UCL Centre for Law and Environment

Ray Purdy (Centre for Law and the Environment) and Olivia Woolley (formerly UCL Centre for Law and the Environment, now University of Groningen) were commissioned to do a short study for the Countryside Council of Wales looking at whether a proposed power station at Milford Haven was in compliance with a number of EU environmental laws. A key part of their analysis was on the cooling system used in the plant, its impacts and whether this was BAT. The European Commission have now acted following a complaint and has sent a formal notice of infringement to the UK Government in respect to this new £1bn Pembroke power station at Milford Haven. It is the first case of its kind against a power plant in Britain. The 18 violations listed in the infringement notice include concerns on assessing environmental impacts, protecting habitats, the use of nitrates and IPPC.

For further details see media stories from the BBC, ITV and Sky, 10 & 11 December 2012.

On December 12 2012 the Government launched its Triennial Review of the two key  environmental national regulators in England and Wales, the Environment Agency and Natural England.    Reviews of government agencies are carried out regularly by Government to test both the continued need for the body concerned and the effectiveness of their governance arrangements, but this is the first time there has been a combined review of both environmental bodies.

The actual review is carried out by the sponsoring department, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs but the Secretary of State has appointed a six person independent Challenge Group, under the chair of Dame Deidre Hutton, chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, to provide robust challenges  to the assumptions and conclusions of the Review.  The Secretary of State has appointed Professor Richard Macrory, formerly a Board Member of the Environment Agency, to be a member of the Challenge Group.

Ray Purdy (Centre for Law and the Environment) and Denise Leung (formerly Centre for Law and the Environment, UCL Laws – now World Resources Institute) are editors of a new book released in December 2012. The 498 page volume entitled Evidence from Earth Observation Satellites: Emerging Legal Issues is published by Martinus Nijhoff / Brill (Leiden).

 Satellite technologies are rapidly improving, offering increased opportunities for monitoring laws, and using images as evidence in court. Evidence from Earth Observation Satellites analyses whether data from satellite technologies can be a legally reliable, effective evidential tool in contemporary legal systems. This unique interdisciplinary volume brings together leading experts to consider many emerging issues surrounding the use of these technologies in legal strategies. Issues examined include the evidential opportunities arising from technological developments, existing regulatory applications and operational experiences at national and international level, and admissibility in courts and tools for ensuring the integrity of evidence. It also examines privacy impacts under existing legislation and provides a new conceptual framework for debating the acceptability of such surveillance methods.

Read the rest of this entry »

For the last five years, the UCL Carbon Capture Legal Programme has developed and hosted a highly successful legal resources site, designed to provide accessible and objective information on developments in CCS law and policy around the world. See here for an overview of the Programme.

We are pleased to announced that from December Ist 2012 the Global Carbon Capture Storage Institute will be managing the Resources site, initially using material from UCL.

Professor Richard Macrory, director of the UCL CCLP commented,  “ We know that many lawyers and non-lawyers within the carbon capture community have found the UCL Legal Resources site an invaluable source of accessible and impartial analysis over the past few years.  I am absolutely delighted that  this initiative of the GCCSI means  the Resource will now continue to be available  and develop during a critical period in the development of CCS law and policy.”

The new site can be found at http://www.globalccsinstitute.com/networks/cclp

The Centre for Law and the Environment together with the UK Environmental Law Association held a one day conference on November 9th 2012.  It brought together some of the leading players in the development of regulatory sanctions with a special focus on the environmental law where the Environment Agency and others are experimenting with new approaches provided by Part III Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 and based on proposals of Professor Macrory.

On the day of the conference the Government announced its new policy in relation to Orders granting new sanctioning powers to regulators.  Essentially all the new sanctions will continue to be available but civil financial penalties will be restricted to larger companies.

Ten things you should know about environmental enforcement and sanctions is a detailed account of the day written by Rosie Oliver, barrister and  research officer for the UK Environmental Law Association is is reproduced below with permission of UKELA.

On 7 November 2012 the UCL Centre for Law and the Environment  and   the KCL Dickson Poon School of Law hosted a symposium at UCL  which saw a gathering of environmental law research students for a full day of presentation, debate and discussion.

The event, co-organised by two PhD students, Emily Barritt (KCL) and Carrie Bradshaw (UCL), brought together over sixty participants, comprising postgraduate students and academics from institutions across Europe.  The Symposium provided both a much-needed platform for student speakers, as well as an opportunity for research students to meet in person, share their research and collectively develop a lively research community on a topic of such contemporary relevance and import – environmental law and governance.

In an opening address, UCL Professor of Environment Law Richard Macrory  praised the potential of such events to “provide key opportunities for the development of innovative approaches and methodologies across both research and teaching.”

Comprised of seven thematic sessions, the topics covered a truly diverse range of topics: from socio-legal and cultural perspectives on environmental law to economic analysis; emerging and interdisciplinary environmental methodologies; environmental adjudication by the ICJ and in the WTO; as well as sessions on two important environmental regulatory techniques – public participation and emissions trading.

Sessions allowed students to present for 15 minutes, followed by lively and challenging debate chaired by a number of expert academics: Professor Maria Lee (UCL), Dr Frederico Ortino (KCL), Dr Liz Fisher (University of Oxford), Professor Philippe Sands (UCL), Dr Eloise Scotford (KCL), Dr Rachael Walsh (Trinity College Dublin) and Professor Catherine Redgwell (UCL).

Summing up the event, co-organiser Carrie Bradshaw commented:

“The richness and variety of approaches adopted by the speakers exemplifies the way research students are ably grappling with the methodological challenges facing environmental law scholars today. The presentations were truly interdisciplinary, and a key theme which emerged from the day was the importance of identifying not only the research questions we ask, but the research questions which we don’t ask. The symposium has been a testimony to the high quality of research being carried out by early career academics at a range of institutions across Europe.”

The event was generously funded by UCL Centre for Law and the Environment and the UCL Graduate School. The reception was kindly sponsored by Francis Taylor Building

For further information

The EU Case Studies Project

Background

In June 2009, the European Union adopted its ‘Climate and Energy Package’, which contains a series of measures to drive Member States’ legal and policy strategies to achieve the EU’s emissions reduction targets. Directive 31/2009/EC on the geological storage of carbon dioxide (‘CCS Directive’) was adopted as an element of this Package and represents one of the first CCS-dedicated legal frameworks in the world. The Directive requires all EU Member States to adopt domestic measures to implement its provisions within national law (‘transposition’) by 25 June 2011. The European Commission is responsible for monitoring its correct implementation into Member States’ national law.

The Project

The Carbon Capture Legal Programme launched the ‘EU Case Studies Project’ in January 2011. The project analyses the implementation process of the CCS Directive in selected European jurisdictions-the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Norway. Each jurisdiction, for different reasons, provides an example of distinct approaches to the transposition and to CCS in general.

The objective of the Project is to identify some of the more subtle nuances in different legal cultures and to understand the rationale for national decisions in specific aspects of the implementation of the Directive within national legal regimes. In particular, the focus is on those areas where the Directive leaves room for Member States’ discretion or is ambiguous or silent. In conjunction with the more detailed provisions and legal choices, the Project also aims to highlight the national policy and political context within which the legal and regulatory framework for CCS has emerged. The studies are deliberately designed to move beyond formal transposition measures to reveal more of the underlying dynamics and tensions involved in national implementation. Such elements are often crucial in driving domestic legal developments. The way in which EU Directives are implemented often reflect distinct legal and administrative traditions, and the case studies seek to present these in order to provide better insights on the development of CCS regulation.

The result of the project is a series of reports from the six jurisdictions based on key legal and policy questions and on a critical reading of the CCS Directive. The CCLP is coordinating the overall research and has carried out the UK case study. Independent experts were commissioned to carry out research in Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Norway. The reports were published in November 2011.

	CCLP EU Case Studies UK (2011) Author: Chiara Armeni
	CCLP EU Case Studies Germany (2011) Author: Ludwig Krämer
	CCLP EU Case Studies Spain (2011) Author: Ludwig Krämer
	CCLP EU Case Studies Romania (2011) Author: Mónika Józon
	CCLP EU Case Studies Norway (2011) Authors: Hans Christian Bugge and André Lamark Ueland

Professor Maria Lee is working on the relationship between tort and regulation. Environmental protection is a public interest dominated by a complex and more or less comprehensive system of state and supranational regulation. But this is also the realm of private law, since individual rights or interests (eg property, physical integrity, amenity) may be affected by the regulation itself or by a regulated activity. What happens when these areas of law meet is unclear, particularly how the regulatory decision should feed into the determination and protection of rights and interests in private law.

Topical examples with the potential for private and public interests and law to meet include windfarms and airports (as well as many more mundane cases), where regulatory decisions about location and operation are taken in what the regulator or government has determined to be the public interest. Individuals who find their health, amenity or property adversely affected may turn to the private law of tort for protection. Regulatory norms and processes at their best strike a reasoned balance between various, sometimes conflicting, public or collective interests, and at their best will also have considered the impact of desirable activities on private rights and interests. The operation of private law may disrupt these careful regulatory arrangements; but without private law, individual rights and interests may be inadequately protected

On 8 November 2012, the Minister of State for Business and Enterprise gave a statement to Parliament outlining the Government’s future policy on civil sanctions. New powers concerning a range of civil sanctions were contained in Part III Regulatory Sanctions and Environment Act 2008 following a Review by Professor Macrory.

The powers have to be transferred to particular areas of regulation by subsidiary Orders, and at present these have largely been confined to a small area of environmental regulation. The Coalition Government has been concerned whether the new sanctions give too much power to regulators who can impose financial penalties without going through the courts. Those served with a penalty notice may appeal to the Regulatory Tribunal and under current orders there is a presumption of innocence with the burden of proving a case resting on the regulator.

In future, according to the Statement,  Orders will generally only been permitted where the power to impose civil sanctions in the form of financial penalties is confined to  larger companies, i.e. those with more than 250 employees. Other forms of sanctions such as Stop Notice and Compliance notices, and the power to negotiate an Enforceable Undertaking can be made available to any size of company.

The policy relates to England only.  Devolved powers means that wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland may develop distinct policies.

Professor Macrory commented : “After months of uncertainty, the announcement at least clears the political air. The new approach to regulatory sanctions contained in the Regulatory Enforcement and sanctions Act has not been abandoned, though smaller and medium sized companies may not necessarily welcome being excluded from key elements of the new system”

Government Policy on Civil Sanctions

Here is a list of outputs from the Satellites and the Law research programme:

Ray Purdy and Denise Leung (eds.), Evidence from Earth Observation Satellites: Emerging Legal Issues, Martinus Nijhoff (Brill), Leiden, December 2012, 498p.

Spying on Europe’s farmers with satellites and drones, BBC News 8 February 2012 (Ray Purdy interviewed) Link:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16545333

Ray Purdy, ‘Attitudes of UK and Australian farmers towards monitoring activity with satellite technologies: Lessons to be learnt’, Space Policy 27, 2011, 202-212.

Ray Purdy, ‘The Impact of Satellite Technologies in the International Legal Sector: The Story So Far and Implications For the Future’, Derecho Espacial, Vol. XVII, 2011, Plus Ultra Press, Argentina).

Ray Purdy, Satellite Monitoring of Environmental Laws. Lessons to be learnt from Australia, UCL  Centre for Law and the Environment ISBN: 978-0-9560806-1-5, 2010. 225p.

Download full report

Ray Purdy, Emerging Legal Issues with Satellite Earth Observation,  in Current Legal Issues for Satellite Earth Observation, eds. M. Sanchez Arazamendi, R. Sandau, K. Schrogl,  ESPI, Report  25, August 2010, pp9-25

Ray Purdy, ‘Using Earth Observation Technologies for Better Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement of Environmental Laws’, Journal of Environmental Law,  22:1 (2010) pp59-87.

Ray Purdy was interviewed on the ABC National Radio (Australia)  Bush Telegraph show  on Monday 23rd November 2009.

Ray Purdy was interviewed on ABC Queensland Radio on the 2nd November 2009.

Ray Purdy was interviewed on the ABC South Australia Radio programme ‘Country Hour’ on the 27th October 2009 in the State of South Australia, and again on the 2nd November in the State of Queensland. A recording of this interview can be downloaded here.

‘Big brother checks up on farmers,’ Sydney Morning Herald, 4th May 2010 (Ray was interviewed) http://www.smh.com.au/environment/big-brother-checks-up-on-farmers-20100503-u3rk.html

Ray Purdy interview on BBC (UK) Radio 4′s Farming Today, 21 October 2008

Ray Purdy, Satellites: A New Era for Environmental Compliance, Journal for European Environmental and Planning Law, Volume 3 Number 5, 2006, pp406-413.

Ray Purdy, ‘Remote Sensing and Other Emerging Information Sources’, in United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Manual on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, 2006, pp381-382.

Ray Purdy, ‘Satellites as a Legal Compliance Tool’, Bulletin of the European Centre for Space Law, published by the Auspices of the European Space Agency, ECSL No 34, November 2006, pp2-3.

Ray Purdy, R (2006) The heat is on, New Law Journal Volume 156, Issue 7225, p834-837

Ray Purdy, R (2006) Satellites: The next major tool in law enforcement? UCL Laws Newsletter, Autumn 2006, 20-21.

Ray Purdy and Richard Macrory (2003), Satellite Photographs: 21st Century Evidence? New Law Journal, March 7, pp337-338.

Ray Purdy et al, ‘Applications of Earth Observation to the Legal Sector’, BNSC publications (2001) * Ray was a contributor to this report

Ray Purdy and Macrory, The Use of Satellite Images as Evidence in Environmental Actions in Great Britain, Droit et Ville, n° 51, June 2001, pp72-88.

Ray Purdy et al, APERTURE Project Final Report: Environmental Typological Space Mapper Facilitating the Implementation of European Legislation, European Commission (2000) * Ray was a contributor to this report

Ray Purdy, R (1999), Legal and Privacy Issues of Spy in the Sky Satellites, Mountbatten Journal of Legal Studies, vol 3(1), pp63-79.