The regulation of the environmental impact of road and air transport in the EU

Abstract

Unfortunately, in the field of European environmental law ineffective implementation and enforcement remains a major problem and ranks higher than in most other policies. The discussions on these shortcomings and proposals how to improve the situation have long been going on. So far, only a small part of the proposals touched upon application and enforcement issues. In recent years, the focus of analysis centred clearly on the drafting process and the transposition of Community law into national law (including the role of national parliaments), but little work has been done on the application and enforcement phase. EU environment policy is not static. It is constantly updated to take account of new threats and emerging technologies. It is open to new ideas about the best policy or instrument for dealing with environmental issues. Policy is not framed in a vacuum, but is responsive to the views of stakeholders - in particular EU citizens, who have a right to expect a high quality of life for themselves and their children. In this dissertation I have tried to highlight the ongoing problems in regulating air and road transport effects on the environment. The study I have made is based on the situation as it was at the end of 2006, so any further developments or changes since then have not been included in this thesis. I have had some problems in quoting or reporting from various stakeholders' websites in that certain views on environmental effects of road and air transport were conflicting. However, I chose to quote reputable sources which I believe are reliable.