Europe in the World Research Seminar Series 

Organised by Ulrich Krotz, Federico Romero and Richard Maher

30 November 2017 @ 16.00 – 18.00
Sala Triaria, Villa Schifanoia

THE EU AS A GLOBAL REGULATORY POWER IN THE AREA OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Ioanna Hadjiyianni |  Max Weber Fellow

Alongside the EU’s extensive environmental action in the realm of public international law through bilateral and multilateral agreements, the EU is increasingly extending its domestic legislation beyond its borders through Internal Environmental Measures with Extraterritorial Implications (IEMEIs). IEMEIs unilaterally regulate trade by conditioning access to the EU market on the basis of processes or conduct that takes place partly in third countries. The EU increasingly resorts to IEMEIs in regulating transboundary environmental problems, including climate change issues, when they are inadequately addressed at the international level. The presentation will examine various examples of IEMEIs as manifestations of EU global regulatory power, in a field where the EU has been considered a global leader. Examples of IEMEIs include the sustainability criteria for biofuels, the regulation of ship recycling, the inclusion of aviation emissions in the EU Emissions Trading System, and the regulation of imports of timber. While the extension of EU domestic environmental regulation beyond EU borders may provide a novel governance mode that can fill regulatory gaps at the international level, it raises significant legitimacy concerns from the perspective of third countries affected by EU measures. The presentation will assess IEMEIs from a legitimacy perspective and examine mechanisms that can legally control and ‘discipline’ the EU’s global regulatory power in the legal orders of EU and WTO law. 

Chair: Robin Markwica, Max Weber Fellow 

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