ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to refine the implementation analysis by focuses on the subnational layer and its role in the European Union (EU) environmental policy process. To help understand why subnational layers process EU environmental policies in a distinct way, it begins with a general analysis of Scotland and Bavaria's political systems and their positions in the wider national and EU contexts. The chapter focuses on Scotland and Bavaria's environmental policies and assesses to what extent their formal and informal determinants shape EU environmental policy implementation. Scottish and Bavarian actors process EU environmental policies in a 'unique' manner and in accordance with their particular political-administrative structures, policy priorities and practices. Focusing on formal and informal links between government levels, both Scotland and Bavaria have featured unfavourable weaknesses and gaps in the EU environmental policy filtering process. Scotland's constitutional position has also had an impact on the way EU environmental policies have been processed within Scottish political-administrative structures.
