The Environment Chronicle

The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a management tool for companies and other organisations to evaluate, report and improve their environmental performance. The scheme has been available for participation by companies since 1995 (Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93 of 29 June 1993) and was originally restricted to companies in industrial sectors.

The 21st Regulation (BlmSchV) of 7 October 1992 order that a fuel vapor recovery system to limit hydrocarbon emissions be installed at every large fuel station.

Art.3(1) sets up a coherent European network of specially protected sites under the name "Natura 2000". The areas must preserve or recreate the natural and man-made habitats listed in appendices I and II.

The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic comes into force internationally on 28.03.1998. It deals with the environment and biodiversity in the Atlantic area. It is legally binding in civil law.

The CBD was agreed at the UN Rio conference. Its core goals are protecting ecosystems, species and genetic diverstiy, as well as their sustainable use. A further aspect is fair distribution of the profits from genetic resources. It is legally binding in civil law.

26 states sign the Antarctic treaty; exploitation of natural resources is banned for 50 years. A legally binding (under civil law) Protocol on Environmental Protection is part of the treaty, containing the goal of conserving biodiversity and the ecosystem in the Antarctic. The Protocol is embodied in German law with an Act Implementing the Protocol of Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

The Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS) was concluded in 1991 under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS or Bonn Convention) and entered into force in 1994. In February 2008, an extension of the agreement area entered into force which changed the name to “Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas”. ASCOBANS covers all species of toothed whales in the Agreement Area, with the exception of the sperm whale.

The Vienna Convention is embodied in German law with this ordinance. Such regulations have resulted in cuts of over 40% relative to 1986 in CFC use, 95% in the case of Germany.

The Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (EIA) stipulates the obligations of Parties to assess the environmental impact of certain activities at an early stage of planning. It also lays down the general obligation of States to notify and consult each other on all major projects under consideration that are likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact across boundaries. The Espoo Convention entered into force on 10 September 1997.

The Convention on the Protection of the Alps aims to conserve and protect the Alps with careful, sustainable use of their resources. It is legally binding in civil law.

§1 If a person's life is lost, body or health impaired or property damaged as a result of the environmental impact of a plant listed in the Appendix, its operator is required to compensate the person for this damage.

This act regulates the use of and payment for electricity generated exclusively from water or wind power, solar energy, landfill, sewage or biomass gas within Germany by electricity suppliers. The act has been replaced by the Renewable Energy Sources Act.

With the German reunification entering into force, the environmental legislation of the former BRD and the European Union becomes valid all over Germany. Dedicated regulations deal with the special situation in the new states ("länder").

The state shall set up a public institute, the " German Federal Environmental Institute".

The purpose of the act is 1. to protect the life and health of humans, animals, plants, the environment affected by them and property from possible hazard from genetically engineered products and processes, and to prevent such hazards from arising. 2. to create a legal framework for the research, development, use and funding of the scientific, technical and economic potential of genetic technologies.

§1 The purpose of this Act is to ensure that for the projects set out in the Appendix to Article 3 in order to guarantee effective preventative environmental protection on the basis of uniform principles: 1. the effects on the environment are identified, described and assessed in time and comprehensively, 2. the results of the environmental impact assessment are taken into account as early as possible in all cases in which authorities decide upon the approval of projects.

Within the portfolio of the Home Affairs Minister, an independent federal authority is set up, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

Special protection shall be provided for the listed wild flora and fauna.

In Basel (CH) the Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal (Basel Convention) was adopted on. The Convention aims in introducing a system for controlling the export, import and disposal of hazardous wastes and their disposal, to reduce the volume of such exchanges so as to protect human health and the environment. It entered into force on 5th of May, 1992. The European Community has implemented the Basel Convention by the Council Directive on waste disposal (91/156/EEC) legally binding for all member states (entered into force in 1993).

The Montreal protocol is the product of one of the first global environmental conventions, agreed in Vienna in 1985. It deals with ozone depleting substances. 24 countries and the EU commit themselves to stop using fully halogenated CFCs. Germany is one of the first to implement the protocol: the federal government passes the Ordinance Prohibiting CFC Halons in 1991

Washing and cleansing agents may be sold only if every avoidable impairment to water quality , particularly in respect of the balance of nature and drinking water supplies, and to the operation of water treatment plants, is prevented. In 1994 the Federal Environmental Agency is charged with documenting manufacturers' information on basic compound recipes.

To protect the population, radioactivity in the environment shall be monitored, exposure or contamination of humans and the environment by radiation in the case of events adjudged minor (taking into account the current state of scientific knowledge and other relevant factors) shall be minimised through appropriate action.

Adopted in 1986 following the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident, this Convention establishes a notification system for nuclear accidents which have the potential for international transboundary release that could be of radiological safety significance for another State. It requires States to report the accident's time, location, radiation releases, and other data essential for assessing the situation. Notification is to be made to affected States directly or through the IAEA, and to the IAEA itself. Reporting is mandatory for any nuclear accident involving facilities and activities listed in Article 1. Pursuant to Article 3, States may notify other accidents as well. The five nuclear-weapon States (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and United States) have all declared their intent also to report accidents involving nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons tests.

The first "General Administrative Guidelines to the Federal Immissions Control Act" is rewritten to achieve a broad modernisation of industry. A study in North Rhine-Westphalia shows that emissions of carcinogens have fallen by 65% by 1994.

The purpose of the act is 1. to support the research, development and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 2. to protect life, public health and property from the hazards of nuclear energy and the harmful effects of ionising radiation, and to compensate any such damage. 3. to prevent the use or release of nuclear energy from risking the internal or external security of Germany. 4. to meet Germany's international commitments on nuclear energy and protection from radiation.

The Vienna Convention is a framework convention on protection the ozone layer, whose actual implementation with regard to specific substances is left to later protocols and regulations.

After lengthy preparation, with much involvement by the FEA, the ordinance comes into force. It regulates in particular permitted emissions from motor vehicles and large industrial furnaces. It is one of the most successful environmental measures in the history of federal Germany. In the former West Germany alone, emissions of sulphur dioxide fall by 89% by 1993. Emissions of nitrogen oxides and dust fall by 72% and 80%.

Greenpeace's seal campaigns, in which Brigitte Bardot participates in 1977, and other factors stimulate resistance to the slaughter of baby seals to the level where the EU bans the import of baby seal products.

Art.1(1) of the guideline concerns the conservation of all wild bird species native to the European territories of member states, and covers protection, management, control and use of the species.

Fertilisers may only be traded when their type is permitted by the Ordinance.

Under the act, and the subsequently decreed Heat Insulation Ordinance of 16.08.1994, energy conservation and insulation measures must be used in new buildings or installing heating or air conditioning systems.

The Council of the European Communities has adopted the DIRECTIVE of 8 December 1975 concerning the quality of bathing water. Directive 76/160/EEC concerns the quality of bathing water, with the exception of water intended for therapeutic purposes and water used in swimming pools. It lays down the minimum quality criteria to be met by bathing water: the physical, chemical and microbiological parameters; the mandatory limit values and indicative values for such parameters; the minimum sampling frequency and method of analysis or inspection of such water. Member States fix the values that they apply to bathing water in accordance with the guidelines of Directive 76/160/EEC. Member States may fix more stringent values than those laid down in the Directive. Where it does not give any values for certain parameters, Member States are not obliged to fix any.

The Council of the European Communities has adopted the Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste. Known as the Waste Framework Directive, the Directive establishes a framework for the management of waste across the European Community.

The purpose of the act is in particular 1. to maintain forests because of their usefulness and significance for the environment, extending them where necessary, and ensuring an orderly sustainable management. 2. to support forestry. 3. to balance the interests of the public good and the owners of forests.

Within the portfolio of the Environment Minister, an independent federal authority is set up, the Federal Environmental Agency.

§1 It is the purpose of this Act to protect human beings, animals and plants, the soil, water, the atmosphere as well as cultural assets and other material goods against harmful effects on the environment and, to the extent that this concerns installations subject to licensing, also from hazards, considerable disadvantages and considerable nuisance caused in any other way, and to take precautions against the emergence of any such harmful effects on the environment. The act forms the legal basis for numerous regulations on air quality, noise abatement and industrial safety in subsequent years.

CITES aims to protect specific species of flora and fauna from excessive exploitation by international trade. It is legally binding in civil law.

The convention's chief aims are to conserve globally important natural heritage (unique landscapes and geological formations), cultivated landscapes and cultural heritage. It is legally binding in civil law.

The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals is part of the Antarctic Treaty System. Its main goal is the conservation of certain seal species in the southern polar seas.

Since 1972, the European Union (formerly the European Community) has passed over 200 guidelines and directives, which belong to the core sources of environmental law in member states.