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The right to take collective action in EU law based on the European Pillar of Social Rights and the recent case law of the CJEU
9-24Views:218This paper is built around the workers’ fundamental right to take collective action and collective bargaining. Although, this right is firmly embedded in the majority of labour law systems in the social policy (meaning labour law, too) of the European Union, it is worth analysing it separately with an independent meaning. We can approach this right from the fundamental rights, the fundamental treaties or from certain directives, so we can find several questions that are difficult to answer properly. These problems are mostly catalysed by the necessary collision between the need for socially motivated legal protection and the fundamental economic freedoms. In my research, I analyse this right – along with some other connected ones – with the help of the recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Pillar of Social Rights because the latter highlights the holistic approach in the current reforms of EU social policy.
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Principle of Environmental Integration – Thoughts on the 7th EU Environment Action Programme
31-51Views:152Integration of environmental requirements into other policies is a priority objective of the new, 7th environmental action programme of the EU. Principle of environmental integration was developed by the international environmental policy; it was inserted into environmental policy principles and into provisions of the Founding Treaty at the establishment of the EC environmental policy. The aim of the environmental integration principle harmful environmental effects, thus to serve sustainable development. Objectives of the EU sustainable development and sustainable growth strategies cannot be realized without integration of environmental requirements: integration of economic, social and environmental aspects of development can ensure the establishment of a resource- efficient, competitive economy, free from environmental degradation, improvement of quality of human life, meeting the needs of present and future generations, and preservation of natural resources which serves as the fundament for development of the other two pillars. Environmental integration is a principle provided for in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, binding the decision-makers and legislators of the EU and the Member States; failure of its application might lead to judicial review and annulment of an act.
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The Role of Non-Governmental Organisations in the Enforcement of Environmental Liability
113-127Views:271Public participation is an essential part of the mechanism of dealing with environmental problems. Both the Aarhus Convention and Union law stipulate that citizens and environmental NGOs should be guaranteed access to justice that includes providing legal standing for environmental NGOs individuals and directly affected by a breach of environmental law. In accordance with the Environmental Liability Directive, persons adversely affected by environmental damage are entitled to ask the competent authorities to take action. However, there are major chellenges to the implementation of environmental legislation, faced by environmental NGOs in obtaining standing to bring legal challenges on environmental issues.
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In Contrast: Responsibility for Environment and Regulation in Finance
128-155Views:258The more environmental policy comes into the focus of fiscal policies of governments, the more prevailing are the interests in it influencing the governance as a whole. In the context of the European Union, the governmental role of the Member States’ increased less for initiating the (often invoked) environmental protection but such an increase is rather an end in itself. The responsibility for environment seems to represent the bright side, while the reality of financial regulations shows the dark side of government priorities.
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Dark Waters? The Place of Environmental Liability in the Environmental Policy Toolkit (Issues of Regulatory Methodology and Environmental Principles)
42-66Views:295The starting point of the study is that environmental liability is not only a tool of ex-post sanctioning and remediation, but also helps to enforce the principles of prevention and precaution. It examines the rules on liability for environmental damage in a broader context and links the various instruments of environmental policy by presenting their relationship to the environmental policy principles and typifying the policy instruments of environmental protection.
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Impact Assessment of Environmental Legislation and Strategic Environmental Assessment in Practice
85-102Views:134The study deals with the system of the impact assessment of environmental legislation in Hungary. The system can be divided into three parts, these are the environmental aspects of general impact assessment, the environmental impact assessment of legislation and the strategic environmental assessment. The aim of the study is to evaluate these tools and to draw up the possible ways of legal interpretation and development. The study offers an evaluation of the theoretical basis with consideration to a practice-oriented approach.
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Effects of the State Aid Soft Law on Beneficiaries: Annotation on an order of the General Court
118-127Views:165The European Commission issues guidelines and other soft law instruments to define the compatibility conditions of State aid to be granted by Member States with the internal market. Although the soft law is only binding on the Commission it has not negligible indirect effect on the Member States state aid policy and thereby on other policies. So far it was not clear how much beneficiaries could find remedy at European Courts against the soft law issued by the Commission. The present article gives a description on the adoption of the new energy and environmental aid guidelines with the focus on the conditions related to aid to operating aid to energy generation from renewable energy sources in the context of the State Aid modernization initiative. A comparison to the previous rules was also made. Thereafter the article summarizes an order of the General Court issued in a procedure where an applicant has initiated action for annulment of the guidelines. The article also tries to draw some conclusions about the possibilities and limits of beneficiaries and Member States to question the legality of State aid soft law instruments at European Courts.
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Balancing Work and Life: New Developments in the Field of Legal Protection of Workers
25-44Views:173The present study deals with the current labour law questions of balancing work and private life. The topicality of the study is supported by Directive (EU) 2019/1158 which, built on the existing legislative basis, brings several novelties in this regulative area refreshing the key elements of the criteria of equal employment referring to the employees raising children. The researched regulation fits into the high level, socially motivated; worker-protection Directive designated by the European Pillar of Social Rights, consequently, this aspect also plays a role in elaboration. In my analysis, I concentrate on the regulative background, subject of the new Directive, as well as its connection to fundamental social rights and the new norms describing the potentially strengthening legal protection of workers. I draw conclusions based on their synthesis about the predictable future effects of the new regulation.
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A Missed Opportunity: the Judgement of the International Court of Justice on the Environmental Related Legal Dispute of Costa Rica and Nicaragua
181-199Views:380This article introduces and evaluates the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the case concerning certain activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua) proceedings joined with construction of a road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica) from an environmental point of view. The case was one of the latest environmental related affairs before the ICJ and the Hungarian literature had been looking forward with great expectation regarding the Court’s award. The conclusion of this essay is that in spite of the nature of the dispute, the symmetry of the conflict and the constant need for the improvement of the general international environmental law, the ICJ missed the opportunity to develop international environmental customary law and the case will stay in the shadow of the ICJ’s previous judgement on Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay.
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Regulatory Proposal of the Ombudsman for Future Generations
10-28Views:212The most important provisions of environmental liability are available, but the effective enforcement still requires the regulation of several legal conditions. The ombudsman for future generations, following a wide professional and social coordination issued a complex regulatory proposal. The proposal is based upon the EU Environmental Liability Directive within the framework of the existing liability scheme, with a broader understanding of liability, and with the most inclusive approach of the polluter pays principle. Among other elements it covers the financial guarantees, the formation of the financial coverage of state intervention, the implementation of environmental liability attached to the real estates, the availability of and access to the environmental information, the more effective enforcement of environmental liability, and also the setting of conditions of implementation within public administration. The main objective is to promote responsible environmental behaviour.
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Environmental Liability Law: Environmental Civil Experts’ view
86-112Views:139Environmental liability legislation, both the ELD in Europe and CERCLA in US, is burdened with significant compromises, but even if so, they are too leniently implemented. Moreover, rather scarce data are available on the liability cases and on the status of polluted sites, therefore the system is unable to amend itself. There is no reason to be surprised: expenses of protection or remedy of the polluted sites are enormous, the concerned industries would get into a poor competition position in the market if faced with too stringent liability. In the exceptional cases when their deeds are revealed and enforcement actions start, they still might retreat behind the bastions of limited responsibility of their companies. In such situations public participation is a vital element of any progressive outcomes. In the present study we examine the efforts of J&E, a network of public interest environmental lawyers to contribute to moving out the European environmental liability systems from their stalemate position and enhance their effectiveness.
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Scientific Uncertainty and the Enforceability of Environmental Liability
67-85Views:207This study examines the ways in which environmental liability for environmental harm is allocated under Hungarian laws and regulations and in the practice of domestic courts. Specifically, it focuses on how laws handle the uncertain nature of causal links between a given pollution and its possible source, and which actors should bear the costs of remediation. The study posits that the uncertain nature of scientific evidence impacts the way environmental liability can be allocated and enforced, as scientific evidence can never establish requisite causal links with absolute certainty. The article first enumerates and discusses the sources of scientific uncertainty and demonstrates that it inescapably burdens scientific evidence. It then examines how laws and regulations in force handle causal uncertainty and the ways in which liability for environmental harm is distributed among various actors. The study concludes with proposing legislative amendments in order to allocate environmental liability in a more equitable way in cases when the causal processes remain inherently uncertain.
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Possible improvements of the water law concepts
38-54Views:153The present article concentrates on the so-called water law concepts. As regards water law concepts, the article especially deals with the challenges of the Hungarian water management. The article has five main chapters. In the first chapter, the author focuses on the basis of the water law concepts, namely on natural, social and engineering sciences, furthermore, the author also determines the legal instruments which are able to provide proper links among the different water law concepts. The further four chapters analyse the water law concepts one by one; i.e. (a) ruling over waters, (b) water as an environmental component, (c) water as the subject of commercial deals (good or service), (d) water as cause of damage a.k.a. defence against water.
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Public Procurement Issues in the Field of Environmental Liability
175-188Views:179In public procurement, the principle of responsible management of public funds applies (Section 142 of the Public Procurement Act). This does not mean that only the techniques of fast-acting, quasi-abbreviated announcements or accelerated public procurement procedures are preferred, but on the contrary also direct tenders without general public procurement procedures are possible. The basis for efficient and transparent public expenditure at least are public procurement procedures that adhere to minimum procedural deadlines and create competition, i.e. facilitate the participation of as many bidders as possible. On the other hand, remedying environmental damage caused by third parties requires that the award of appropriate protection and remedial measures to the relevant contractors and the associated compliance with public procurement procedures do not cause delays that could contribute to extreme environmental degradation. In these cases, it is necessary to check whether there is a case of extreme urgency (imminent danger) and whether the award procedure can be omitted in whole or in part. In line with the above considerations, the present study, with reference to the Hungarian and EU regulations for public procurement, as well as comparative law with the inclusion of German and Austrian examples, examines whether the Hungarian legislator has additional leeway to prevent and quickly eliminate urgent or permanent serious environmental damage in accordance with procurement law.
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The Observation, Review, and Possible Modification of the EU Environmental Liability Directive in Hungary
29-41Views:179The main secondary legal source of environmental liability in the European Union is the Directive 2004/35/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. Even though it was modified several times since then, it still remains the basic norm in the environmental field by establishing the regulatory frames by means of the polluter pays principle and the principle of prevention. The present study makes an overview of recent and potential further legislative steps in Hungary with regards to its implementation.
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Environmental Mediation in Germany
60-77Views:126It has always been a difficult question for the State to ensure effective decision-making processes for instances where public participation is considered to be a requirement. This question might be even more essential when it comes to disputes concerning large-scale projects with environmental impact. When the public is affected by such project, the contractor must be really prudent, otherwise high number of litigation may be initiated afterwards. The very special form of mediation, the so-called environmental mediation may offer a solution to this problem, by allowing all participants to meet and discuss every crucial issues related to projects described above. It is also important to emphasize that not the same requirements apply to environmental mediation and to other civil law related mediation procedures. The aim of environmental mediation would not be less than to improve the quality of public bodies’ decisions.
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Limits of Environmental Liability: Summary of the Guest Editor
189-198Views:191This summary is an attempt to demonstrate that despite all the differences in how limits of environmental liability are perceived by the authors of this special issue due to different approaches to environmental liability, a common framework can nevertheless be drawn encompassing them all. Each article of the special issue elaborates some of the aspects of the concept of environmental liability. Despite the differences in the evaluation and assessment by the authors of the role of stakeholders and of the facts having an impact on the concept of environmental liability, it is shown that all of them are analysing the very same subject. The apparent differences are due to the different contexts in which environmental liability is examined and evaluated. Thus, the summary underlines that there is a need for system thinking related to environmental liability.
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The EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) from an Environmental Law Perspective
63-87Views:256This paper will focus on the 2012/27/EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). Since the EED is a rather new legal act, its assessment from an environmental law perspective has been neglected in academic literature. Therefore, the next question automatically arises: does the new directive take steps to improve the EU regulations concerning energy efficiency? The EED undoubtedly took a step forward by providing legally binding frameworks for the reduction of energy consumption (instead of the previous political and non-binding energy efficiency goals) and has done this in an absolute way, which is the most important requirement from an ecological point of view. Beyond the special targets of the EED, there are several specific requirements that may play a significant role in the realisation of the EED’s targets. Among these, for instance the following is highlighted in this paper: establishing energy efficiency obligation schemes or adopting alternative policy measures; the 3% commitment of renovation regarding central government buildings; the obligation of energy audits regarding enterprises that are not small or medium-sized, etc. This paper concludes that, despite a few provisions of the directive meeting the ecological requirements, in reality, the regulation misses theoretical ground.
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The Future of International Environmental Law
139-145Views:98Book review on The Future of International Environmental Law, szerk.: David Leary és Balakrishna Pisupati, 2010, Tokió, United Nations University
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The Role of the Local Goverments in the Changed System of Environmental Public Administration
79-93Views:186This study investigates the transformation of environmental protection as a specialized administrative duty in Hungary, with special attention on the (changing) roles of local self-governments in this area. Following the outline of the general correlations within the topic, the study inspects several individual administrative fields, with attention given to the relationship with environmental protection policies. Our plan is to extend this analysis in the future, in hopes of covering additional specialised administrative areas as well. Our firm opinion is that the solutions provided by the sectorial approach inherent in our administrative system proved to be ineffective insolving today’s global issues. To ensure an effective environmental protection strategy, the organizations of public administration must be involved with larger roles assigned to them. Although the methods of regulation in this area are diverse, the most widespread approach proves to be the direct administrative intervention, even nowadays.
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The Past, Present, and Future of Environmental Policy (Book re- view)
184-196Views:130This is a book review from the book title "Why Environmental Policies Fail", the author is Jan Laitos (University of Denver Strum College of Law, 2017.)
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János Ede Szilágyi: Water Governance, Water Policy and Water Law (book review)
169-173Views:191Book-review from the book of János Ede Szilágyi, the title is Water Governance, Water Policy and Water Law.
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Quantum Mechanics and Law. What Does the Failure of Environmental Regulation Teach Us?
60-82Views:226The article first of all holds that environmental regulation has failed. This is because it is too weak to prevent the overstepping of ecological boundaries by humanity. This legal regulation reflects that human behavior is psychopathological. This collective mental illness may originate from false self-identification. Therefore, the author reviews the outcomes of modern natural sciences, such as quantum physics, cosmology, and non-local consciousness research. These results give sufficient support to argue, despite the traditional paradigm of materialism, that some aspects of consciousness are not limited by the space-time continuum. Moreover, all consciousness, regardless of its physical manifestations, is part of the universal Consciousness. From these scientific results, in line with ancient scriptures, an Eternal Order has evolved, which can be described at least by four fundamental and universal truths. This Eternal Order should be taken into account by positive law, if humanity wants to reach fulfillment within the ecological limits of the Earth. -
Expanding Zoo? Judgments of the EU Court of Justice on Participation of Slovakian NGOs in Environmental Administrative Proceedings
118-131Views:150The Aarhus Convention guarantees access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters. The Convention as a so-called mixed-agreement has been ratified by the EU as well as by its Member States. The Convention-related case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) especially relating to Slovakia (see, C-240/09 – Slovak bears, C-243/15 – Slovak deers) shows that the Court has broadened the locus standi of NGOs before national courts using them in order to facilitate the enforcement of EU law. The activism followed by the Court in these judgements could be considered as environmental-specific expression of the objective of broader law enforcement before national courts. However it depends on national courts whether this kind of CJEU judgments could acquire cross-border relevance by their application of national judges. "A mű a KÖFOP-2.1.2-VEKOP-15-2016-00001 azonosítószámú, _ „A jó kormányzást megalapozó közszolgálat-fejlesztés”_ elnevezésű kiemelt projekt keretében működtetett Ludovika Kutatócsoport keretében, a Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem felkérésére készült."
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Paradigm shift in management of enviromental problems: The ecosystem services concept and its legal aspects
98-113Views:149The majority of global environmental problems has remained unresolved mostly due to inadequate communication between natural and social sciences. This paper reviews the origin of the ecosystem services concept and presents the main valuation methods and emergence of that in legal terminology. The concept has ecological and economical roots thus can bridge environmental protection and development needs. It is clear that valuation and integration in decision-making of these essential ecological processes is one of the recent greatest scientific challenges.