Potential Environmental Effects of Future Trade

Internal Market About the plans for the development of the European single market, ie the internal market, as is stipulated is elaborated in verscheidene Communications from the Commission, as a White uit 1985. The debate on the clashes between the internal market and the environment has since recovered, for example in terms of movement of waste. It was feared that the removal of national border controls would result in a massive increase of traffic.

That issue is politically and legally resolved by adopting the principle of proximity, making the movement of waste may be restricted on grounds of environmental considerations . Examples of successful solutions to potential conflicts between environmental protection and the internal market include the Directive on packaging and packaging waste (see § 5.9), the chemicals policy (which provides that access tot the market of new substances in a Member State is extended to all Member States.

The new conditions under the Treaty of Amsterdam now provide more opportunities for Member States to introduce national environmental, within certain limits, more stringent than those of the EU. It is however too early to say that this is sufficient for dealing with future conflicts. Despite some progress in these areas, there is still concern about the environmental impact of the internal market.

The Commission Communication on the impact and effectiveness of the internal market contained a section on the It was said that the introduction of the single market expectations about the potential environmental effects were quite pessimistic. It was also said that it was too early to give a final assessment, and that it was not yet possible to explain the allegations based on measuring the environmental impact of the single market program. There remain tensions between the functioning of the open market and environmental policy objectives, something which was emphasized in the 1999 Communication on “Internal Market and the Environment” [69], which states that: “Environmental standards are sometimes seen as barriers to market access, and open markets as a threat to the quality of the environment. ” The release then lists a number of areas for pursuing environmental integration, including free movement of goods.

Specific measures include proposed guidelines for the ability of Member States to implement environmental measures to further gaan than the standards of the EU, and for increasing the extent to which the environmental richtlijnen worden converted.