Added to Case Law
* Case C-342/05 Commission vs. Finland
On 14 June 2007, the ECJ ruled partly in favour of the Commission, agreeing that Finland had wrongly allowed wolf hunting as a general preventive means. In the meantime, however, some of the other accusations made by the Commission were dismissed.
Sector: nature
* Case C-422/05 Commission vs. Belgium
On 14 June 2007, the ECJ ruled that Belgium had failed to fulfil its obligations under Directive 2002/30/EC on noise related operating restriction at community airports, by adopting the Royal Decree of 14 April 2002 regulating night flights of certain types of civil subsonic jet airplanes.
Sector: noise
Added to Policy Areas, Climate Change
* Commission welcomes 2005 emission reductions
On 14 June 2007, Commissioner Stavros Dimas welcomed the fact that greenhouse gas emissions fell by 0.7% in 2005. Furthermore, he urged that Member States should make a continuous effort at reducing the emissions even more. This statement was made in reaction to the EEA technical report 7/2007 “Annual European Community greenhouse gas inventory 1990-2005 and inventory report 2007”. However, environmental organization WWF is concerned that the Kyoto Protocol system is short-sighted and that many of the CDM and JI allowances are not clean.
Added to Policy Areas, Dangerous Substances
* Parliament’s report on hazardous substances in electronics
On 14 May 2007, the European Parliament published a report on the Commission’s Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council Amending Directive 2002/95/EC (22 December 2006) on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, as regards the implementing powers conferred to the Commission. In this report the Parliament presents its draft legislative resolution, within the first reading of the Codecision procedure. In the meantime, however, a representative of HP has stressed that stated that the Electronics Directive is unworkable, because it puts an enormous administrative burden on companies. The representative stresses that harmonization of the Directive and de differing national legislations should be harmonized to facilitate practice and comparison.
Added to Policy Areas, General
* Regulation on a financial instrument for the environment
On 23 May 2007, the Parliament and Council published Regulation 614/2007 concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE+). This Regulation brings together features of the LIFE-Environment and LIFE-Nature Programmes, Forest Focus, the Urban Programme and several other smaller funding streams from DG Environment.
Added to Policy Areas, Nature & Agriculture
* Council conclusions on agriculture
On 11-12 June 2007, during the 2806th meeting of the Council on agriculture and fisheries the council agreed on a regulation reforming the fruit and vegetables sector. It also adopted, together with the Commission, conclusions on the application of cross-compliance, and agreed on a regulation addressing the production and labelling of organic products.
Added to Policy Areas, Waste
* Parliament’s report on end-of-life vehicles
On 14 May 2007, the European Parliament published a report concerning the Commission proposal suggesting amendment of Directive 2000/53/EC. The report presents the draft legislative resolution of the Parliament, during the first reading of the Codecision procedure. Besides two minor adjustments, the Parliament approves the Commission’s proposal.
Added to Policy Areas, Water
* Commission evaluated coastal zone management in Europe
On 7 June 2007, a Commission Communication (COM (2007) 308) was published on integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Europe. This Communication is a response to a Parliament and Council recommendation of 30 may 2002, which it claims had a positive impact on coastal zone management. The Commission will support instruments improving coastal environment and implementation of ICZM. For the time being, the 2002 recommendation will remain valid.
* Council conclusions on fisheries
On 11-12 June 2007, during the 2806th meeting of the Council on agriculture and fisheries the council concluded that the Common Market Organisation must be simplified and consolidated, on a recovery plan for cod stocks in the Baltic Sea and on Greenland fisheries partnership. The Council also adopted a Regulation providing for a recovery plan for four other fish (bluefin tuna, sole, eel and place). This corresponds to the decision to include the European eel in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), in the first half of June 2007. Consequently, the international community now officially recognizes the European eel as an endangered species.
Added to Dossiers/papers
* Updated REACH dossier
The new chemicals’ policy REACH came into effect, under much controversy, on 1 June 2007.
Added to Reviews/Links
* Lawtext Publications Limited
This website provides information services for legal advisors and academics specializing in the areas of life sciences, environment, maritime, information technology, market regulation and socio-legal studies. There is new article on this website, on the current legal status of carbon finance and the flexible mechanisms (CDM and JI).
Added to Events
* Symposium ‘transboundary environment and water pollution’ (in Dutch)
This symposium is related to a publication on tranboundary environmental pollution and organized by the University of Utrecht. During this one day symposium the central question is: what legislative possibilities nation states and decentralized authorities have to combat transboundary environment and water pollution.
Date; 5 July 2007
Location: Grand Hotel Karel V, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Added to Job Postings
* EEL website
We are looking for a trainee who would like to help us over the coming months to improve the EEL website and collect information for this EEL News Service. Excellent knowledge of English language is a must. If you are interested, please contact us for more information (contact details on the EEL website).
* Greenpeace internship
Greenpeace is looking for an intern who will be part of the crew department of the ships and actions unit and implement the crew management modules of the fleet management software, among other tasks.
Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Deadline: 1 July 2007
* TRAFFIC Europe
TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, is seeking a Project Officer for its programme in Central and Eastern Europe. The Project Officer researches a wide range of wildlife trade topics, develops and implements research projects on wildlife trade in Central and Eastern Europe, among other tasks.
Location: Budapest, Hungary.
Deadline: 27 June 2007
* Environmental Services Association (ESA)
ESA, the UK’s trade association for the waste management industry, offers a vacancy for a public affairs and communication officer. The public affairs officer will be an approachable and authoritative source of advice for MPs and Peers as well as helping to guide ESA’s media profile.
Location: London, United Kingdom.
Deadline: n.a. (but ad was announced on 11 June 2007).
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Editors-in-Chief:
Wybe Th. Douma (T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague)
Jens Hamer (Academy of European Law, Trier)
Editors:
Leonardo Massai (T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague)
Ruben Vermeeren (T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague)
Sara Woods (T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague)
Technical realisation:
Marco van der Harst (T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague)
e-mail: eelnewsservices@asser.nl