Meeus, 2007

Roel Meeus, De basishandhavingsplicht van de lidstaten van de Europese Unie in het communautair milieurecht [The basic enforcement duty of the EU Member States in European environmental law], Tijdschrift voor Milieurecht 2007, 311-359

The article studies the basic enforcement obligation incumbent on European Union Member States in the area of EU environmental law. The European Court of Justice derives this basic enforcement obligation from the principle of Community loyalty enshrined in Article 4(3) of the EU Treaty (formerly Article 10 of the EC Treaty). It entails, among other things, the obligation for Member States to provide for effective, proportional and deterrent penalties in their domestic law for breaches of all EU-embedded legislation. The various aspects of the basic enforcement obligation are discussed, with an emphasis on the obligation to impose sanctions. The conclusion elaborates on the relevance of the basic enforcement obligation for the Belgian federal and Flemish environmental legislator on the one hand and the environmental law enforcement authorities with sanctioning powers on the other.

Full publication (Dutch) here.