Implementing EU Pollution Control Law and Integration Cambridge Studies in European Law and Policy Series

Through a detailed analysis this book examines the role of law in European Union integration processes through the implementation of the EU Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control at European Level and in the UK and Germany. The book questions traditional conceptions which perceive law as the 'formal law in the books', as instrumental and as relatively autonomous in relation to its social contexts. The book also discusses in depth how the key legal obligation on the Directive, to employ 'the best available techniques', is actually implemented. This research locates the analysis of the implementation of the IPPC Directive in the wider context of current, cutting-edge political science and sociology of law debates about the role of law in EU integration processes, the nature of EU law, new modes of governance and the significance of 'law in action' for understanding legal process.

1. Introduction; 2. Traditional Perspectives on the role of law in EU integration; 3. Critical Perspectives on the role of law in EU integration; 4. What is EU 'law in action'?; 5. Talking interests – generating procedure: How political discourse constructs key aspects of BAT determinations in BREFs; 6. Variation in open and closed BAT norms; 7. What does it cost? Economic discourse in the determination of 'the best available techniques' under the IPPC Directive; 8. Does 'law' integrate? Licensing German and English coke ovens under the IPPC Directive; 9. Conclusion.

Bettina Lange is a Lecturer in Law at the School of Law, Keele University.