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ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS AND CASE STUDIES: Flexibility in the European Legal Framework on Air Quality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2013

Mireille Bogaart
Mireille Bogaart*
Affiliation:
Amsterdam Centre for Environmental Law and Sustainability (ACELS), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
Mireille Bogaart, Amsterdam Centre for Environmental Law and Sustainability, University of Amsterdam, ACELS/CvM Post Box 1030, Oudemanhuispoort 4–6, 1012 CN Amsterdam, The Netherlands; (phone) 0-20-525-3075; (e-mail) m.m.bogaart@uva.nl
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Abstract

This article discusses the room for national maneuver (flexibility) in the implementation of two important European directives aimed at the improvement of air quality: the Ambient Air Quality Directive and the National Emission Ceilings Directive. Concrete examples of flexibility are time extensions for deadlines, the possibility for lowering standards, or the freedom to decide in which manner certain objectives like those for environmental quality are set. This flexibility is an important factor for the actual impact that these legal obligations could have on air quality. Evaluated is whether these directives are, considering the flexibility, actually capable of contributing to the environmental protection they seek to provide. The overall conclusion is that both directives set an inflexible environmental target and that a European level of ambition is being established.

Environmental Practice 15:62–71 (2013)

Type
Features
Information
Environmental Practice , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 62 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © National Association of Environmental Professionals 2013

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