Item

Abstract

International Environmental Protection: A Conceptual Framework of the Problems and the Solutions Environmental protection has its own environmental problem. As long as protection is provided by legal rules, these rules typically are generated and implemented by nation-states. This is not an easy task if the environmental problems cross national borders. Governments can join forces by generating harmonized rules. But this is a cumbersome endeavour, and implementation is not easy to secure. It can therefore be preferable to rely on the conflict of laws, which means implementing foreign environmental rules to (some) transnational cases. Alternatively, governments can apply their autonomous rules extraterritorially. The transnational character is less of a problem if the environmental risk itself crosses borders, e.g. because it is embedded in a product. In these cases, governments often intervene for a different reason. They are afraid that foreign products that obey laxer standards will result in regulatory competition. The paper offers a conceptual framework for these problems.