Sekoititko sen velvoittavaan säännökseen? – Unionioikeuteen liittyvät ympäristötavoitesäännökset korkeimman hallinto-oikeuden oikeuskäytännössä
Avainsanat:
ympäristöoikeus, laintulkinta, oikeuskäytäntö, tavoitesäännösAbstrakti
Did you confuse it with a binding rule? EU law-related environmental objective provisions in the case law of the Supreme Administrative Court
In the so-called Finnpulp judgment KHO 2019:166 of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC), the environmental objectives of the Water Framework Directive were given a central role in the interpretation of the permit requirement of the Environmental Protection Act. The role of the objectives provision differed substantially from the view expressed in the Guidelines for the preparation of national regulations, according to which the objective provisions should not be confused with a binding rule. A question can be raised over whether the objective provisions linked to EU law should be given a broader binding role in the interpretation of environmental law.
The article examines what importance the SAC has given to the environmental objective provisions ancillary to EU law. In the cases selected for the analysis, the SAC mentioned an objective provision of the Habitats Directive, the Water Framework Directive or European Climate Law, or the national equivalent of such a provision. The analysis was based on the assumption that the objective provision may, in the context of objective interpretation, guide the interpretation of other provisions (guiding role), or as indicated in the Finnpulp decision, determine the interpretation of other provisions (determining role). The article seeks to identify the meaning given to the objective provision and to assess the reason for this meaning.
There was no observation regarding the general change in the nature of the objective provisions to become a sole justification of rights or obligations. The objective provision of the Habitats Directive, which contains more detailed regulation, often had a guiding role, whereas the objectives of the framework regulations, Water Framework Directive and European Climate Law, had a determining role. The meaning given to the objective was often linked to the case law of the European Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights.
