The various approaches taken in European environmental legislation are not always coordinated. For example, the effect–oriented approach for river basins taken in the Water Framework Directive differs from the risk–based approach taken in pesticide legislation. In European environmental law there is ordinarily no method for determining the hierarchy of the obligations imposed under different environmental directives. If the relevant legislation itself is silent about the hierarchy, all the obligations apply. Coordination of the various directives and their instruments is then required. This article analyses in particular the relationship between the Water Framework Directive and the Plant Protection Products Directive. Recommendations are made on how to improve the coordination of these two directives and on the integration of the Water Framework Directive’s requirements into the national authorisation process for plant protection products.
European Energy and Environmental Law Review