tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73169202751064886192024-02-19T10:13:08.848+00:00The EU referendum and the UK environmentUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-27085490973942997942017-07-03T12:55:00.000+01:002017-07-03T12:55:00.273+01:00Launch of policy briefs: Post-Brexit agri-environment and fisheries policy in the UK - A new dawn? The EU has had a profound impact upon UK agriculture and fisheries policy. Brexit will lead to considerable change in both sectors. Academics from the University of York and Queens’ University
Belfast present their findings on the potential implications of Brexit for UK agriculture
and fisheries policy in two reports launched in Westminster today.<br />
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The reports <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; letter-spacing: 0.35pt;">bring clear and impartial academic
evidence together with the views of leading stakeholders in the field to
identify the priorities, risks and opportunities facing these sectors in the
coming months and years.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; letter-spacing: 0.35pt;">To download the briefs, please visit: </span><a href="http://www.brexitenvironment.co.uk/expert-reviews/" target="_blank">http://www.brexitenvironment.co.uk/expert-reviews/ </a><br />
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<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08100748312175776915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-16393600974074948982017-06-23T19:10:00.000+01:002017-06-23T19:10:04.296+01:00EU referendum: one year onUK in a Changing Europe have published a <a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-gives-rise-to-new-political-identities-new-report-one-year-on-from-eu-referendum-finds/" target="_blank">report</a> commissioned by the <a href="https://www.psa.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Political Studies Association</a> on occasion of the one-year anniversary of the EU referendum.<br />
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The 62-page report is written by 38 leading academics and covers issues such as politics, economics, public opinion, devolution and future relations with the EU.<br />
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Charlotte Burns (York), Andy Jordan (UEA) and Viviane Gravey (QUB) have written the chapter on the environment. They review what has happened since the referendum and discuss what will happen next. Well worth a read!<br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_765693530"></span><span id="goog_765693531"></span><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08100748312175776915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-42846310675175354482017-06-23T11:32:00.001+01:002017-06-23T11:32:52.287+01:00Greener UK launch Brexit Risk Tracker<a href="http://greeneruk.org/index.php" target="_blank">Greener UK</a><span id="goog_1750308511"></span><span id="goog_1750308512"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>, a coalition of 13 major environmental organisations, have just launched a very helpful tool for those concerned with environmental policy post-Brexit.<br />
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Their <a href="http://greeneruk.org/RiskTracker.php" target="_blank">Brexit Risk Tracker</a> shows which UK environmental policies are secure and which are at risk as we leave the EU:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08100748312175776915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-56515591758515379542017-06-07T16:53:00.001+01:002017-06-07T16:53:36.163+01:00Sidelined again? environment in the Brexit ElectionOur team are certainly keeping busy in the run-up to the election! Another <a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/sidelined-again-environment-in-the-brexit-election/?platform=hootsuite" target="_blank">blog post</a> for <i>UK in a Changing Europe. </i>Dr Viviane Gravey and Prof Andy Jordan have carefully cross checked the contents of the main parties' manifestos against the three environmental tests set by <i>Greener UK</i> (the coalition of thirteen of the largest environmental organisations). How do they perform?<br />
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Environment in the election <a href="https://twitter.com/VGravey">@VGravey</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/QueensUBelfast">@QueensUBelfast</a> Prof Andy Jordan <a href="https://twitter.com/uniofeastanglia">@uniofeastanglia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/EUrefEnv">@EUrefEnv</a> <a href="https://t.co/1rOxlAeGIZ">https://t.co/1rOxlAeGIZ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IAEEPresearch">@IAEEPresearch</a> <a href="https://t.co/1E5YEl0ZRp">pic.twitter.com/1E5YEl0ZRp</a></div>
— UK in a Changing EU (@UKandEU) <a href="https://twitter.com/UKandEU/status/872473252219715585">June 7, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08100748312175776915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-58909412677198591532017-06-07T16:12:00.003+01:002017-06-07T16:15:41.015+01:00Brexit and the environment: what can we expect?We published another <a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-and-the-environment-what-can-we-expect/" target="_blank">blog post</a> yesterday for <i>UK in a Changing Europe </i>where Dr Charlotte Burns outlines the mixed implications of Brexit for EU environmental policy.<br />
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Brexit and the environment: what can we expect? <a href="https://twitter.com/CharlieBEU">@CharlieBEU</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/YorkEnvironment">@YorkEnvironment</a> <a href="https://t.co/k1BKf5iyt7">https://t.co/k1BKf5iyt7</a> <a href="https://t.co/ICjOBKPyPL">pic.twitter.com/ICjOBKPyPL</a></div>
— UK in a Changing EU (@UKandEU) <a href="https://twitter.com/UKandEU/status/872064992861925377">June 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08100748312175776915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-48189775193722872532017-06-06T19:23:00.000+01:002017-06-06T19:23:53.304+01:00Green Party report card: Better campaign, worse outcome? Our new <a href="https://theconversation.com/drowned-out-by-the-corbyn-effect-the-green-party-struggles-to-cut-through-78643">blog post</a> in <i>The Conversation</i> looks at how its not just Jeremy Corbyn that's creating headache for the Greens in the general election, but also the low salience of the environment and the Brexit debate.
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Drowned out by the Corbyn effect, the Green Party struggles to cut through <a href="https://t.co/6enci0Kgp6">https://t.co/6enci0Kgp6</a></div>
— The Conversation (@ConversationUK) <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationUK/status/872022755797073920">June 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08100748312175776915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-24070675536211862802017-06-06T11:49:00.002+01:002017-06-06T11:49:40.282+01:00Brexit and Agri-Environment and Fisheries in the UK: A New Dawn?<b>1 Birdcage Walk, London, 3 July 2017, 14.00-17.30</b><br />
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Join members of the team (Dr Charlotte Burns and Dr Viviane Gravey) along with<span style="color: #666a73; font-family: 'Benton Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span>leading practitioners to debate the findings of an independent report on the implications of a Brexit for the UK’s Agri-Environment and Fisheries Sectors.<br /><br />The EU has had a profound impact upon UK agriculture and fisheries policy. ‘Brexit’ will lead to considerable change in both sectors. The policy brief launched at this event brings clear, balanced and systematic academic evidence together with the views of leading practitioners on the implications of Brexit for future UK Agri-Environment and Fisheries.<br />
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Attendance is free, but registration is essential. Please register via <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/brexit-and-agri-environment-and-fisheries-in-the-uk-a-new-dawn-tickets-33495959316" target="_blank">EventBrite</a>.<div>
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For further information please contact: <u>charlotte.burns@york.ac.uk</u> or <u>fay.farstad@york.ac.uk</u></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08100748312175776915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-76033464073001145432017-06-06T11:29:00.000+01:002017-06-06T12:05:42.909+01:00Brexit, the environment and devolution<div style="text-align: justify;">
A new <a href="https://www.environmentalistonline.com/article/brexit-environment-and-devolution">blog post </a>in <i>The Environmentalist -</i> this time looking at how the political parties in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are engaging with the environmental challenges posed by Brexit. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div>
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Exclusive by <a href="https://twitter.com/VGravey">@VGravey</a> & Andy Jordan <a href="https://twitter.com/TyndallCentre">@TyndallCentre</a>: what <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GE2017?src=hash">#GE2017</a> manifestos say re <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Brexit?src=hash">#Brexit</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/environment?src=hash">#environment</a> & devolution <a href="https://t.co/PF9FPghS8K">https://t.co/PF9FPghS8K</a></div>
— environmentalist mag (@The_Envist) <a href="https://twitter.com/The_Envist/status/871648826075078656">June 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08100748312175776915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-48838254326281735102017-05-24T14:28:00.001+01:002017-05-24T14:28:44.203+01:00The Brexit election: Red, white, blue… and green?<div style="text-align: justify;">
We have a new blog post out in <i>The Environmentalist</i> comparing the manifestos of the Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and Green Parties in the run-up to the June 8 General Election. In what is said to be the 'Brexit' election, is there any room for the environment? Are the main parties raising to the Brexit & Environment challenges of protecting standards, keeping legislation dynamic and building new governance arrangements?</div>
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New blog w. <a href="https://twitter.com/TyndallCentre">@TyndallCentre</a> Andy Jordan comparing <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Brexit?src=hash">#Brexit</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/environment?src=hash">#environment</a> promises in party manifestos for <a href="https://twitter.com/The_Envist">@The_Envist</a> <a href="https://t.co/zKw8OB2ZvZ">https://t.co/zKw8OB2ZvZ</a></div>
— Viviane Gravey (@VGravey) <a href="https://twitter.com/VGravey/status/867371176821239816">May 24, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-57687462352993842722017-05-04T15:26:00.000+01:002017-05-05T16:45:05.630+01:00Winner of 'Insight of the Year' at the ENDS Awards 2017<div style="text-align: justify;">
We are delighted to announce we've won 'Insight of the Year' at the first edition of the <a href="http://www.endsawards.com/">ENDS Environmental Impact Awards</a>. </div>
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ENDS is Europe’s primary provider of intelligence for environmental professionals, delivering news, analysis and reference across the carbon, environmental and sustainability agenda. </div>
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The new Impact awards seek to spotlight examples of innovation and positive impact: new thinking, new procedures and new technologies, expertly delivered, that make a meaningful contribution to immediate or long-term environmental protection and sustainability.</div>
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Our project (co-convened by Green Alliance), ‘The EU referendum, Brexit and the UK environment’ has won ‘Insight of the Year’ award, reflecting the knowledge generation and impact activities it undertook before during and after the referendum.</div>
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This award celebrates “thought leadership on an environmental or sustainability topic, either developing brand new thinking or communicating to new audiences or in new ways, and that clarifies and enables more effective action on sustainability challenges or solutions”. </div>
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The full list of winners is available <a href="http://www.endsawards.com/winners-2017/">here</a>. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-70061874630823954542017-05-04T10:47:00.000+01:002017-05-04T10:47:17.392+01:00Three unintended consequences of Brexit for UK energy and climate policy<i><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/charlotte-burns-201713">Charlotte Burns</a>, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Policy, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-york-1344">University of York</a>, and lead author EUrefEnv
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Energy, the environment and climate change were barely mentioned during the EU referendum campaign, and Theresa May has since spent little time worrying about how Brexit will change things. One reason for this oversight is that energy and environment policies are often regarded on the international stage as “low politics” – technical and unimportant issues, compared to the wars and conflicts that represent the “high politics” of statecraft. <img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/77049/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" /></div>
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<br />Yet the prime minister cannot avoid the environmental consequences of Brexit, as <a href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmbeis/909/909.pdf">a new report</a> from the House of Commons’ business, energy and industrial strategy committee illustrates.<br />
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The report, produced by a cross-party group of 12 MPs, points out the UK’s participation in the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and EU energy market has generally been a success. But May’s insistence on leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) <a href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmbeis/909/90909.htm#_idTextAnchor043">has major unintended consequences for nuclear power</a>, while the committee also notes that Brexit has created investment uncertainty in the energy sector, and may lead to less ambition in UK climate change policy.<br />
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Nuclear power may grind to a halt</h3>
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The UK is currently a member of <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/nuclear-energy">Euratom</a>, an organisation established in 1957 to develop nuclear energy cooperation among the member states. It shares the institutional structures of the wider EU and therefore comes under the auspices of the ECJ. It has developed over time to encompass safety and regulation of the nuclear power sector, which provides <a href="http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/energy-industry/electricity-generation.html">21% of the UK’s electricity</a>. </div>
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Nuclear power has support from across the political spectrum. A range of people, from left-wing commentator <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/15/nuclear-power-no-hinkley-point-yes-atomic-energy">George Monbiot</a> to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/15/new-era-of-uk-nuclear-power-as-hinkley-point-finally-gets-go-ahe/">Conservative minister, Greg Clarke</a>, agree it is an important source of “bridging” energy while the UK switches from fossil fuels to renewables.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/167548/area14mp/file-20170502-17271-1cribub.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" height="174" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/167548/width754/file-20170502-17271-1cribub.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="caption">Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site in Cumbria, England.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ashleycoates/8022929287/">Ashley Coates</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></span></i></td></tr>
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Yet when Britain leaves the EU, more specifically when it removes itself from the ECJ’s jurisdiction, it will also leave Euratom, which currently provides the regulatory framework for the country’s nuclear power sector. It will take more than two years (the Brexit negotiation timescale) to develop new regulations, according to witnesses who gave evidence to the MPs’ committee. Without rapid agreement or a transition arrangement the UK’s nuclear power may grind to a halt.<br />
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From shaker to taker</h3>
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The committee also points out the uncertainty engendered by Brexit has implications for future investment in energy infrastructure, again noting the many positives that have emerged from EU energy policies. Industry actors have <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/WrittenEvidence/CommitteeEvidence.svc/EvidenceDocument/Energy%20and%20Climate%20Change/Leaving%20the%20EU%20implications%20for%20UK%20energy%20policy/written/38172.html">called for a range of policies and product standards to be retained</a> in order to ease their continued trading relationship with EU partners. The energy labelling directives are identified as proving useful information for consumers, for instance, while EU energy efficiency rules have provided an extra push for the UK’s efficiency agenda.</div>
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The report also notes the risk that the UK could go from being a policy-shaper in this field to a policy-taker. This risk is perhaps most relevant in the field of climate change where the UK has carved out a reputation as a leader by example, but may increasingly find itself having to <a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Expert-Review_EU-referendum-UK-environment.pdf">follow the EU’s lead</a>. </div>
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The future relationship between the UK and EU in relation to the Emission Trading System (ETS) is particularly problematic. The ETS caps the amount of greenhouse gases that a company is allowed to emit, but enables them to trade their emissions with others. On the one hand it is well established that the ETS has struggled to function effectively. However, it will be <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/WrittenEvidence/CommitteeEvidence.svc/EvidenceDocument/Business,%20Energy%20and%20Industrial%20Strategy/Leaving%20the%20EU%20energy%20and%20climate%20negotiation%20priorities/written/44544.html">complicated, although not impossible,</a> for the UK to disentangle itself from the ETS to establish its own trading system (<a href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmbeis/909/90913.htm#_idTextAnchor106">one possible recommendation from the report</a>).<br />
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What happens to Northern Ireland?</h3>
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Finally, the question of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/23/northern-ireland-brexit-border-old-wounds-troubles">Northern Ireland yet again rears its head</a>. Northern Ireland and Ireland are part of a Single Electricity Market (SEM), which has been singled out for praise by the EU as “<a href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmbeis/909/90907.htm#_idTextAnchor026">an exemplar of regional cooperation</a>”. Yet this shining example may be at risk post-Brexit.</div>
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The energy committee report has therefore added further urgent items to May’s to-do list for Brexit negotiations, just when European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker rated the likelihood of a successful agreement at <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/01/theresa-mays-downing-street-dinner-jean-claude-juncker-unravelled/">less than 50%</a>. It also serves as a useful warning to politicians: ignore “low politics” at your peril. Energy and environment policy might not be “sexy” but it is essential for the successful functioning of the UK economy and the future of its low carbon transition.</div>
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This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com/">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-unintended-consequences-of-brexit-for-uk-energy-and-climate-policy-77049">original article</a>.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-67173321521088739702017-04-27T14:15:00.000+01:002017-04-28T14:26:55.566+01:00Government's reponse to House Lords Brexit & Environment report: still a governance gap?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDzyUrSHyyTg2EQeWN-2Mx4MVcfZMwAGjbm3gAr0RYKCBuNnCfjuSRgYEQ5WrLlFlg1N-XMTRErLuE5lm1Cp79UealRo_mj3uIn3wP6dnZEknpN2PP1huvbcGaqTnnHYVK-_ISz1k2VI/s1600/HoLBrexit12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDzyUrSHyyTg2EQeWN-2Mx4MVcfZMwAGjbm3gAr0RYKCBuNnCfjuSRgYEQ5WrLlFlg1N-XMTRErLuE5lm1Cp79UealRo_mj3uIn3wP6dnZEknpN2PP1huvbcGaqTnnHYVK-_ISz1k2VI/s200/HoLBrexit12.jpg" width="146" /></a>The government has responded to the House of Lords EU Committee report on Brexit & the Environment. The <a href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201617/ldselect/ldeucom/109/109.pdf">HoL report</a>, published in February was particularly critical of the government's handling of governance questions (read our <a href="http://environmenteuref.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/government-worryingly-complacent-about.html">summary</a> of the report) stressing that "the Government’s confidence in its ability to ‘hold itself to account’ contrasts with the concern expressed by the vast majority of our witnesses".</div>
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The <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-committees/eu-energy-environment-subcommittee/Brexit-environment-climate-change/Gov-response-Brexit-env-climate.pdf">government's response</a> raises a number of key points on governance, devolution, and agriculture.</div>
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On <b>governance</b>, the Government rejects the Committee's call for additional enforcement mechanisms, to address the gap left by the EU. Instead, the Government argues it can rely on existing Judicial Review & Parliamentary oversight.</div>
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On <b>devolution</b>, the government rejects the idea that powers would go straight from Brussels to the devolved administration. Instead, some powers would be "passed" by Westminster to the devolveds. The government will decide which are the "right" powers to be exercised at which level of governance.</div>
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Finally on <b>agriculture</b> the government explains replacing the CAP will take time and future policy should not felt bound by the current arrangements. Policy will be driven by a twin ambition for competitiveness and environmental protection.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrcDLza42_OZ8CSmsoyHXx51omJXuA4eBAJz6vFFUvwh46twfKwIj0bq-uy1giNEUGiDJP9WRPjDVgFNTM3EbwqL-JyCTej0BPUJMEWXCRguzz60TPcUgGhfClwdyBVA0ERf4gZg5y90/s1600/Govresponse5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqXz721L9RaGWJ_t1usN9FXoHa_bbIob5uuWUpj2Tlj89iAgO6W_goR4L78NxLeFCgU-tkUW_mgh4vMUgk9CNfFRobhkq-Sd-ODSSUhhSF3HOArJR58-49x6wC2LEnjCyAX8RxW7Rjvg/s1600/govresponse7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqXz721L9RaGWJ_t1usN9FXoHa_bbIob5uuWUpj2Tlj89iAgO6W_goR4L78NxLeFCgU-tkUW_mgh4vMUgk9CNfFRobhkq-Sd-ODSSUhhSF3HOArJR58-49x6wC2LEnjCyAX8RxW7Rjvg/s400/govresponse7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Throughout the document, the government reiterates call for a 'smooth and orderly' transition mentions repeatedly its manifesto commitment to be the first generation to leave the environment (in England) in a better state and its pledge to publish a 25 year plan for the environment in the course of this Parliament (but this has been changed, of course, by the snap election). It further calls for "a partnership of friends and allies, of interests and values" with the EU. </div>
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But beyond these commendable objectives the government does not budge on governance at all, both with regards to enforcement (existing UK arrangements will have to suffice) and with regards to devolution (Westminster will choose what remains centralised). Reading the government's response, the <a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/environmental-policy-after-brexit-mind-the-governance-gap/">governance gap</a> appears to be here to stay -- this contrasts with Labour's new Brexit policy pledging to address post-Brexit <a href="http://www.endsreport.com/article/56140/labour-pledges-post-brexit-environmental-enforcement">enforcement challenges</a>. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-55265159306404053972017-03-20T07:52:00.000+00:002017-03-20T07:52:17.861+00:00Environmental implications for Scotland of the UK leaving the EU<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Scottish Parliament's Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee held last week a hearing into the environmental implications for Scotland of the UK leaving the EU. </div>
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The Committee asked questions of a panel of experts -- Professor Gavin Little (University of Stirling); Professor Elisa Morgera (Strathclyde University); Professor Colin Reid (University of Dundee, EUrefEnv); Dr Annalisa Savaresi (University of Stirling); Bob Ward (Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment) -- about the scale of the task of disentangling the EU elements from Scottish law, the enforcement of environmental law after Brexit, the consequences of international agreements and the implications of Brexit for the devolution arrangements. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaRrC2uQZVpkoPYoeFHWzW0ZEqN95uOn09HF_TBzA6Dx6dUOf-QzoP7fanIH2Znrco1kjya71OJlWB-QNqei9s9e2rTpLD1NN844vv0-mc7FuiHzuaGtHXTpxKXhTCHfFm-cRHQ_P9OOk/s1600/ReidScottishPlt2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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The oral evidence can be viewed <a href="http://www.scottishparliament.tv/20170314_environment">here</a>. Written evidence submitted in preparation for the meeting (including by Prof <a href="http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Environment/General%20Documents/Colin_Reid_submission.pdf">Colin Reid</a>) can be accessed <a href="http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/100411.aspx">here</a>. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-33890032600629275812017-02-14T10:02:00.000+00:002017-02-14T10:08:17.701+00:00Government 'worryingly complacent' about Brexit governance challenges: latest House of Lords Report<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-6VXe1CzZ2EeM5Re0-rOxkyF04XsWkOMqNnjK8LcjtKI83z9epAPBbSM2lQqAicQIp_04TActvrosy70O_EFFRagoVu8fX91UXfSdCalFUeDQvd0pl-j5nhwTviw6U-Mf3keqZibJxc/s1600/HoLBrexit12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-6VXe1CzZ2EeM5Re0-rOxkyF04XsWkOMqNnjK8LcjtKI83z9epAPBbSM2lQqAicQIp_04TActvrosy70O_EFFRagoVu8fX91UXfSdCalFUeDQvd0pl-j5nhwTviw6U-Mf3keqZibJxc/s200/HoLBrexit12.jpg" width="146" /></a>The House of Lords European Union Committee just published its new report on <a href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201617/ldselect/ldeucom/109/109.pdf">Brexit: Environment & Climate Change</a>. Building on evidence from leading academics, civil society organisation, industries, devolved and UK governments, it studies risks and opportunities of Brexit for the UK environment. </div>
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It covers a wide range of topics, from providing a short history of the development of EU environmental policy to discussing trade implications and future UK influence. The report reiterates and expands on some well-known issues -- for example, the need to apply equivalent environmental standards to trade with the EU, the risk that all of DEFRA's time and energy will be spent on dealing with Brexit, and the particular need for continued cooperation in environmental matters alongside the Northern Irish-Irish border. Out of the many issues raised, the following were particularly striking:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Environmental policy standards are only as strong as the governance arrangements which underpin them.</b></li>
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The report as a 'patchwork quilt' of different types of legislation, adopted at different periods of time under varying legal basis. It argues that 'the EU’s environmental acquis is more than a corpus of law: it is also a complex but effective trans-national system of governance and enforcement.'</div>
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At the heart of this system you will find the European Commission (notably regarding monitoring implementation) and the European Court of Justice (concerning infraction proceedings for example). How will such a system be replaced in the future?</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>The UK government is 'worryingly complacent' about this potential governance gap</b></li>
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The need to consider governance arrangements is well known. As former LibDem MEP <a href="http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detail.aspx?ID=6188&title=Brexit-How-might-the-divorce-unfold-from-here&utm_content=buffer198c5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">Andrew Duff</a> explained last week 'the legal effect of EU regulations and directives if orphaned from the executive, legislative and judicial institutions which spawned them will be dubious at best and jeopardised at worst.' In the environmental field, Green MP <a href="https://www.carolinelucas.com/sites/carolinelucas.com/files/Safe%20Guarding%20Environment%20after%20Brexit.pdf">Caroline Lucas</a> has called earlier this week for 'an independent body to ensure UK compliance with
environmental regulation'. </div>
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But the House of Lords report show that these calls have not -- not yet? -- been heard by government. The report is particularly damning on this issue. It finds that 't<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">he Government’s confidence in its ability to
‘hold itself to account’ contrasts with the concern expressed by the vast
majority of our witnesses' and argues that:</span><br />
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The report furthermore identifies additional governance challenges, in the coordination with the devolved administrations:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Future UK influence on EU environmental policy will mostly occur through informal channels, via civil society and industry.</b></li>
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The report explores future UK influence and finds that, with the UK leaving the EU, the UK government will lose tremendous influence -- a seat at the table, voting rights etc. -- when it comes to decide new legislation. This matters as, for trade purposes, the UK may need to closely follow EU policy developments in key fields such as chemicals, pesticides etc. This dependence on back channels and non-state actor appears at odd with aims to 'take back control' of UK laws. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-1738795478417328592017-02-10T08:30:00.000+00:002017-02-10T08:30:33.872+00:00Bringing powers back from Brussels - but to where?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>This blog post summarises Dr <a href="http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/478870-hunt-joanne">Jo Hunt</a>’s (Cardiff University, Senior Fellow UK in a Changing Europe) contribution to a roundtable on Brexit & the Environment organised by the British Academy and EUrefEnv on 30 January 2017. Looking at devolution, she investigates scope for further policy divergence across the UK after Brexit and how to deal with it. </i></div>
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The ongoing process of devolution of powers away from London to Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast has to date taken place in the context of the UK’s membership of the EU. EU membership has provided a framework for the expression of regional interests, both feeding into EU policy making upstream, and implementing EU obligations in devolved areas downstream. </div>
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EU law has at the same time set important parameters for how devolved nations exercise their powers, limiting the degree to which laws across the UK can diverge in those areas which are both devolved and Europeanised. To date, rule-making in these areas has taken place in a framework of pooled state sovereignty, and in which responsibility for action is shared. Subsidiarity has been a defining principle for the exercise of competences. In an EU context, this principle provides:</div>
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‘Under the principle of subsidiarity, in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Union shall act only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, either at central level or at regional and local level, but can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Union level’. <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12012M%2FTXT">(Article 5(3) Treaty on European Union</a>). </blockquote>
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Repatriating powers – but where to? </h4>
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On the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, powers will be repatriated to the UK – and a determination needs to be made about those powers which are in devolved areas. Under the UK’s current constitutional structures, there is a tendency towards a binary allocation of competences as either devolved, for exercise at that level, or not devolved, and for exercise at the UK level. There is little experience of shared competence as practiced in the EU. </div>
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The repatriation of powers could see an expansion in the policy competence of the devolved legislatures and governments. Powers to implement policies previously decided at the EU level could become new powers for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to make their own law. However, the repatriation of competence needs to be matched by appropriate resources to be able to exercise these powers – particularly in respect to those policy areas which have previously seen subsidies and support (agriculture, rural development, and support for greening policies).
Post-Brexit, and within the scope of their devolved powers, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland could decide to regulate in line with EU measures, in preference to new UK laws. This may emerge if there are clear policy differences between the devolved and UK governments – such as a stronger commitment to environmental considerations. </div>
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Dealing with divergence </h4>
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In some cases, a divergence in law across the UK would be legally problematic because it is linked to an otherwise exclusive competence of the UK state, such as the overlap between agriculture and international trade.</div>
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In other cases, divergence may not be appropriate, particularly in terms of the consequences for the UKs own internal market. Exercise of devolved powers across the UK may result in a patchwork of regulatory responses, making trade across the UK more burdensome and costly than it need be. The U.K.’s own economic union, and internal market are currently sustained by the operation of EU law. The requirements set at EU level to ensure free movement of goods (and services, and workers) apply to regulators within the UK, and have minimised the divergence that could emerge between Scotland, Wales, NI and England. There is no national level expression of this principle for the UK independent of EU membership.</div>
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In her speech of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-governments-negotiating-objectives-for-exiting-the-eu-pm-speech">17 January</a>, the Prime Minister said that work will be needed to ensure ‘the right powers are returned to Westminster, and the right powers are passed to the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’. Whilst stating that ‘no decisions currently taken by the devolved administrations will be removed from them’, significantly the Prime Minister also said that ‘our guiding principle must be to ensure that - as we leave the European Union - no new barriers to living and doing business within our own Union are created, That means maintaining the necessary common standards and frameworks for our own domestic market, empowering the UK as an open, trading nation to strike the best trade deals around the world, and protecting the common resources of our islands.’
Following this, it appears that whilst legal competence in respect to the environment will flow to the devolved level, the exercise of that competence will be subject to the operating constraints of a national UK internal market. This will need to be determined – both in terms of principle and machinery for achieving it.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-76782801667411914852017-02-09T12:33:00.001+00:002017-02-09T12:33:54.807+00:00Brexit: the impacts of and the implications for devolution in the UK<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
blog post summarises Lloyd Austin’s (RSPB Scotland) contributions to the Brexit
& Environment roundtable organised by the British Academy & EUrefEnv on
30 January 2017. It sets out major devolution challenges for Brexit in terms of
politics, repatriated powers and finances.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Leaving the EU will have a significant impact on the powers
and budgets of the devolved bodies...Brexit is likely to reopen questions about
the distribution of powers between central and devolved government, and the
funding arrangements for devolution” – </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/Four-nation%20Brexit:%20How%20the%20UK%20and%20devolved%20governments%20should%20work%20together%20on%20leaving%20the%20EU.">Institute for Government, 2016</a></span></div>
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The result of the UK’s referendum on membership of the EU has led to the formation of a new UK Government, committed to leaving the bloc. Yet, the UK has, in many areas of public policy, never been a unitary state – although, in other areas it is or is seen as such.</div>
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When the UK, in its current form, was created in 1922, the (new) province of Northern Ireland was subject to devolved Government – until the introduction of ‘direct rule’ in the 1970s. Devolved government, of another (power-sharing) form was returned to Northern Ireland by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 (becoming effective in Dec 1999). Meanwhile, the Labour Government also introduced (different) devolution schemes for Wales and Scotland in 1998. These became effective in July 1999 and have both been enhanced by subsequent, further changes (after various Commissions); all also supported by other UK parties. In addition, the Mayor of London and, increasingly, other city mayors in England are exercising administrative devolution in some policy areas.</div>
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This constitutional “jigsaw” that constitutes the UK means that, whatever arrangements are developed to implement “Brexit”, they will be both influenced by, and impact on, these devolution settlements. These may be best described under the following headings: </div>
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<li> Politics;</li>
<li>'Repatriated’ powers – including both intra-UK arrangements and new opportunities in devolved policy and legislation; and</li>
<li>Finances. </li>
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Each of the devolved parliaments/assemblies, and their respective Governments, are currently controlled by political parties different to that forming the UK Government – and their approaches to the EU and the referendum result differ markedly. The different party political approaches are exacerbated by the differential results in the referendum (England and Wales had a ‘Leave’ majority, whereas Scotland and Northern Ireland had a ‘Remain’ majority).<br />
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In Scotland, the Scottish Government’s position is set out in their publication <a href="http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00512073.pdf">Scotland’s Place in Europe</a>– which they consider the first ‘Brexit plan’ from any Government in the UK. This highlights their view (supported by the Scottish Greens, providing a majority at Holyrood) that, in the absence of a differentiated settlement maintaining Scotland’s place in the single market (at least), there would be a case for a further referendum on Scottish Independence.
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In Wales, the Labour Government has accepted the UK-wide (and Welsh) vote in favour of leaving, but is strongly seeking a ‘Welsh’ solution, opposing any repatriated powers on devolved matters being retained by Westminster. The Welsh Government (with the support of Plaid Cymru) has now published a <a href="https://beta.gov.wales/sites/default/files/2017-01/30683%20Securing%20Wales%C2%B9%20Future_ENGLISH_WEB.pdf">white paper,</a> similar in tone to the Scottish Government’s, calling for continued ‘participation in’ the single market, a more open migration policy and a ‘fundamentally different’ relationship between the UK and devolved governments.
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In Northern Ireland, the political situation (as ever!) is complicated by the power sharing arrangements, and the post-referendum situation being overshadowed by domestic politics, resulting in the suspension of the Executive and elections due on 2nd March. Nevertheless, the DUP support Brexit and wish to be included in a UK-wide arrangement; while Sinn Féin oppose leaving the EU and will use the situation to promote a closer relationship (or reunification) with the Republic, which will remain an EU member state.
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The emphasis in the Scottish and Welsh Government papers on the single market highlights the importance of (and interest in) trade as a key issue to be resolved. At a UK level, this is reflected in the “hard” vs “soft” Brexit debate. For devolved administrations (in addition to their political aspirations), the trade settlement (which will be a reserved matter) will impact significantly on their devolved responsibilities – especially agriculture, fisheries and environment. Thus, the devolved governments will wish to both understand and seek to influence the trade deal.<br />
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'Repatriated' powers</h4>
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In joining the EU, the UK parliament/Government chose to pool sovereignty with other member states, in relation to a wide range of policy and legislative matters – and to accept the supranational jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in relation to those matters. In the intervening years, the extent of these matters, and their nature, has developed considerably. In leaving the EU, these “pooled matters” will revert to being the responsibility of UK authorities – but, due to changes in the internal constitution of the UK (e.g. devolution, see above), many of these issues, are now devolved.<br />
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For environmentalists, these ‘repatriated’ powers (and the arrangements for their operation) will be of immense importance – given that the EU has had competence and established considerable influence over policies and legislation on the environmental, agriculture and rural development, fisheries and other marine management, as well as planning and infrastructure funding.
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<b><i>Intra-UK arrangements</i></b><br />
Thus, the common framework – provided, to date, by the EU within which devolved administrations operate – will disappear, or be replaced by new (or repatriated) powers for Westminster. The latter would require amendments to the Scotland Act, the Government of Wales Act and the legislation establishing the Northern Ireland Assembly. Such amendments to the Scotland Act would “normally” require a Legislative Consent Motion, at Holyrood ; similar support may be required in Wales and Northern Ireland.<br />
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Whether the UK parliament, in devolving these matters in the late 1990s understood or considered this issue, or whether it considered the implications of a future exit from the EU (or any other significant change in the nature of UK-EU relationships) is unknown. Moreover, to date, the UK Government has been silent (or contradictory) on its intentions – although all the devolved administrations have been vocal about the inappropriateness of a “Westminster power grab”.<br />
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Brexit plans, therefore, need to address whether any intra-UK arrangements (including cross-border issues) are necessary or desirable and, if so, what form they might take. The cross-border elements of such arrangements need to address not only the Scotland-England or England-Wales borders (intra-UK borers), but also the Northern Ireland-Republic of Ireland border (a border with a continuing EU member state).<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b><b><i>Devolved policy and legislation</i></b><br />
The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will, post-Brexit, ‘inherit’ a range of new powers, policies and opportunities. The extent of these will depend, in part, on the nature of intra-UK arrangements – but those, in themselves, are likely to require capacity and policy-making.<br />
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In all the areas of importance to the environment mentioned above, new policy and/or capacity will be required to replace provided by the EU – either operating separately for each of the four countries of the UK, or working together in some form of pan-UK co-operation.<br />
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In addition to these challenges, the devolved administrations have already indicated a likelihood to adopt different approaches to that of the UK Government (with consequent impact on intra-UK arrangements). For instance, the Scottish Government is committed to maintaining EU-like standards of environmental regulation (and has even hinted that it may “mirror” future developments, post-Brexit). By contrast, while the UK Government (for England/reserved matters) has suggested that regulations will be “copied across” initially, there is not commitment to the future beyond the opportunity for review – amid calls from some for de-regulation.<br />
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Finances</h4>
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The expenditure of EU originating funds around the UK has not followed the same pattern of other domestic public expenditure. For instance, around 18% of the UK’s CAP monies are paid to farmers and crofters in Scotland. This compares to the “normal” Barnett formula of c.9% for other forms of public expenditure. Likewise, Government, agencies and NGOs (in various combinations) have received a considerably greater than proportionate share of LIFE funding. These disparities, however, reflect the policy objectives of these funding schemes – for instance, Scotland has a far higher area of “less favoured areas” attracting greater agricultural support, as well as far more (and greater area) of classified SPAs/SACs (the conservation sites at which the LIFE fund is directed).<br />
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Irrespective of intra-UK arrangements for policy and legislation, the re-allocation of funds from EU to domestic expenditure will need to address these disparities and, if changes are made, manage those.<br />
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Conclusion</h4>
The constitutional “jigsaw” that constitutes the UK means that, whatever arrangements are developed to implement “Brexit”, they will be both influenced by, and impact on, these devolution settlements. The party political make up of devolved Parliaments/Governments and their approaches to the EU and the issue of Brexit differ markedly from the UK Government, and the Brexit process will both exacerbate tensions and result in changes to the devolution arrangements, from which the devolved administrations will seek to ‘gain’.<br />
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Even without political tensions, there will need to be new arrangements for intra-UK co-ordination and co-operation and/or the introduction of/agreement on some form of common framework for some issues. Beyond this, the devolved administrations will need to develop new policy and new capacity in many areas where, previously, this was provided by an EU framework. This challenge will be further exacerbated by the need to address funding issues – as the current use and distribution of EU funds, across the UK, is not subject to the same systems (Barnett formula etc) as is domestic expenditure.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-60323879784825478682017-02-07T13:55:00.000+00:002017-02-07T13:55:52.019+00:00 Silver linings: What to expect from environmental chapters in the EU’s Free Trade Agreements?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>This blog post summarises Dr <a href="http://www.clientearth.org/people/ankersmit-laurens/">Laurens Ankersmit’s</a> (ClientEarth) contributions to the Brexit & Environment roundtable organised by the British Academy & EUrefEnv on 30 January 2017. Laurens explains the EU’s approach to integrate environmental requirements in Free Trade negotiations and how solidify the UK and EU’s commitment to environmental standards.</i></div>
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The UK government has announced that it will pursue a “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/17/full-transcript-theresa-mays-speech-on-brexit/?utm_term=.aa13503a0631">bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement</a>” with the EU. The EU, no stranger to negotiating such agreements, typically includes in its FTAs a chapter dedicated to sustainable development. From the start, it should be clear that these chapters come nowhere near the protection offered by current EU environmental legislation. That said, these chapters may present some opportunities. This contribution seeks to explain the EU’s approach to environmental protection in its FTAs and identifies four key recommendations for a potential future environmental chapter in a UK-EU FTA.</div>
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<b>The main features of the EU’s approach to environmental protection in FTAs </b><br />
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The EU’s current approach to environmental protection in FTAs is to have dedicated separate chapters on trade and sustainable development, with <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/ceta/ceta-chapter-by-chapter/">CETA</a> being the first agreement with a chapter that is entirely dedicated to ‘Trade and Environment’. The EU’s approach is often described as ‘<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/reel.12042/full">cooperative’ rather than a more ‘punitive’ approach</a> taken by the United States which subjects its environmental provisions in FTAs to dispute settlement and sanctions. </div>
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The EU’s approach is to place emphasis on multilateral and bilateral cooperation in the field of environment. Generally, provisions reaffirm the existing commitments of both Parties under multilateral environmental agreements and cooperate with respect to environmental issues of mutual interest. Besides cooperation, the EU also seeks to ensure that both Parties uphold their levels of protection and do not lower standards in order to attract trade and investment. Thirdly, and in varying degrees, these chapters prescribe specific environmental norms. In the case of CETA for example, the chapter has a number of provisions on illegal and unreported fishing and sustainable timber that do not go beyond already existing EU legislation. Lastly, these chapters provide for some sort of civil society dialogue on the implementation of the chapter.</div>
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A significant deficiency of environmental chapters in EU trade agreements is that they generally do not provide for binding dispute settlement if one of the Parties violates its commitments in that chapter. Moreover, these agreements generally lack direct effect, meaning that individuals cannot rely on the provisions in the agreement before national courts.<br />
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While the Commission in its “<a href="http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2015/october/tradoc_153846.pdf">Trade for All</a>” strategy has made much of its trade policy being “based on values” the effective contribution of these chapters to environmental protection has therefore been somewhat underwhelming. Nevertheless, some improvements to these chapters could result obtaining some silver linings for environment protection.</div>
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Key recommendations</h4>
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The UK and the EU find each other in the rather unique situation that their environmental policies are almost fully aligned. The UK is and will remain party to most if not all multilateral environmental agreements the EU is party to, and the EU’s environmental law is currently still part of the UK’s legal system. There is thus a rather strong like-mindedness when it comes to environmental goals, and it does not appear that Brexit is inspired by a strong desire to abandon current levels of environmental protection. With this in mind, the potential chapter could feature a stronger commitment to environmental protection than the EU has previously committed to. I would like to outline four key recommendations in this regard: </div>
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<li><i>Environmental principles and goals</i> </li>
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First, the chapter can recognize core environmental principles such as the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle as guiding principles to the agreement. The chapter can also state shared environmental ambitions and goals, for example in relation to climate change. This can at the very least inspire and inform the application and interpretation of the FTA. The <a href="http://www.efta.int/media/documents/legal-texts/eea/the-eea-agreement/Main%20Text%20of%20the%20Agreement/EEAagreement.pdf">EEA agreement</a> is a good example where such principles and objectives are codified in a trade agreement of the EU (articles 73-75). </div>
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Second, the FTA could ensure upholding and preserving of already existing levels of environmental protection through three concrete obligations. First, the FTA could feature a roll-back prohibition prohibiting the Parties to lower environmental standards. An example is the fairly weakly worded article 13.7 of the <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2011.127.01.0001.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2011:127:TOC#L_2011127EN.01000601">EU-Korea FTA</a>. Second, the FTA could require both Parties to maintain and implement through effective domestic legislation the multilateral environmental agreements to which they are party, including the Paris agreement. Third, the Parties could seek to preserve the EU’s environmental law either in part or in full for the UK. The <a href="https://www.energy-community.org/portal/page/portal/ENC_HOME/ENERGY_COMMUNITY/Legal/Treaty">Energy Community Treaty</a> is an example in which the EU’s partners are required to adopt some of the EU’s environmental legislation.</div>
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Third, the FTA could feature an institutional framework to regulate future cooperation on environmental matters that goes beyond commitments to endeavour to maintain effective cooperation in various environmental areas. Such cooperation could be not only of a technical nature, such as joint research, exchange of information and best practices, but could also consist out of mechanisms that would allow the UK to either ‘opt in’ to the implementation of existing or future EU environmental legislation. Cooperation of that nature is for example part of the EEA agreement.</div>
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However, it is equally crucial that whatever legal action can be taken in the field of the environment does not prevent either Party from going beyond the level of protection provided. To that end, it would be recommendable that the FTA contains some form of minimum harmonisation clause, such as article 75 of the <a href="http://www.efta.int/media/documents/legal-texts/eea/the-eea-agreement/Main%20Text%20of%20the%20Agreement/EEAagreement.pdf">EEA agreement</a>.</div>
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<li><i>Enforcement and access to justice</i></li>
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A last key recommendation would be to ensure that the environmental commitments can be effectively enforced before courts and tribunals. In that sense, the provisions could be made enforceable in front of domestic courts or before an international tribunal set up as part of the agreement. There are various mechanisms conceivable: from a provision that would grant direct effect to the provisions of the agreement including the environmental chapter, to an EEA-like arrangement, to a more traditional form of state-to-state dispute settlement. It would be important to ensure that the environmental provisions can be as effective as possible through accessible and affordable judicial supervision. In that sense, the chapter could also foresee an effective role for civil society in monitoring the implementation of the chapter. </div>
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An additional element to consider is the type of remedies that would be available under such judicial supervision. One could, for instance, take inspiration from US trade agreements that sometimes provide for the possibility of imposing either trade sanctions or fines on non-complying Parties for violations of environmental or social obligations.</div>
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Concluding remarks </h4>
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When and if Brexit happens, the legal consequences for environmental protection in the UK will be significant. Not only will the UK lose the ability to influence EU policy making in the field of environmental protection, the legal effects of EU environmental law in the UK’s domestic legal order will change as the result of the UK no longer being subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. Notably, UK citizens and organisations will no longer be able to rely on well-established legal principles of primacy and direct effect in order to ensure the effectiveness of EU environmental legislation in the UK. </div>
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A future environmental chapter in a UK-EU FTA, however, may to a certain extent preserve and solidify environmental cooperation and protection between the UK and the EU. To that end, the four recommendations outlined above seek to inform how such negative effects can be mitigated. While this approach will certainly not reach the current levels of cooperation, it may strengthen the UK and EU’s common and shared environmental values.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-9260983822020424962017-02-06T16:30:00.000+00:002017-03-30T13:05:49.106+01:00Trade & Brexit: the long arm of EU regulation<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<i><span lang="EN-US">This blog post summarises <a href="https://www.laws.ucl.ac.uk/people/joanne-scott/">Prof Joanne Scott</a>’s (UCL, EUrefEnv author and fellow of the British Academy) presentation at a roundtable on Brexit
& the Environment organised by the British Academy and EUrefEnv on 30
January 2017. Investigating how future trade arrangements would impact UK
environmental policies, she stressed business’ support for EU ‘red tape’ and
the territorial extension of European law beyond the Union’s borders.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">“Business clamours
for more EU regulation” (<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a7ca5fde-e2f7-11e6-9645-c9357a75844a">Financial Times</a>, 25/01/2017). </span>In a
characteristically straight-to-the-point piece, Philip Stephens contemplates
this unexpected headline as he explains that ‘regulation is the mother of
liberalisation’. It is needed to guard against regulatory protectionism and to
level the level the playing field of competition. He cites the example of a
much derided EU directive on lawnmower noise which turns out to have been a UK
initiative to prevent Germany from using its own domestic regulation to keep UK
lawnmowers out of its domestic market. He contemplates the way forward after
Brexit, considering the possibility of a ‘Great Consolidation Bill’ incorporating
existing EU regulation into UK law.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But he wonders
how to maintain the dynamic quality of UK law in the face of changes to EU
regulation asking (tongue in cheek?) whether ‘the [UK] government can secure an
agreement under which it automatically replicates such rules from outside the
EU’. Fanciful though this may sound, it is exactly what the state of California
did when it adopted its <i>Restrictions on
the use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in Electronic Devices</i> law. This
prohibits the sale of electronic devices in California to the extent that it is
prohibited for sale in the EU due to the presence of certain heavy metals. The
California law therefore automatically tracks amendments to EU law.<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">[1]</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"></span></span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">Benefits of the EU internal market<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Standing back,
it’s worth thinking about why the EU internal market has served UK businesses
so well. They get access to that market in accordance with a presumption of
mutual recognition, according to which Member States are required to recognise
the adequacy of one another’s laws. This presumption of mutual recognition can
be displaced when a Member State can show that application of its laws to
imported products is necessary to achieve a legitimate public policy objective.
Whilst environmental recognition is recognized as constituting an important
public policy objective, the boundaries of the exception to mutual recognition
principle are relatively strictly policed and construed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Where Member
States are permitted to maintain the application of their own laws vis-à-vis
imported products, barriers to trade or competitive distortions may arise
within the EU internal market. In this situation, the EU may decide to
‘harmonize’ national laws. In the environmental domain, any such harmonization will
take the form of minimum harmonization. Where the EU seeks to harmonize product
standards it will often deploy ‘new approach’ directives, compliance with which
will be recognized by a ‘CE’ symbol which will in practice assist in achieving
access to non-EU markets as well.<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">[2]</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">Demonstrating compliance with EU law after Brexit<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">When the UK is
outside of the EU, the situation will change. Access to the EU internal market
will be conditional upon demonstrating compliance with EU law (and potentially
also the laws of all 27 Member States). Whilst the WTO could conceivably
declare EU laws or the laws of EU Member States to be incompatible with t</span>he WTO
Agreement, the WTO Appellate Body has taken a largely ‘pro-regulation’
approach.<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">[3]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Among the laws
that UK businesses will have to comply with are those regulating product
standards, both in terms of intrinsic product quality but also in terms of how
their products have been produced (the latter are known as production process
standards or PPMs). As in other areas of EU law,<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">[4]</span> the EU increasingly adopts a life-cycle approach to environmental legislation,
regulating not only product quality but also the circumstances and manner in
which products are harvested or produced. These production process measures apply
regardless of whether the products are imported or are produced within the EU.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">From ‘good
manufacturing practices (GMP)’ to ‘hazard analysis and critical control point
(HACCP), to sustainable fishing on the High Seas, biofuels, and the harvesting
of timber, EU law increasingly reaches beyond EU borders to govern activities that
take place abroad. It sets out how animals should be slaughtered if they are to
be offered for sale in the EU, how animals should be transported outside of the
EU on journeys that begin or end in the EU and it bans reliance on data derived
from animal testing to demonstrate the safety of cosmetics sold in the EU. And
all the while, the European Court of Justice adopts a permissive stance that
sanctions the extraterritorial reach of EU law.<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">[5]</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">Territorial extension and environmental law<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The presence of
‘territorial extension’ in EU law is less pronounced in the environmental
domain than in some other areas, including most notably data protection and
financial services law. But it is already present in environmental law and as
examples from these other areas of regulation show, there is scope for the
practice of territorial extension to be extended yet more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Territorial
extension reaches furthest when EU law makes market access conditional on
companies outside of the EU complying with EU law even when they are engaged in
activities that are not centered upon gaining to access to the EU market. I
have described this previously as firm-level territorial extension. For
example, where a ship classification society wants to be recognized as a
recognized organization in order to certify a ship’s compliance with
international standards on behalf of an EU Member State, it must comply with EU
law everywhere and anywhere in the world.[6] In order to prevent the danger that a ship classification society will create a
separate foreign subsidiary to evade the global reach of EU law, the EU
legislation applies at the level of a firm which includes all branches and
subsidiaries as well as other entities under its control.<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">[7]</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Territorial
extension is also far-reaching when EU law makes access to the EU market conditional
upon the product in question originating in a country that has laws in place
that the EU considers adequate or equivalent to existing EU laws. I have
described this previously as country-level territorial extension. While country-level territorial extension
will often operate as a way of inducing non-EU countries to implement and
enforce standards that originate in an international agreement, unilateral
country-level territorial extension is by no means unknown. To give just one
environmental example, the EU prohibits the importation of fish into its market
when it originates in a country that allows non-sustainable fishing practices.<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">[8]</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">With the
prospect of Brexit and the election of a climate-skeptic President in the
United States, the next years are likely to test the global reach of EU climate
change law. Discussions are continuing about whether international flights
should once again be included in the EU’s emissions trading scheme and the
European Parliament Environment Committee is calling for international shipping
to be included from 2023 unless more ambitious agreement on regulating GHG
emissions from shipping is adopted within the International Maritime
Organisation.<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">[9]</span> With
the planned construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in the United States, the
EU will be under pressure to revisit the question of regulating the lifecycle
emissions of ‘dirty’ fuel derived from Canadian oil sands imported into the EU.
The EU’s emissions trading directive already contemplates the possible future
inclusion of imported products in energy intensive sectors which are exposed to
a significant risk of carbon leakage within the scope of its emissions trading
scheme.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">UK businesses
are right to recognize the trade-liberalizing effects of regulation, as they
should also the regulatory effects of trade liberalization. When the UK leaves
the EU, these businesses are likely to become purveyors of the so-called
Brussels Effect, taking their own steps to ensure broad compliance with EU law.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Whether they are driven by economic rationality, technical imperatives or by
the presence of ‘territorial extension’ in EU law, they won’t need to wait for
a ‘Great Consolidation Bill’ to ensure that there are still plenty of EU rules
and regulations for all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
</div>
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<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">[1] Section 25214.10(1) Health
and Safety Code at: </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/HazardousWaste/EWaste/upload/Restrictions_on_Electronic_Devices.pdf"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/HazardousWaste/EWaste/upload/Restrictions_on_Electronic_Devices.pdf</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="ftn2">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> See C. Barnard, <i>The Substantive Law of the EU</i> (OUP, 5<sup>th</sup>
ed, 2016), chapter 15.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="ftn3">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> See R.Howse, ‘The WTO 20
Years On: Global Governance by Judiciary’ (2016) <i>European J Int L</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="ftn4">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Joanne Scott,
‘Extraterritoriality and Territorial Extention in EU Law’ (2014) <i>Am. J. Comp. L. </i>87<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="ftn5">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> See Case C-388/10 <i>Air Transport Association of America</i>;
Case C-414/13 <i>Zuchtvieh-Export GmbH</i>;
and Case </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #424242; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">C-592/14
European </span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #575757; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Federation</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #424242; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> for </span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #575757; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Cosmetic</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #424242; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Ingredients </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="ftn6">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Reg. 391/2009.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="ftn7">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Ibid, Article 2. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="ftn8">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Reg. 1026/2012. See Article
3 which specifies the circumstances in which a country may be identified as
allowing non-sustainable fishing including ‘where it fails to adopt necessary
fishery management measures’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="ftn9">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> For a good report and link
to the European Parliament committee text see: </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2318"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">http://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2318</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="ftn10">
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Anu Bradford, ‘The Brussels
Effect’ (2012) <i>Northwestern U. L. Rev. </i>1. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div id="ftn10">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-6571873338904844402017-02-02T16:46:00.001+00:002017-02-03T15:56:14.089+00:00Brexit, the Environment and the Three Ds: Depoliticisation, Dismantling and Devolution<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>This blog post summarises <a href="https://pure.york.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/charlotte-jennie-burns(d57d0654-1fe4-46d3-aca7-19236ca062d5).html">Dr Charlotte Burns</a>’ (University of York, lead author EUrefEnv expert review) presentation at a roundtable on Brexit & the Environment organised by the British Academy and EUrefEnv on 30 January 2017. She argued three key issues loomed over UK environmental policy after Brexit: Depoliticisation, Dismantling and Devolution. </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
Depoliticisation </h4>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One of the notable aspects of the environment has been its relatively low salience during the referendum campaign and in the aftermath. Whilst it’s true we have seen a range of enquiries in the House of Commons, Lords and National Assembly for Wales post referendum, Theresa May made no reference to it in her <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-governments-negotiating-objectives-for-exiting-the-eu-pm-speech">recent speech</a> on Brexit. Broadly speaking Prime Minister May appears uninterested in the climate change or the wider environmental agenda. This relative lack of interest maybe a function of the depoliticisation of the environment – it is seen as a ‘low politics’ issue. EU environmental regulations were designed to enable the single European market to function effectively. Some of those policies have been the site of conflict in the past – <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-37198688">bathing water in the early 1990s for example</a> – but we have since then seen considerable investment and they are now relatively stable. There has been an acceptance by policy-makers that environmental problems require transboundary solutions and an acceptance of the drive to adopt higher standards. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One possible outcome of Brexit is a re-politicisation of the environment via attempted dismantling (and resistance to it) and devolution.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
Dismantling </h4>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There have been consistent calls for the deregulation of environmental laws, particularly around climate change but also covering nature policies from both the front and back benches of the Conservative Party. These calls for policy dismantling had focused upon EU directives prior to the referendum and Brexit has increased concern that environmental policy is at risk of being weakened. Therese Coffey raised the prospect of weaker air quality targets and a roll back of nitrates directive in her <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/eu-energy-and-environment-subcommittee/brexit-environment-and-climate-change/oral/43659.html">recent evidence</a> to the House of Lords. However, in the short to medium term wide-scale dismantling seems unlikely and over the longer term we are probably more likely to see stagnation.
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The planned <a href="http://environmenteuref.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/great-challenges-ahead-for-great-repeal.html">Great Repeal Bill</a>, (if and when adopted) will maintain the EU acquis in place once the European Communities Act no longer applies. Environmental policies may be reviewed, although the timeframe remains uncertain, following which laws may be revised or removed, or left to wither on the vine. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has seen its <a href="http://www.endsreport.com/article/53346/defra-headcount-down-two-thirds-in-a-decade">staff cut</a> in recent years, which has significantly reduced its administrative capacity and therefore diminished its ability to review, maintain and implement policy. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This capacity deficit is likely to be exacerbated post-Brexit as the UK will be no longer be able to benefit from shared expertise or access to EU agencies. Moreover, the <a href="http://environmenteuref.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/environmental-governance-after-eu-need.html">EU regulatory system</a> provides for regular policy updates, reporting, implementation and enforcement. The UK government can be held to account if it fails to deliver upon its regulatory commitment as we have seen with the recent <a href="http://environmenteuref.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/environmental-governance-after-eu-need.html">Client Earth cases</a> taken against the government for failing to implement EU ambient air quality targets. It remains unclear if, how and when these regulatory checks and balances will be replicated domestically post-Brexit. Hence, it is possible that we may see legislation maintained on paper but with no meaningful implementation or governance infrastructure to support it – so-called z<a href="http://www.environmentalistonline.com/article/zombie-or-servile">ombie legislation</a>. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However, it is important to note that the future of UK environmental policy is only partly in our hands – we still have to negotiate an exit deal with our EU partners. An important question then concerns the extent to which the UK will be obliged to maintain standards and regulations to access the Single European Market. What position will be taken by EU negotiators on what counts as a trade-related environmental measure and what does not and which environmental policies will the EU want to see maintained in the UK? It is unlikely that the EU will find it desirable from either an environmental or an economic perspective to have an <a href="https://theconversation.com/meps-will-fight-brexit-deal-that-lets-the-uk-become-an-offshore-pollution-haven-72300">offshore pollution</a> haven on its borders. So if we do end up with Theresa May’s ideal Free Trade Agreement outside of the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union, what environmental conditions are likely to be attached? </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Devolution</b></h4>
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In addition to external challenges, environmental policy after Brexit faces internal challenges within the UK. Under the devolution settlements environmental policy is a devolved competence (although international agreements are decided by Westminster). The EU has provided a minimum level for environmental policy whilst allowing for divergence across its Member States under the environmental guarantee (<a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12012E193">Article 193 TFEU</a>), which allows states to pursue higher environmental standards if they so choose. The combined effects of Article 193 and the devolution settlements, has allowed for policy divergence to emerge within the UK as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been able to develop different models and standards for environmental policy (as long as they are the same or higher than the minimum required by EU rules). We have consequently seen more ambitious policy adopted by Wales and Scotland in relation to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2015.1053726">climate change</a>. </div>
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Members of the Scottish and Welsh Administrations raised a number of questions about how UK environmental policy will be coordinated in future, what the minimum standards will be and crucially how those standards will be <a href="http://senedd.assembly.wales/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=3767">decided</a>. There is a good deal of uncertainty about: what kind of model for intra-UK environmental governance will be adopted; the implications for different policy sectors (e.g. where water courses are shared across boundaries, where waste is traded); how diverging preferences can be resolved; and whether there are sufficient capacity and resources for developing policy at the sub-national level. Scottish First Minister Sturgeon has stated that she wants <a href="http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00512073.pdf">Scotland to remain part of the Single Market</a>, which would entail Scotland remaining bound by the environmental acquis, but it is unclear how this would work in practice. Will the EU acquis provide a minimum framework for the UK as a whole or just the devolved states? How much freedom will the different seats of policy-making power have in relation to EU and international policy commitments? Any attempt to impose a central solution from Westminster runs counter to the Devolution Agreements and has already led to <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/717720/Nicola-Sturgeon-slash-Westminster-Brexit-European-Union-devolved-Scotland-laws">political controversy</a>. These issues will have particular significance in N<a href="https://niassembly.tv/video/eu-policy-competences-brexit-issues-northern-ireland/">orthern Ireland</a>, which will be the only devolved nation sharing a land border with an EU state.</div>
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Environmental policy provides a possible lever for securing more power for the devolved regions and there is certainly scope for innovation and higher standards. But without the adoption of minimum standards for policies there may be a race to the bottom within the UK. The Environmental Audit Committee has called for an <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/news-parliament-2015/natural-environment-after-eu-report-published-16-17/">Environmental Protection Act</a> – what will it say about the devolved regions? There is also increasing scope for policy innovation from the UK’s cities – which may become a site for policy innovation. Devolution provides a vehicle for re-politicisation of the environment and potentially higher standards. Time to lift our eyes away from the Westminster bubble as the devolved nations, regions and cities are becoming increasingly important environmental policy actors. </div>
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<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
Conclusion</h4>
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There is scope for the environment to be re-politicised as an issue area as a wider range of actors get involved. The Environmental Protection Act is a potential site for activity. However, whilst diminished capacity at both national and sub-national level may limit the scope for dismantling it may also limit the scope for innovation – raising the prospect of environmental policy stagnation. Politicising the issue via campaigning may help to address the risk of stagnation but in a post-truth world of ‘alternative’ facts it may also increase debates around the desirability of progressive environmental policy.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-30773669431886327232017-01-31T15:13:00.002+00:002017-01-31T15:26:05.743+00:00The EU and UK as both good and bad influences<div class="MsoNormal">
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<i style="text-align: justify;">This blog post summarises </i><a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/law/about/staff/c-j-hilson.aspx" style="text-align: justify;">Prof Chris
Hilson</a><i style="text-align: justify;">’s (University of Reading)
introduction to the Brexit and the Environment roundtable organised by the
British Academy and EUrefEnv on 30 January 2017. He argues we need to
understand EU-UK environmental relations have gone both ways, and environmental
leadership is not constant in time.</i></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The interaction between the UK and the EU in environmental
policy can be understood in a
bi-directional and bi-dimensional manner: in other words, one which shows that
the impacts have not all been one way, and have not been uniformly either
positive or negative (but rather a mix of both) (see for example <a href="http://www.ieep.eu/assets/1230/Final_Report_-_Influence_of_EU_Policies_on_the_Environment.pdf">IEEP,
2013</a>).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfaZ_4nqmTOxDmzP1fp8RFtPQuS2HOVESP_ueORjPM1iPqalVQHK8PHtyydv19C5EJxdXUPMZliWR753vy-cPMVF2rfTlrYdKL9JUUUVgkbKzPzuD8dvGM4MsM3YkQZ1E9wokFU0dq2A/s1600/ChrisHilsonTable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfaZ_4nqmTOxDmzP1fp8RFtPQuS2HOVESP_ueORjPM1iPqalVQHK8PHtyydv19C5EJxdXUPMZliWR753vy-cPMVF2rfTlrYdKL9JUUUVgkbKzPzuD8dvGM4MsM3YkQZ1E9wokFU0dq2A/s1600/ChrisHilsonTable.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>Table 1: The impact on environmental policy of UK membership of the EU<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a name='more'></a>In the campaigning and debate
leading up to the EU referendum, the emphasis by those on the Remain side was
typically on the ways in which the EU had been good for the UK environment and
how leaving would therefore be harmful. This side of the argument is captured
by the bottom right hand box of Table 1 and the policy areas contained within
it such as drinking water, bathing water and waste policy, where EU Directives
have undoubtedly led to significant improvements in UK standards. Many did
however also mention the few areas in the bottom left hand box where EU policy
has not necessarily been environmentally beneficial for the UK, including in
particular the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Common Fisheries Policy
(CFP) (see for example <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/20/brexiters-make-britain-countryside-like-kansas">Monbiot,
2016</a> or Peter
Lilley MP’s <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmenvaud/537/53710.htm">dissenting report</a>). The former, for example, has gone hand in
hand with an intensification of agriculture and has been associated, inter
alia, with a decline in previously common farmland birds and diffuse nitrate
pollution of watercourses from fertilisers (<a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Expert-Review_EU-referendum-UK-environment.pdf">Burns
and others, 2016</a>; <a href="http://www.ieep.eu/assets/1230/Final_Report_-_Influence_of_EU_Policies_on_the_Environment.pdf">IEEP,
2013</a>).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Understandably in a referendum
aimed at persuading UK voters, the effects of UK membership on the EU received
less attention. However, in assessing the overall effects of Brexit on the
environment, these effects – set out in the top half of Table 1 – also require
careful consideration as part of a bidirectional assessment. Some have been
positive: thus, for example, the UK has driven the EU on climate change targets<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> </span>and has encouraged the greening of the CAP (<a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Expert-Review_EU-referendum-UK-environment.pdf">Burns
and others, 2016</a>; <a href="http://www.ieep.eu/assets/1230/Final_Report_-_Influence_of_EU_Policies_on_the_Environment.pdf">IEEP,
2013</a>, <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/environmental-audit-committee/the-future-of-the-natural-environment-after-the-eu-referendum/written/35891.html">Gravey
and others, 2016</a>). It was also instrumental in the design of the IPPC
industrial emissions regime (which later became the Industrial Emissions
Directive).<a href="file:///C:/Users/3051253/Dropbox/QUB/Impact/edited_Chris%20Hilson%20v4.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> EU
external policy on the environment has also been enhanced by UK input,
especially in the area of climate change negotiations. Membership of the EU has
given the UK more influence than it would otherwise have had – the UK gets the
benefits of putting forward its own views but with the added weight of a larger
bloc’s platform to support them (<a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Expert-Review_EU-referendum-UK-environment.pdf">Burns
and others, 2016</a>, <a href="http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2016/03/17/comment-brexit-environmentalists-support-uk-eu-membership/">Energydesk
2016</a>). Other effects, where the UK
government has blocked or watered down EU environmental legislation, have been
negative. Recent examples include <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/03/eu-dilutes-proposal-halve-air-pollution-deaths-uk-lobbying">air
quality</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/14/uk-defeats-european-bid-fracking-regulations">fracking</a>
and <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmenvaud/537/537.pdf">energy efficiency</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>A dynamic
understanding of leadership<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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It is tempting to see the
relationship between the EU and UK in static rather than dynamic terms across
time. The temptation is thus to regard the UK as forever the laggard and the EU
as always the leader. While it is not hard to see why pre-referendum
campaigning on the Remain side would take this stance, in reality the UK
government’s environmental credentials have fluctuated over time and across
environmental policy areas, and the EU’s environmental record also changes
according to the political complexion of the Commission and governments in the
Council of Ministers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In relation to the former UK stance,
some of the policy areas listed in Table 1 provide a good illustration of this.
Thus, for example, the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) could legitimately be
placed in either of the top two boxes. Insofar
as the UK pushed for this policy in the first place (<a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Expert-Review_EU-referendum-UK-environment.pdf">Burns
and others, 2016</a>; <a href="http://www.ieep.eu/assets/1230/Final_Report_-_Influence_of_EU_Policies_on_the_Environment.pdf">IEEP,
2013</a>) and it has become regarded by many as a somewhat ineffective
neoliberal instrument,<a href="file:///C:/Users/3051253/Dropbox/QUB/Impact/edited_Chris%20Hilson%20v4.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
it might legitimately be put in the top left hand box. However, the UK has also
been instrumental more recently in trying to strengthen the policy by
restricting allowances (<a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Expert-Review_EU-referendum-UK-environment.pdf">Burns
and others, 2016</a>), which could mean UK influence belongs more in the top
right hand box. Similarly, while the UK was an early advocate of nature
conservation laws and was thus supportive of the Habitats Directive at the time
of its inception,<a href="file:///C:/Users/3051253/Dropbox/QUB/Impact/edited_Chris%20Hilson%20v4.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> in
recent years the concern is that the Government has come to regard the
Directive as something of a burdensome obstruction to development projects.<a href="file:///C:/Users/3051253/Dropbox/QUB/Impact/edited_Chris%20Hilson%20v4.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
As regards the changeability of the EU vis-a-vis the environment, the current
Juncker-led EU Commission for example worried some with its Better
Regulation-based ‘fitness check’ of the Birds and Habitats Directives (<a href="http://ieep.eu/assets/2016/IEEP_2016_Brexit_-_Implications_for_UK_Environmental_Policy_and_Regulations.pdf">IEEP,
2016</a>; <a href="http://environmentaleurope.ideasoneurope.eu/2016/12/07/naturealertrefit/">Gravey, 2016</a>).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/3051253/Dropbox/QUB/Impact/edited_Chris%20Hilson%20v4.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> 2010/75/EU
[2010] OJ L 334/17. cf N Haigh, <i>EU
Environmental Policy: Its Journey to Centre Stage</i> (Routledge 2016) pp 197-203,
noting resistance to the British idea of a single permitting authority.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/3051253/Dropbox/QUB/Impact/edited_Chris%20Hilson%20v4.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
See eg G Winter, ‘The climate is no commodity: taking stock of the emissions
trading system’ (2010) 22(1) Journal of Environmental Law 1.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/3051253/Dropbox/QUB/Impact/edited_Chris%20Hilson%20v4.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Trevor
Hutchings (WWF), <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/eu-energy-and-environment-subcommittee/brexit-environment-and-climate-change/oral/42398.pdf">oral
evidence</a>, HL Select Committee on the<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
European Union, Energy and Environment Sub-Committee,
‘Brexit: Environment and Climate Change’.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/3051253/Dropbox/QUB/Impact/edited_Chris%20Hilson%20v4.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> As
opposed to ensuring sustainable development, which is of course what it helps
to ensure. For details of the government’s negative view, see eg HM Treasury
Autumn Statement 2011, para 1.99; A Neslen,‘Brexit would free UK from
'spirit-crushing' green directives, says minister’, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/30/brexit-spirit-crushing-green-directives-minister-george-eustice">The
Guardian</a>, 30 May 2016<o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-75002426973431382532017-01-24T15:57:00.002+00:002017-01-24T15:57:54.841+00:00Is the Supreme Court decision good for the environment?<div style="text-align: justify;">
The <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2016-0196.html?platform=hootsuite">UK Supreme Court</a> ruled on the Government's Article 50 Appeal on 24 January. In a guest blog post for the Green Alliance's <a href="https://greenallianceblog.org.uk/2017/01/24/is-the-supreme-court-decision-good-for-the-environment/">Inside Track</a> blog, Viviane Gravey argues the Court's decision is second best for the environment, as it sidelines strong Green Brexit advocates in the devolved administrations and offers opportunities but no guarantees for environmental concerns to influence negotiation brief.</div>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
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"From an environmental perspective, a parliamentary vote is a second best option" <a href="https://t.co/DoQfC3ZbEq">https://t.co/DoQfC3ZbEq</a></div>
— Green Alliance (@GreenAllianceUK) <a href="https://twitter.com/GreenAllianceUK/status/823909236102959105">January 24, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-29049575622615452242017-01-16T08:00:00.000+00:002017-01-16T09:02:55.850+00:00Great Challenges ahead for the Great Repeal Bill <div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>How will the Great Repeal Bill 'transfer' EU law into UK law? In this blog post, Dr Apolline Roger (Sheffield Law School) argues we need to distinguish between substantive & institutional norms. This helps sketch out 5 types of environmental legislation and the challenges each faces.</i><br />
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The UK government’s ambition is to transfer all existing EU laws into UK law when leaving the EU. But what does this entail in practice? </div>
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EU law, like all laws, sets ‘norms’ - rules of conduct. Some of these norms are ‘substantive’, they determine ‘what’ has to be done: for example, a dangerous substance is banned, companies should inform public authorities on the nature and quantity of the chemicals they use, or endangered species cannot be killed, etc. The others are institutional, they determine ‘who’ is in charge of implementing the substantive norms and how. For example, the European Chemical Agency is in charge of making sure that companies provide the correct information, the Member States share the load of identifying which substances are dangerous, etc.</div>
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The difficulty of the task facing the great repeal bill will depend on the nature of the EU norm at stake: is it substantive or institutional?<br />
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Substantive norms already apply in the UK, either directly, or through the national text that transposed them into UK law. <b>No ‘transfer’ is needed: substantive norms just need to be confirmed as belonging to UK law which, legally speaking, can easily be done. </b></div>
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However, substantive norms are only the tip of the iceberg. The main role of EU law is to distribute tasks between the EU institutions and the Member States in order to achieve the common objectives it sets. In this context, a great deal of work is needed to ensure the smooth transition the great repeal bill aims at. <b>For institutional norms, much more than a ‘transfer’ is needed: a whole new institutional system has to be invented. </b></div>
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The first step of this process is the identification of which tasks are currently ensured by EU institutions or which rely on cooperation among the Member States as set by EU law. Second, it is necessary to determine how these tasks can be renationalized. <b>This process, which is supposed to guarantee a smooth transition through the great repeal bill while simultaneously maintaining the same level of protection, will be no walk in the park for environmental law, for three reasons. </b></div>
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First, the process will require an <b>enormous amount of work and expertise as there are more than 300 pieces of environmental legislation</b>. EU environmental law covers a wide range of issues; including: climate, nature conservation, industrial emissions, agriculture, fishery, chemicals, water, access to information, energy efficiency and energy mix, etc. This productivity is due to the very nature of the issue at stake. Environmental pollution does not stop at national borders and its regulation potentially impacts trade and competitiveness. Finally, finding a solution to complex environmental problems can be hard, and international cooperation can ease the load. For all these reasons, the Member States have decided to act together at EU level to solve environmental issues. </div>
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Second, preparing the great repeal bill will <b>require a case-by-case analysis of each piece of legislation to determine who, for each issue, is doing what and how</b>. Not all environmental legislation distributes tasks between the EU institutions and the Member States in the same way. Each created institutional mechanisms tailored to the issue at stake. In practice, it means that a case-by-case analysis is necessary to identify the governance system created by each piece of legislation. The task is arduous, but classifying EU environmental norms by the type of objective they pursue can offer a useful guide to anticipate how the repartition of tasks between the EU and the Member States is organized. Table 1 (below) shows how such typology can be used to organise the reflection by anticipating which issue is more ‘centralised’, i.e. situations in which the piece of legislation gave EU institutions the task to directly update and implement its provision. These situations consist of ‘hot spots’ – they are the issues which will require the most work to prepare the great repeal bill. A classification by objective can be useful for another reason. It highlights the repartition of competence between London and the devolved administrations within the EU (also organized by issue) and therefore helps to identify to whom the renationalized tasks should go. </div>
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Third, re-nationalising the tasks currently managed by EU institutions will not be straightforward. <a href="http://environmenteuref.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/environmental-governance-after-eu-need.html">Maria Lee and Liz Fisher</a> have discussed in an earlier blog that <b>leaving the EU means the loss of an external accountability system</b>. This loss could lead to a lowered level of environmental protection but (or precisely because) it is an opportunity for the UK government to be fully independent again. But being fully independent also comes with its own challenges. </div>
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Some EU environmental legislation created entirely new institutions, to replace or support States in the adoption and implementation process (mostly regulation type 4 and 5 in <b>Table 1</b>). This is, for example, the case of the European Chemical Agency which manages the implementation of the main chemical regulation, called ‘REACH’. In addition, many EU environmental laws share the workload between the Member States, for example, to identify new dangerous substances or organise cooperation to ease the implementation efforts. The UK is, today, part of these networks. It contributes and benefits from the cooperation. It also benefits from not having to conduct the tasks which are currently completed by the European institutions, and which can be resource heavy. </div>
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If the government, as announced, wants to maintain the current level of environmental protection post-Brexit, it will be faced with two options: </div>
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<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Maintain cooperation with EU institutions if accepted by the negotiating partners; or</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Create or adapt institutions to absorb the new renationalized tasks. The complexity of this process should not be underestimated. </li>
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The institutions will need to be provided with adequate resources, expertise and the capacity to handle the new tasks. The system will have to be respectful of the devolved administrations competences, and make sure that environmental policy at large is still coherent, relevant and efficient.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Table 1: Typologies of environmental norms* and their relation to internal competences (Particularly challenging areas are in bold.)</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJK6XN1ZCq8FQLPflmdfDC-VuwUZPwcsAMJxQnSgomq_mmmGNI95LxbiSveZE-qK7qiGtBBnkuNbujrIGP4nQvr0hTT9DN3fU5iueQFOHZlI7n78mVSDMkjpRGW3ejxS4wQtI_wMtr8O8/s1600/apollineroger_EUenvtypes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJK6XN1ZCq8FQLPflmdfDC-VuwUZPwcsAMJxQnSgomq_mmmGNI95LxbiSveZE-qK7qiGtBBnkuNbujrIGP4nQvr0hTT9DN3fU5iueQFOHZlI7n78mVSDMkjpRGW3ejxS4wQtI_wMtr8O8/s640/apollineroger_EUenvtypes.png" width="550" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*EU legislation can be mostly divided into five main typologies; however, some legislation does not fit neatly into a typology. For example, the regulation on waste can be ascribed both to Type 2 and 3.</span><br />
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<i>Dr <a href="https://www.shef.ac.uk/law/staff/aroger">Apolline J.C. Roger</a> is a Lecturer in Environmental Law at the University of Sheffield Law School. She recently contributed to a SULNE report on <a href="https://sulne.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/environment-paper-sulne-20161214.pdf">The implications of Brexit for environmental law in Scotland</a></i>.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-7723641276567825572017-01-14T09:26:00.001+00:002017-01-14T09:29:45.141+00:00What objectives for Brexit?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizG60G94vCpbX2OvkvldanKJneoIQ9WPzh_m1iCEgPC3yGT44ipYAzbWdhwV6NXYQjNdOzDuqDRwrQJlRcJuZGkPsIn6plHtC5xdLTjQv3OmwDkHFDHk6YHJlqxqJ55Nr9pTF0zcUKOl4/s1600/HOBrexEU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizG60G94vCpbX2OvkvldanKJneoIQ9WPzh_m1iCEgPC3yGT44ipYAzbWdhwV6NXYQjNdOzDuqDRwrQJlRcJuZGkPsIn6plHtC5xdLTjQv3OmwDkHFDHk6YHJlqxqJ55Nr9pTF0zcUKOl4/s200/HOBrexEU.jpg" width="200" /></a>The House of Commons Exiting the European Union Committee released its first report today, on the UK's negotiating objectives for Brexit. The report calls for clarification ahead of triggering of article 50 on a number of issues; mostly Single Market & Customs Union membership. It also calls for a transitional arrangement, and a parliamentary vote on the final deal.</div>
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The report is almost silent on the environment -- although written evidence to the Committee, from the <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/exiting-the-european-union-committee/the-uks-negotiating-objectives-for-its-withdrawal-from-the-eu/written/44142.html">Greener UK campaign</a> and from <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/exiting-the-european-union-committee/the-uks-negotiating-objectives-for-its-withdrawal-from-the-eu/written/43843.html">ourselves</a> notably -- raised many environmental issues with Brexit. Yet some of the overall points the report make are particularly salient for the environment:<br />
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Need for </b>"<b>clarity on location of former EU powers between UK and devolved
governments.</b>" </li>
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Agriculture, environment, fisheries are all devolved matters. Who will be replacing the CAP after Brexit? Will it be Westminster or the devolved administrations?</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Concerns about the administrative capacity to deliver and implement new policies. </b></li>
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This, as the report points out, will be especially difficult for DEFRA :</div>
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<i>"On top of its existing commitments, DEFRA will need to develop a replacement
for the Common Agricultural Policy; develop an approach to trade policy and relations
with the EU; work through the implications for devolution of repatriating legislative competences in agriculture and environmental regulation; and decide its approach to
existing EU legislation. This will be expected with a budget that by 2020 will be 34 per
cent lower than it was in 2011 and with a staff headcount already 35 per cent smaller than
it was in 2011."</i></div>
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Collating together evidence from many sectors, and achieving the backing of the whole committee (Hilary Benn MP told Radio 4 <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088b2hf#play">Today Programme</a> that the report had been voted unanimously) means making tough choices in what is discussed and reported. This report is far from calling for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-green-lines-for-brexit-negotiators-looking-to-protect-the-environment-70839">'green' Brexit</a>, but its lack of attention to the environment (mentioned 5 times), agriculture (3 times) or fisheries (twice) can be put into perspective: it only mentions immigration three time. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-82040474483725437362017-01-04T10:01:00.004+00:002017-01-05T09:10:55.453+00:00Fighting zombie legislation: latest Commons EAC report<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VsUy3dFvUI_zqsSBPFACujuImqpxXPbbfEjRwS6d__x8GTX06hzZDQ3TWOYBRUTroeBEJV_12bEZkELbVpcYpdKKxMhAgdF9_-4mWfECm2jrqebfRYHg7342eBn748cz7dwF2b-tFKo/s1600/HOCEAC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VsUy3dFvUI_zqsSBPFACujuImqpxXPbbfEjRwS6d__x8GTX06hzZDQ3TWOYBRUTroeBEJV_12bEZkELbVpcYpdKKxMhAgdF9_-4mWfECm2jrqebfRYHg7342eBn748cz7dwF2b-tFKo/s200/HOCEAC.jpg" width="197" /></a>The House of Commons Environment Audit Committee just published its <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmenvaud/599/599.pdf">new report</a> on the future of the natural environment after the EU referendum. </div>
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Building on more than 160 pieces of written evidence and more than 20 auditions, it raises a number of concerns for both the UK environment and farming in the wake of the Brexit vote.</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Environmental legislation is still at risk</b></li>
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Environmental legislation, even with the Great Repeal Bill, could become '<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/04/brexit-zombie-legislation-damage-wildlife-farming-mps-warn?CMP=share_btn_tw">zombie legislation</a>', not properly enforceable nor able to be revised. While the Great Repeal Bill addresses some regulatory gaps, up to a third of EU environmental legislation is hard to transpose and the underpining governance arrangements also need to be replaced. The MPs argue a new Environment Protection Act is needed to fill these gaps.<br />
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Lack of clarity of government policy </b></li>
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While we hear much about the lack of clarity of Brexit negotiation goals overall, there is also no clear objectives for agriculture or the environment -- the 25 year plans have long been promised but not yet delivered. There is also no clear answers to need for coordination on environmental matters between devolved administrations and Westminster<br />
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Farmers <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/05cadcda-d1c8-11e6-b06b-680c49b4b4c0">at risk</a> from Brexit</b></li>
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UK agriculture is set to be one of sectors most affected by Brexit, which puts them in a 'triple jeopardy': the loss of CAP subsidies (with uncertainties surrounding future British agricultural policies), additional barriers to export to EU Single Market which will hit sectors like sheep farming toughest and risks that new trading arrangements will put UK farming into competition with international competitors with lower costs and animal welfare standards.</div>
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EUrefEnv authors have contributed to the report, giving both <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/environmental-audit-committee/the-future-of-the-natural-environment-after-the-eu-referendum/written/35891.html">written</a> and <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/environmental-audit-committee/the-future-of-the-natural-environment-after-the-eu-referendum/oral/40994.html">oral</a> evidence, which were both cited in the final report. In the summary and discussion around the report, the idea of UK environmental legislation becoming 'zombie legislation' is repeatedly mentioned. EUrefEnv Andy Jordan first developed this idea of zombie legislation in his <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/eu-energy-and-environment-subcommittee/The-potential-implications-of-Brexit-on-environmental-policy/oral/35297.pdf">evidence</a> to the House of Lords EU Select Committee in July and then in a <a href="http://www.environmentalistonline.com/article/zombie-or-servile">blog post</a> for the Environmentalist the following month.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7316920275106488619.post-47961688099803263482016-12-19T08:20:00.000+00:002016-12-19T08:22:31.500+00:00Brexit and UK-Irish relations: between low and high politics?<div style="text-align: justify;">
In a new blog post for <i><a href="http://ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-and-uk-irish-relations-between-low-and-high-politics/">The UK in a Changing Europe</a></i>, Viviane Gravey, Andy Jordan and Charlie Burns react to the House of Lords's UK-Irish relations report. Looking at agriculture, energy and waste, they argue that 'in thinking about the UK-Irish and Northern Irish dimensions of Brexit it is vitally important to include the overall objectives of a deal (the high politics) – and which parts of the UK and of the EU would stand to benefit and lose the most from it – as well as the fine detail (the low politics) that enable modern economies to function effectively.'</div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Brexit?src=hash">#Brexit</a> and UK-Irish relations: between low and high politics? <a href="https://twitter.com/QueensUBelfast">@QueensUBelfast</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/uniofeastanglia">@uniofeastanglia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/UniOfYork">@UniOfYork</a> <a href="https://t.co/AidEj4xeL3">https://t.co/AidEj4xeL3</a> <a href="https://t.co/4od5ayJj4d">pic.twitter.com/4od5ayJj4d</a></div>
— UK in a Changing EU (@UKandEU) <a href="https://twitter.com/UKandEU/status/810741648934268928">December 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0