ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

This course will provide students with basic tools to understand how environmental related issues are regulated at the International and European Union levels and how environmental laws and regulations are applied and enforced in the legal systems which will be considered.
As students are mainly supposed not to hold a legal specialist background, basic notions on the principles of International and EU law will be given, together with notions on the sources of law and some essential instructions on how to access legislative texts.
Since compliance with environmental laws is one of the first and compulsory actions to effectively safeguard and preserve the environment, the main objective of the course is to make students more familiar with legal tools aimed at protecting the environment in several regulatory areas. Therefore, at the end of the course they should be able to understand more in depth the implementation and enforcement mechanisms of regulatory frameworks within the legal systems which will be analysed and dealt with.

Students will learn how to identify applicable legislative acts in the context of the international, transnational and EU legal systems and how to access to them.
They will understand how to contextualize the applicable legal provisions in concrete cases and how breaches of environmental law could be addressed and settled, where necessary, depending on the legal systems taken into consideration.

Basic knowledge of the main legal systems where environmental laws are in force.
Brief history of environmental law.
Basic knowledge of the general principles of environmental law.
Basic knowledge of the sources of environmental law and their hierarchy, depending on the legal systems dealt with.
Identification of applicable environmental laws and their subsequent enforcement.

No prerequisites. Students are assumed not to hold a legal background.

- Brief history of Environmental Law
- General Principles of Environmental Law
- Legal systems and institutions competent for protecting the Environment
- Basics of Environmental Law: key notions
- Sources of Environmental Law and their Hierarchy
- Basics of International Environmental Law - main international and multilateral agreements on environmental-related issues
- Origins, Principles and Sources of EU Environmental Law
- Sector regulation
- Enforcement of Environmental Law
- Case-study analyses and possible workshops

Legislative acts and judgments from time to time indicated during the lessons.
Lecture notes.

COMPULSORY

E. Fischer, Environmental Law: A very short introduction, Oxford University Press, 2017

OPTIONAL

BASICS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

J. Klabbers, International Law, Cambridge University Press, third ed., 2021
Limited to:
- pp. 10-12: the international legal system
- pp. 24-44: the making of international law
- pp. 45-72: the law of the treaties
- pp. 73-99: the subjects of international law
- pp. 155-166 + pp. 170-175: international courts and tribunals
- pp. 182-192: sanctions, countermeasures and collective security

Concerning sources of international law with specific regard to environmental law sources, students can also refer to:
P. Sands, J. Peel, Principles of International Environmental Law, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 101-128


BASICS OF EU LAW

R. Schütze, An introduction to European Law, Oxford University Press, third ed., 2020
Limited to:
- pp. 11-36: EU institutions
- pp. 75-82: Categories of Competences
- pp. 95-100: EU Charter of fundamental rights
- pp. 109-132: principles of direct effect and direct applicability

K. Davies, Understanding European Union Law, Routledge, 7th ed., 2019
Limited to:
- pp. 25-47: EU institutions
- pp. 53-69: sources of EU law

A very general and summary overview of EU law can be found in
A. Arnull, European Union Law: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2017


HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
P. Sands, J. Peel, Principles of International Environmental Law, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 21-51


PRINCIPLES OF ENVIROMENTAL LAW
P. Sands, J. Peel, Principles of International Environmental Law, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 197-249


INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE LAW
P. Sands, J. Peel, Principles of International Environmental Law, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 295-331


EU ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
S. Kingston, V. Heyvaert, A. Čavoški, European Environmental Law, Cambridge University Press, 2017

With specific reference to environmental matters, for a more in-depth analysis of EU Institutions, EU Sources of law, EU history and principles of environmental law (which are general principles of environmental law applied within the EU legal order): pp. 1-149

For the AARHUS CONVENTION: pp. 168-182

For MAJOR SECTORS OF EU ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: pp. 257-517
In particular, as to:
- Air Quality (AIFD): pp. 306-321 (to know more: pp. 298-337)
- WFD: pp. 341-360
- Water for Human Consumption: pp. 361-364
- Nature and Biodiversity: pp. 410-446
- EIA: pp. 379-409
- Waste Management: pp. 489-517

NB: To be considered as attending, students should have attended at least 75% of the lessons (either in class, or online).

For ATTENDING students: written and oral.
Multiple choice test at the end of the course.
Oral presentation of a judicial decision of the students’ own choices (be it a group or an individual presentation – in case of a group presentation, a same grade for each group member will be given).

The final grade will be attributed calculating the average of the grades given for both the written and the oral parts.
The student can take the two parts of the exam separately on different dates, provided that they are both successfully taken by the end of the exam period (end of June/end of September).
If the student fails just one part of the exam, this will not affect the successful part (and the grade thereof) which will be kept for the purposes of the final registration until the end of each exam period (June/September).


For NON-ATTENDING students:
Written test splitted into a multiple choice section and a second one with open questions.

The final grade will be attributed calculating the average of the grades given for both parts of the exam.
Students can take the two parts of the exam separately on different dates, provided that they are both successfully taken by the end of the exam period (end of June/end of September).
If the student fails just one part of the exam, this will not affect the successful part (and the grade thereof) which will be kept for the purposes of the final registration until the end of each exam period (June/September).


Programme for the exam
- Slides and materials uploaded on Moodle (which have been prepared on the basis of the reference texts specified above)
- Notes of the lessons
- E. Fischer, Environmental Law: A very short introduction, Oxford University Press, 2017

Frontal lectures and possible workshops.
Seminars with external invited lecturers and following group discussions.
Attendance is recommended.

English

Please, check this page for any possible update.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development