As regards the implementation deficit, it is diffuse pollution mainly from agriculture that is the main area of concern, but also non-implementation of the combined approach will have consequences for the achievement of the good status water quality. Another issue is how the Environment Agency is bound to implement measures&semic it must hold itself within the boundaries of the law, and is not empowered to itself regulate activities in order to answer to the needs of a changing and unpredictable environment. For that it must wait for the legislator. An enforcement deficit is found. Despite the relative power endowed the Environment Agency, it shows great reticence in bringing prosecutions and this, together with low penalties being handed out by the courts, does not act as strong enough deterrents to prevent recommittals or to others. Administrative enforcement tools are used, although information as to what extent and in which situations is not readily available. The provision of administrative fines could go someway to remedying the situation, although at the expense of the ingrained common law perception of the right of the innocent against wrongful conviction. Summarising, it cannot be held that the transposition of the WFD into the national legislation of England and Wales has resulted in an effective law, able to achieve good status water quality by 2015. The European Commission has announced it intends to take a greater involvement as regards non-compliance of the WFD. It remains to be seen what will be done. At present, the future does not look promising.}},
author = {{Haraldsson, Joanna}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Water Framework Directive - the effectiveness of the law implementing the Water Framework Directive in England and Wales}},
year = {{2005}},
}