Meeus, 2014

Roel Meeus. Sanctionering van het Europees milieurecht. Tussen handhavingsnood en sanctieverplichtingen [Sanctioning European environmental law. In between enforcement needs and sanctioning duties], Antwerpen – Cambridge, Intersentia, 2014, 646 p.

This book offers an detailed description and thorough analysis of the obligations of EU Member States as the enforcers of European environmental law. The focus is on the public law enforcement of rules addressing legal and natural persons, especially the sanctioning of such rules. It is the first publication mapping in an exhaustive way the European sanctioning obligations of the Member States regarding European environmental provisions.

The two main tracks the EU uses to try to shape the sanctioning by Member States of European environmental offences, are extensively discussed. Thus, on the one hand, the jurisprudential and general sanctioning obligation, developed by the European Court of Justice, which obliges the Member States to provide and use equivalent, proportional, deterrent and effective sanctions for infringements of EU-embedded environmental legislation. Next, on the other hand, the regulatory and specific sanctioning obligations imposed by the European environmental legislator in European environmental regulations and directives. The analysis is completed by an overview of the provisions in European environmental regulations and directives that imply an enforcement obligation for the Member States.