ABSTRACT
The decisions of the European Court of Justice (hereinafter ‘the Court’) have had a significant impact on the development of environmental policy in the European Community. The Court has consistently supported the view that the Community should have a broad legislative competence in this domain, notwithstanding the fact that such a competence originally did not appear in the Treaty of Rome, the source of all Community powers. It might seem rather exceptional for a court to take such an activist stance. The European Court, however, is known for its judicial activism in this and other areas of Community policy. In the field of human rights, for instance. Community policy developed entirely on the basis of a judicial inference of powers not mentioned in the Treaty. Similarly, in the field of external relations, the case law of the Court has been decisive in determining the scope of Community powers.
