The European Impact Assessment and the Environment PDF
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The European Impact Assessment and the Environment · · Kilian Bizer Sebastian Lechner Martin Führ Editors The European Impact Assessment and the Environment 123 Editors Prof.Dr.KilianBizer Dr.MartinFühr SebastianLechner HochschuleDarmstadt Georg-August-UniversitätGöttingen Haardtring100 FacultyofEconomicSciences 64295Darmstadt ChairforEconomicPolicy Germany andSMEResearch [email protected] PlatzderGöttingerSieben3 37073Göttingen Germany [email protected] [email protected] R+DProject(FKZ370711100)fundedwithagrantfromtheFederal EnvironmentalResearchPlanbytheGermanFederalResearchAgency Allcontributionsexpressthepersonalopinionoftheauthorsanddonot necessarilycoincidewiththeopinionoftheGermanFederalEnvironmental Agency ISBN978-3-642-11669-8 e-ISBN978-3-642-11670-4 DOI10.1007/978-3-642-11670-4 SpringerHeidelbergDordrechtLondonNewYork LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2010931285 ©Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2010 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.Allrightsarereserved,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialis concerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting reproductiononmicrofilmorinanyotherway,andstorageindatabanks.Duplicationofthispublication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9,1965,initscurrentversion,andpermissionforusemustalwaysbeobtainedfromSpringer-Verlag. ViolationsareliabletoprosecutionundertheGermanCopyrightLaw. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,etc.inthispublicationdoesnot imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Coverdesign:WMXDesignGmbH,Heidelberg Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Preface This volume contains papers presented in a workshop of international experts in September2008inBerlin.Theexpertsdiscussedhowenvironmentalconsequences ofEUlegislationcanbeincorporatedinamoreeffectiveway.Inotherwords,this contributionfocusesonthequestionofwhichmeasurescanstrengthentheconsid- erationofenvironmentaleffectsintheEUimpactassessmentprocedureandinthe subsequent legislative decision-making process. This allows drawing conclusions fortheimpactassessmentprocessinGermany. This volume begins with an introductory paper (Bizer/Lechner/Führ) which served as the basis for discussion in our workshop. The questions raised in this paperareaddressedbytheauthorsofthesubsequentchapters.StephenWhite(DG Environment, EU-Commission) discusses the impact assessment from an inter- nal perspective within the Commission. Pendo Maro (European Environmental Bureau) reviews the impact assessment practice from the perspective of an envi- ronmentalNGO.MartinSchmidtetal.discussthepotentialformoreformalismto strengthenenvironmentalissueswithinimpactassessmentsandfavourachecklist. CliveGeorgereviewsthecurrentstateofruleswithintheEUCommissionandsug- gests an additional chapter with regard to environmental impacts in the Annexes of the impact assessment guidelines. Martin Drechsler analyses methods of com- paring regulatory options, such as cost-benefit analysis and multi-criteria analysis with respect to their informational demands. Finally we offer our conclusion of thediscussionintheworkshopandcomparethesewiththenewimpactassessment guidelinesfrom15January2009.Thelatestguidelinescertainlyaddtotheprevious improvements and reveal that introducing impact assessments as a form of gover- nance israther along-termprocess than astatetobe achieved withinafewyears. This should be taken in consideration when designing the next development stage oftheGermanimpactassessmentprocedure. v vi Preface We are grateful for a research grant (FKZ 370711100) by the Federal Environment Agency, Germany. We also thank all participants of the Berlin- Workshop2008fortheintriguingdiscussionandtheirvaluablecomments. Göttingen,Germany KilianBizer Göttingen,Germany SebastianLechner Darmstadt,Germany MartinFühr May2009 Contents 1 ImprovingtheIntegratedEuropeanImpactAssessment? . . . . . . . 1 KilianBizer,SebastianLechner,andMartinFühr 2 ImpactAssessment–ExperiencefromtheEuropeanCommission . . 59 StephenWhite 3 Views of the European Environmental Bureau on the Commission’sImpactAssessmentProcedure–WithaFocus onEnvironment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 PendoMaro 4 The Proportionate Impact Assessment of the European Commission–TowardsMoreFormalismtoBackup“The Environment” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 MichaelSchmidt,EikeAlbrecht,HendrikeHelbron,and DmytroPalekhov 5 ProportionateImpactAssessment:Discretion,Formalism, andtheUndefinedResponsibilitiesofEuropeanDecision-Makers . . 103 CliveGeorge 6 Multi-CriteriaAnalysisforPolicyEvaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 MartinDrechsler 7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 KilianBizer,SebastianLechner,andMartinFühr Annexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 vii Contributors EikeAlbrechtCentreforLawandAdministration,BrandenburgUniversityof Technology(BTU),Cottbus,Germany KilianBizerSocietyforInstitutionalAnalysis(sofia),UniversityofGöttingen, Göttingen,Germany,[email protected] MartinDrechslerDepartmentofEconomicModeling,HelmholtzCentrefor EnvironmentalResearch–UFZ,Leipzig,Germany MartinFührSocietyforInstitutionalAnalysis(sofia),UniversityofApplied SciencesDarmstadt,Darmstadt,Germany,[email protected] CliveGeorgeUniversityofManchester,Manchester,UK HendrikeHelbronDepartmentofEnvironmentalResources,UNESCO-IHE InstituteforWaterEducation,Delft,TheNetherlands SebastianLechnerSocietyforInstitutionalAnalysis(sofia),Universityof Göttingen,Göttingen,Germany,[email protected] PendoMaroEuropeanEnvironmentalBureau,Brussels,Belgium DmytroPalekhovDepartmentofEnvironmentalPlanning,Brandenburg UniversityofTechnology(BTU),Cottbus,Germany MichaelSchmidtDepartmentofEnvironmentalPlanning,Brandenburg UniversityofTechnology(BTU),Cottbus,Germany StephenWhiteEUCommission,GeneralDirectionforEnvironment,Brussels, Belgium ix Abbreviations BRE BetterRegulationExecutive CAP CommonAgriculturePolicy CBA Cost-BenefitAnalysis CEA Cost-EffectivenessAnalyses DG DirectorateGeneral EC EuropeanCommunity ECFIN EconomyandFinance ECJ EuropeanCourtJurisdiction ECR EuropeanCourtReport EEB EuropeanEnvironmentalBureau EIA EnvironmentalImpactAssessment EMPL Employment,SocialAffairsandEqualOpportunities ENTR EnterprisesandIndustry ENV Environment E.O. ExecutiveOrder EPA EnvironmentalProtectionAgency IA ImpactAssessment IAB ImpactAssessmentBoard IASG ImpactAssessmentSteeringGroup ISC Inter-ServiceConsultation ISSG Inter-ServiceSteeringGroup LCA LifeCycleAssessment xi xii Abbreviations MAUT Multi-AttributeUtilityTheory MAVT Multi-AttributeValueTheory MCA Multi-CriteriaAnalysis NGO Non-Governmental-Organisation OIRA OfficeforInformationandRegulatoryAffairs OMB OfficeofManagementandBudget RED ReviewofExternalitiesDatabase RIA RegulativeImpactAssessment SEA StrategicEnvironmentalAssessment SIA SustainableImpactAssessment WTP WillingnesstoPay WTA WillingnesstoAccept Chapter 1 Improving the Integrated European Impact Assessment? KilianBizer,SebastianLechner,andMartinFühr Abstract Based on an institutional analysis of the incentive situation of desk officers, the DG’s leading officers as well as the Impact Assessment Board, the Inter-ServiceSteeringGroup(nowcalledtheIASC)andinterestgroupsthischapter develops hypotheses on the functioning of impact assessments and their quality. Checked against the literature and 30 impact assessments conducted by various Directorate Generals of the EU Commission we argue that quality control should be as independent as possible, that de facto blocking rights of the quality control board are necessary and that desk officers must be moved towards quantification and monetarisation of impacts also inthe environmental realm inorder to balance economic,socialandenvironmentalimpactsinatransparentway. Introduction Since2003,theEuropeanCommissionhaspursuedanobligatoryintegratedimpact assessment approach for all its proposals for directives and regulations. Impact assessmentisappliedtomajorCommissionproposals,i.e.thoselistedinitsAnnual PolicyStrategyoritsWorkProgram,bethey • regulatoryproposals; • other proposals having considerable economic, social and environmental impacts; • proposalshavingamajorimpactonparticulargroups; • proposalsrepresentingamajorchangeorpolicyreform. B K.Bizer( ) SocietyforInstitutionalAnalysis(sofia),UniversityofGöttingen,Göttingen,Germany e-mail:[email protected] K.Bizeretal.(eds.),TheEuropeanImpactAssessmentandtheEnvironment, 1 DOI10.1007/978-3-642-11670-4_1,(cid:2)C Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2010
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