ABSTRACT
Part Two of this book focuses on the rights of private persons under EC law to engage in the enforcement of EC environmental legislation and is divided into two sections. Section 1 comprises Chapters 6-8, which consider the impact of these rights at the level of the Member State. Section 2 contains Chapters 9-10 and examines the extent of private persons’ rights to enforce such legislation against EU institutions. This particular chapter will focus on the general legal principles established by the ECJ that are of relevance in creating possibilities for private persons to enforce EC environmental law before the national courts of the Member States. Unlike the European Commission, private persons have not been vested with express powers under the EC Treaty to enforce legal commitments entered into by Member States at EC level. However, as will be discussed below, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has developed a body of jurisprudence since the early 1960s confirming that private persons may, in certain circumstances, take legal steps to enforce certain norms established under the auspices of the EC Treaty. The Court has confirmed that the EC Treaty system has implicitly established a legal order in which individuals as well as Member States are integral constituents. As the ECJ case law has evolved, it has become increasingly clear that the Court’s judicial development of rights for private persons to enforce EC norms before national courts and tribunals of the Member States has significant implications for the EC environmental sector.
