ABSTRACT

The institutional structure of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is formed by a Council which consists of the representatives of the member states, an Executive Committee of 14 Member States, a Secretariat and a number of committees. The European Union in particular is one of the key forces determining the national environmental policies of its Member States, while it also increasingly asserts itself at international level. The International Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Agency were established as specialized agencies under the OECD umbrella to encourage cooperation and harmonization of practice in the field of energy policy and of radioactive waste disposal and management. These Agencies too lack the power to adopt binding decisions. The implementation of European Community (EC) environmental law traditionally has been the task of the Member States. The spirit of subsidiarity would appear to favour an extension of the possibility for individuals to uphold EC environmental law in their national courts.