ABSTRACT
In recent years, the use of voluntary approaches and other forms of co-regulation or selfregulation, including voluntary environmental agreements (VEAs), has increased in many states (Jülich and Falk 1999). This has not been without concern, especially regarding certain legal problems. However, the EU has expressed its legal acceptance of this instrument in its Fifth Environmental Action Programme: ‘Towards Sustainability’, and in the European Commission’s recommendation concerning environmental agreements implementing Community directives. In a few cases the European Commission has used VEAs.1
Even in the implementation of directives, which do not contain rules regarding agreements as an instrument, the single member state can in certain cases choose to use agreements. The Court of Justice has dealt with this problem in a case regarding Directive 85/339/EEC.2
