ABSTRACT
Principles of European Community (EC) environmental policy were for the first time formulated in 1971/2, and progressively expanded in the period that followed. During the first fifteen years, EC environmental policy lacked an explicit legal basis in the EC Treaty, but such legal grounding was finally established in 1987, by the Single European Act (SEA), which inserted Articles 130r to 130t EC into the Treaty. This chapter endeavours to provide a balanced assessment of EC environmental law achievements and disappointments. It summarizes the historical development of primary EC environmental law, and examines the role played by the EC institutions in this development. The chapter focuses on processes, instruments, and principles of EC environmental law. It also examines an analysis of substantive EC environmental law. The chapter deals with crucial issues of implementation, which simultaneously paves the way for a discussion of the political results of thirty years of EC environmental law.
