Digging beneath the surface: Transposition, implementation and evaluation of European environmental law.

Transposition and implementation of European environmental law by the Member States remains a significant concern, with both serious breaches in individual cases and general failures across the Member States to comply fully with obligations under directives. There are a wide range of reasons why Member States cannot, or will not comply fully with some obligations. These may result from the nature of the specific policy instrument that is generally preferred, the nature of the specific obligations, but also more general factors, which help to explain differences in compliance with obligations between, and within, Member States. Assessing compliance with obligations is a challenging task and there are some features of environmental policy which raise additional complexities. Whilst compliance with transposition and implementation obligations will remain a vital element in the effectiveness of policy interventions, over recent years there has been an increased focus on evaluating whether the obligations imposed are themselves a sufficient response to the relevant situation, and whether the effects of these have had the anticipated results. Understanding better why Member States fail to comply with some obligations, together with increasing attempts to evaluate the actual impacts of policy interventions, should help to improve the quality of European environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]