Writting paper- Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Writting paper- - Essay Example The Signs and symptoms of the early stages of cervical cancer may be completely asymptomatic. Vaginal bleeding, contact bleeding or a vaginal mass may indicate the presence of malignancy. Also, moderate pain during sexual intercourse and vaginal discharge are symptoms of cervical cancer. In advanced disease, metastases may be present in the abdomen, lungs or elsewhere. Symptoms of advanced cervical cancer may include: loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, pelvic pain, back pain, leg pain, and single swollen leg, heavy bleeding from the vagina, leaking of urine from the vagina and bone fractures (Kumar et al. 2007). Numerous studies of the epidemiology of cervical cancer have shown strong associations with religious, marital and sexual patterns. Although it is well established that women with multiple partners and early ages at first intercourse are at high risk, less is known about how these factors interact or how risk is affected by specific sexual characteristics. Recent studies indicate that number of steady partners and frequent intercourse at early ages may further enhance risk, supporting hypotheses regarding a vulnerable period of the cervix and a need for repeated exposure to an infectious agent. It is now widely accepted that HPV is the major infectious etiological agent, but whether other infectious agents play supportive or interactive roles is unclear. Other speculative risk factors for cervical cancer include cigarette smoking, oral contraceptive usage and certain nutritional deficiencies, but again it is not clear whether these factors operate independently from HPV. Although cervical cancer incidence trends correlate with the population prevalence of various venereally transmitted agents, it is not certain how disease rates are affected by other potential risk factors which have changed during recent time (e.g., exposure to HPV, sexual behavior, cigarette smoking). In addition, a number of recent

Adolescent Alcohol Abuse Essay Example for Free

Adolescent Alcohol Abuse Essay Over the years, many researchers have dedicated their time and energy to study adolescent alcohol abuse. They have found that there are many factors that contribute to adolescent alcohol abuse. These factors are psychological, environmental, social, and cultural. Not all of these factors play a part in every adolescent who abuses alcohol, but one of these factors is usually present. Psychological disorders have been found in both American, and Taiwan adolescents who abuse alcohol. The health risks of adolescent alcohol abuse are great. Alcohol affects the physiology of a young person. It disrupts the genetics and hormonal balances that are critical in the early development of youngsters. Treatment of alcohol abuse is a great state of change and development. Many therapists, doctors and counselors are trying to incorporate new treatment ideas and methods into the traditional techniques that have been used for years now. It is important to research the factors that contribute to adolescent alcohol abuse because if these factors are detected early, and an adolescent is put into a prevention program the likelihood that they will abuse alcohol will greatly decrease. Psychological Factors. See more:Â  Manifest Destiny essay According to the research, there have been many psychological problems found in adolescents who abuse alcohol. The majority of the research has been done in order to solve the question of whether or not these psychological factors are present before an adolescent abuses alcohol, or after the alcohol abuse has occurred. In the research done by Rhode, Lewinsohn, and Seeley (1996), they used a community sample of 1,507 adolescents between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. The adolescents were classified into the categories of abstainers, experimenters, social drinkers, problem drinkers, and abuse and/or dependent groups. In this study, 373 subjects met the criteria for depression, 15 were bipolar, 93 suffered from manic core symptoms, and 124 had an anxiety disorder (Rhode et al. , 1996). Furthermore, anxiety disorder and depression were psychological disorders that were more prevalent in female adolescents with alcohol abuse than their male counterparts. Males who abused alcohol tended to suffer from antisocial personality disorder. It is believed that females who suffer from anxiety disorder or depression use alcohol as a self-medication to make them feel better. According to Clark, and Bukstein (1998), one form of antisocial disorder known as conduct disorder lead adolescents to act out and seek out new experiences. This is probably the reason why adolescent males with an antisocial disorder turn to alcohol abuse. According to Rhode (et al. , 1996), More than 80% of adolescents with an alcohol use disorder had another psychiatric disorder. (p. 106). In his study, the alcohol abuse tended to follow rather than proceed the psychiatric disorder. From this, it can be concluded that certain psychological disorders such as antisocial disorder, and depression are a factor in adolescent alcohol abuse. Environmental Factors Many studies have focused on the environmental factors that adolescents are exposed to, and how these factors lead to alcohol abuse. The aim of a study performed by Clark, Lesnick, and Hegedus (1997), Was to examine trauma history and other adverse life events in adolescents with alcohol dependence or abuse and to compare them with a sample of community-dwelling adolescents without alcohol use disorder (p. 1746). This study included 256 adolescents between the ages of fourteen and eighteen (Clark et al. , 1997). Adolescents who abused, or were dependent on alcohol reported more traumas then those in the control group. The types of abuse experienced by males and females tended to differ. Females experienced more sexual abuse, and males tended to be victims of violent acts. Both sexual abuse victims, and victims of violent acts showed increased amounts of alcohol use than those adolescents who were not abused in any way. If subjects experienced a number of traumas, they tended to abuse alcohol more than those that experienced only one trauma or no trauma at all. From this study, it can be concluded that trauma and abuse leads to adolescent alcohol abuse. Social Factors A study done on Hispanic and Black adolescents in the New York inner cities concluded that there were indeed social factors that contributed to adolescent alcohol abuse. The study used a sample of 4,874 Hispanic and African American seventh graders. The purpose of the study was to identify the social risk factors that promote adolescent alcohol abuse in Hispanic and African American (Epstein, Botvin, Baker, Diaz, 1999). If an adolescents friends tended to drink on a consistent basis, he/she showed a greater amount of alcohol abuse than those who did not associate with friends who did drink alcohol. Also, family members play a major part in adolescent alcohol abuse. The family is another social factor that contributes to adolescent alcohol abuse. If an adolescent saw their parent consume alcohol, they also tended to abuse alcohol. Parents were not the only family members that influenced adolescent alcohol abuse; siblings also had an influence. If a sibling abused alcohol, the adolescent models this abuse. Their findings were present in both Hispanic and African American adolescents. Cultural factors. In the study done by Epstein and her collogues, cultural differences were also a factor in adolescent with alcohol abuse. According to Epstein (et al. , 1999), Hispanic adolescents consumed more alcohol per drinking occasion and had greater intention to drink in the future than black adolescents. This was true when the models were tested separately for girls and boys (p. 16). The use of alcohol among Hispanics could be due to the fact that it may be a cultural practice that allows an adolescent to identify with their culture. Religion is another cultural factor that plays a role in adolescent alcohol abuse. African American religions consider the consumption of alcohol a sin, so if an African American practices in their religion they are less likely to abuse alcohol than someone who does not practice their religion. However, this was not a factor for Hispanic adolescent alcohol abuse. A final cultural difference may be that more Hispanic adolescents have immigrated to this country in past years than black adolescents have. Therefore Hispanic adolescents have had the added stress of adapting to a new society. In turn Hispanic adolescents turn to alcohol abuse as a way of coping with their increased stress. Taiwan All of the studies mentioned above were performed in the United States. However, there have been studies done in other countries on adolescent alcohol abuse. One study was done on adolescents living in Taiwan. The results were very interesting. Many of the factors that are presents in American adolescents were also found in adolescents living in Taiwan. According to Chong, Chan, and Cheng (1999), Among those successfully interviewed, 411 were males and 363 were females. Their mean age was 15. 23 years (p. 1389). Like American adolescents who abused alcohol, Taiwan adolescents also had psychological factors presents. The most common psychological disorders found in Taiwan adolescents were disruptive behavior disorder, depression, and antisocial disorder. These disorders were also present in American adolescents. Alcoholism and Health Adolescent alcohol abuse is recognized as a major health concern in the United States. According to Arria and Tarter (1991), It is likely that an older adolescents who first consumed alcohol in the preteen years will experience greater alcohol-related medical complications than will an adolescent who has been drinking for a shorter period of time (p. 52). Although the length of time that an adolescent has been drinking is a major factor related to health, it is not the only one. Other factors may include how much alcohol is consumed at one sitting, and just what age the adolescent began to drink. Very heavy drinking may cause accidental injury. And, drinking at an early age may cause gross developmental complications. Arriea and Tarter (1991) noted that many adolescents also experiment with other drugs, while they are under the influence of alcohol. Other drugs may range from marijuana to crack cocaine and LSD. Using alcohol and other drugs combined can cause serious health risks and concerns. One major concern of adolescent alcohol abuse is the effects that abuse has on puberty. The results of the abuse may be most prevalent in the growth of the adolescent. It has been shown in both human and animal studies that alcohol consumption can stunt the physical growth of an adolescent approaching and during puberty. Arriea and Tarter (1991), stated that, normal physical growth is dependent on a complex interaction between genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences (P. 53). Alcohol severely effects this interaction. Treatment Whenever we talk about alcohol abuse with adolescents, we must talk about the treatment. Without proper treatment, the adolescent will end up in the same place over and over again. In the study done by Bukstein (1994), he stated that, treatment for adolescents currently are undergoing rapid changes,? , by reducing their costs and emphasizing less restrictive treatment modalities (p. 298). Many of the longer 28 or 38 day inpatient programs are being transformed into outpatient or partial hospitalization plans. Because these shorter programs have not been around long enough to gather information for testing, it is unable to tell if they are going to have any kind of affect on the adolescents rehabilitation. I feel that these cuts will have a negative effect on the treatment of youngsters. I think that these shorter programs may work for adults, but they will not work well with the adolescents because of the emotional immaturity present in young people. While many researchers believe that traditional treatment programs are the key, there has been some interest in alternative programs. According to Bukstein (1994), many programs are beginning to integrate an array of, family or behavioral treatments, health services, vocational and educational services, and recreational activities in addition to 12-step principles (p.299). This kind of treatment combines traditional 12-step programs with new innovative ideas of reaching the child through various activities. Once again, this kind of treatment is not yet able to be tested because of its immaturity. It will be very interesting to see what kind of affect this treatment will have. Conclusion There are many factors that contribute to adolescent alcohol abuse. These factors may be psychological, environmental, social, or cultural. If these factors were detected in an adolescent at an early age, it could prevent the adolescent form abusing alcohol. Health problems due to heavy alcohol abuse could also be prevented if these factors are detected early enough. Treatment is a crucial part of dealing with an adolescent that is suffering from alcohol abuse. I believe that much research must be done to ensure that methods are being executed properly. There has been some effort to combine new treatment with traditional ones. I believe that this is a good thing. It will be interesting to see if this new treatment will help. References Arria, Amelia M. , Tarter, Ralph E. (1991). The effects of alcohol abuse on the health of adolescents. Alcohol Health and Research World, 15 (1), 52-57. Bukstein, Oscar G. (1994). Treatment of adolescent alcohol abuse and dependence. Alcohol Health and Research World, 18 (4), 296-301. Chong, M. Y. , Chan, K. W. , Cheng, A. T. A. (1999). Substance use disorders among adolescents in Taiwan: Prevalence, sociodemeographic correlates and psychiatric co-morbidity. Psychological Medicine, 26 (6), 1387-1396. Clark, D. , Lesnick, L. , Hegedus, A. (1997). Traumas and Other adverse life events in adolescents with alcohol abuse and dependence. Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 36 (12), 1744-1751. Clark, D. , Bukstein, O. (1998). Psychopathology in adolescent alcohol abuse and dependence. Alcohol Health Research World 22 (2), 117-121. Epstein, J. , Botvin, G. , Diaz, T. (1999). Impact of social influences and problem behavior on alcohol use among inner-city hispanic and black adolescents. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 60 (5), 595-604. Rhode, P. , Lewinsohn, P. , Seeley, J. R. (1996). Psychiatric comoribidity with problematic alcohol use in high school students. Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry 35 (1), 101-109. Adolescent Alcohol Abuse Juvenile Delinquency.

Fedex Vietnam Strategic Annalysis Marketing Essay

Fedex Vietnam Strategic Annalysis Marketing Essay Established in 1973 under the name Federal Express by founder Frederick Smith, the company quickly became leading transportation service provider. In 1994, the company changed its mane to FedEx Corp. Nowadays, FedEx Corp includes seven subordinate companies that are FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Kinkos, FedEx Customs Critical, FedEx Trade Network and FedEx Service. These companies focus on its core services but also support each other in providing customer with full range of transportation services and logistics. FedEx is handling more than 3.6 mil packages a day and is very famous for its excellent services and for the innovation that it brings to the world of transportation.Eng-logo-4C.jpg FedEx Express operates with 2 sub-companies, which are FedEx Express International and FedEx Express US Domestic, FedEx Express is providing its services to more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. Under FedEx Express International are 3 Regional Divisions which are FedEx LAC (for US, Canada and Latin American), FedEx EMEA (for Euro, Middle East and Africa) and FedEx APAC (Asia Pacific region). FedEx Vietnam belongs to FedEx APAC Division (Federal Pacific Inc) with head office in Hong Kong. Mission and Strategy: Mission FedEx Corporation will produce superior financial returns for its shareowners by providing high value-added logistics, transportation and related business services through focused operating companies. Customer requirements will be met in the highest quality manner appropriate to each market segment served. FedEx will strive to develop mutually rewarding relationships with its employees, partners and suppliers. Safety will be the first consideration in all operations. Corporate activities will be conducted to the highest ethical and professional standards.  [1]   With this mission statement, FedEx defines the industry it develop the business, the financial returns for shareowners, relationships with shareholders. FedEx also commit for high quality and professional standard as well as safety to compete and develop the business. This mission is also going with P-S-P philosophy which stand for People Service Profit meaning FedEx focus and invest in People and believe that only best people can create valuable service. And certainly, valued service will bring money to the company. Strategy FedEx also defines the objectives which must work seamlessly and simultaneously on three levels: Competition: collectively  compete by standing as one brand worldwide. Just one FedEx brand and speak one voice. Operating must be independent  by focusing on independent worldwide networks to meet customer needs. Managing collaboratively  by working together to gain loyal relationships from workforce, customers and investors. FedEx Express in Vietnam Business history FedEx has established its operation in Vietnam since 1994, right after US government lifted the trade embargo to Vietnam. Its business model in Vietnam is agency in which FedEx services are provided to customers through FedExs partners. And FedEx global service partner (GSP) in Vietnam was Post and Telecommunication Express JSC; a company belong to Vietnam Post Corporation which has nationwide network for pickup and delivery until 2009. Since then, the contract with this GSP was terminated and Seabornes and Danatrans were appointed to be new GSPs in Vietnam. At the same time of launching its services in Vietnam, FedEx representative office was opened. The office role is to carry out market research, coordinate the communication among FedEx in VN and other countries, facilitating the implementation of contracts/agreements between FedEx Pacific Inc and other Vietnamese organizations Under the agency contract, the GSPs provide manpower, facilities, and vehicles to bring FedEx service to customers. It is also responsible for customs clearance site for import and export activities. FedEx take responsibilities of all sales and marketing activities. It also supervises and supports GSPs in making the service meet with FedEx global standard and customers requirement. These supports include but not limit to customer service, informatics technology, pricing, billing. Currently FedEx Vietnam provides country wide services with 2 main stations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city but direct service is only provided to major provinces/cities. The station in Ho Chi Minh City handles all inbound and outbound shipment to and from the south of Vietnam (southern of Hue). It has its own gateway for customs clearance and 4 world service centres. The station in Hanoi handles shipments to and from north of Vietnam. Beside its own gateway in Hanoi, it also has 3 world service centres for walk in customers. FedEx is providing direct pick up and delivery service to all major cities/provinces in Vietnam. For the other areas, the pick up and delivery is made by using domestic express service of Vietnam Post Corp. Mission and Objectives: Mission: FedEx Vietnam together with its partners will implement FedEx philosophy People-Service-Profit. We will be market leader with the best international express service at global standard. We will gain profit base on our core business competitiveness and the efficiency of the investment in Vietnam. We will bring customer with satisfaction for each and every transaction. (FedEx Vietnam Mission statement) Main objectives: Standardize service in Vietnam at global standard by having its own employee to generate service to customer. Become customers top in mind express service Annual growing rate at 15% In the context of current recession in developed countries, these are challenging objectives. The downturn in industrial countries will lead to a decline in export of developing countries and Vietnam is not an exception. Demand for transportation of export commodities is predicted to be declined until 2014 along with a weak economy. To maintain the annual growing at 15%, FedEx needs to both extend the operation to new markets and expand its market share at current service area by promoting its competitive advantages. This is a hard time for all companies in air express industry, but it can be a good opportunity for FedEx to consolidate its position over the competitor. Competitive advantage is the key and more than ever a right strategy to promote competitiveness is very critical to FedEx. Organization: FedEx Representative Office With the roles to support and supervise GSP in providing FedEx services to customers, FedEx representative office is organized as functional model. Figure 9: FedEx VN representative office organization chart Country manager HAN Operation manager HAN Sales Manager HAN ramp manager SGN Operation manager HAN CS manager SGN CS manager Country coordinator SGN ramp manager SGN Sales Manager Inside sales Manager Revenue ops Manager Accounting Manager Marketing Manager Technology service Manager Direct report Indirect report Source: FedEx country Review, 2011 At top of the representative office is Chief Representative, Senior Manager for FedEx Indochina and Myanmar who has very good knowledge about market, culture and working style of Vietnamese people. He directly manages operation function and also gets indirect reports from other functional groups. Operations: This group includes station operation (for pick up and delivery), gateway operation (for customs clearance), ramp operation and customer service operation. The group is responsible for managing all operation activities in accordance to FedEx service standard Airport ramp: This group is under operation and responsible for aircraft operation include loading and unloading of shipment on/from aircraft, landing/take off paperworkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Country Coordinator: Admin the communication to all GSPs in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar on policy, regulation issues Sales: This group report to regional sales. They are responsible for selling FedEx services to customer. Marketing: Perform market research, design and implement marketing plan under direction of regional marketing management. Billing and collection: Control all GSPs invoicing and collecting activities. All customer debts are managed by this group. Accounting: Control all payment transactions of FedEx in Vietnam and perform all other accounting activities. Technical service: Responsible for FedEx communication network, customer technology solutions. GSP organization GSP has two independent teams to work at FedEx agency in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. They both report to Seabornes head office. But in daily operation, they are under supervision of FedEx functional groups from representative office. The team in Hanoi includes 69 GSP employees with 1 General Manager and 4 functional managers. In Ho Chi Minh number of employees is 125 with 1 General manager and 7 functional managers Business result overview Figure10: FedEx Vietnam revenue from 2006 to 2011 (Unit: 1000 USD) Source: FedEx country review 2011 As indicated in Figure 10, FedEx had very good growth in revenue. Total revenue grew by 3 times from 2006 to 2011. The revenue increased at 100% in 2008 after FedEx up gauged it feeder capacity from 3 tons to 6 tons to Ho Chi Minh city. FedExs core products International Priority (IP) and International Priority Freight (IPF) are the main contribution. After the sharp increase in 2008, revenue of these core services grew steadily at 10-12% a year. Revenue of IXF (air port to airport) service took a relatively small part of total revenue. However growing rate of this product has been extremely high since 2009 when the company sell this service to some forwarders to explore their existing customers. Figure 11: FedEx business performance from 2006 to 2011 (Unit: 1000USD) Source: FedEx country review 2011 Figure 11 shows both revenue and profit of FedEx on good growth. However with increased ratio of IXF shipment (which are low yield per kg for big shipments), expense was getting bigger and made profit growing rate in 2009, 2010 and 2011 lower than revenue growing rate. Strategic Annalysis Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) Human resource The philosophy P-S-P (People-Service-Profit) is cornerstone of FedEx. This can be considered a success cycles of FedEx in which the company take care of its employees and assist them in generate excellent service to customer. That excellent service in return brings Profit to FedEx and enables the company to take a better care to its work force. Thank to this, FedEx is many times voted as most admired company by Fortune Magazine. In many major markets in LAC and APAC, FedEx is voted as one of the best companies to work for. Bring that philosophy in business, FedEx attracts a very excellent team for its representative office in Vietnam. Figure12: FedEx rep office personnel (Experienced and Education) Source: FedEx VN HR profile. Figure 12 shows number of FedEx employee divided by work group and education/experience categories. All FedEx managers (1 senior manager and 6 managers in Ho Chi Minh city, 4 managers in Hanoi) are very experienced in express industry. Sales team is young but very aggressive in selling with 10 for Ho Chi Minh city and 5 for Hanoi. Ramp team includes two groups with equal number of employee, one at Noi Bai airport and the other one at Tan Son Nhat airport. Functional group include employee at marketing, accounting and billing/collection As reflected, 100% FedEx representative office employees are graduated with 29.31% of the employees are holding master degree. With this strong back ground and excellent human development programs through training, couching all FedEx employees are skilful and knowledge in the field that they are responsible. Most of FedEx employees have long term commitment with the company. Many of them stay with the office since it was established. The package benefit and the reward program at FedEx not only keep its employees commit to stay a long time with the office, but also encourage them to perform their best in daily job. But in contrast, the FedEx GSP is a Vietnamese and young company so the recruitment, human resource policy is very different. This leads to poor quality of the work force and impacts to the image of the company in Vietnam. Employees in many cases are not care about productivities. Their attitude in making service is not very much acknowledged and appreciated by customers. This hit the level of FedEx service in Vietnam. However in recent years, with the changes of GSP management and higher demand from customers, some positive changes have been made. The GSP frontline managers and employees attitude to customers and to the service quality issue has been improved. Those employees that could not adapt to this change have been replaced. This in long run will have positive contribution to FedEx operation. But in short term, high turnover of employee impacts to the operation, especially when the new one lack of experience. Over all, the working skills of GSP employees are met with job requirement. However their English is not so good. Especially the couriers who are directly handling shipment for customers. This is room for improvement that FedEx can do to further standardize its service in Vietnam. Finance FedEx Vietnam is a dependent branch of FedEx Pacific Inc. All finance planning and management is performed at division level. The two major finance activities that done at local level are customer debt management and operation cost management. Customer debt management At FedEx, 90% of the shipment transportation charges are billed to customer accounts and the billing options can be to shipper, to consignee or to third party. That makes it very convenient for customer to ship with the company. But on the other hand it brings risk to the company if the payers refuse to pay and the re-bill is done in late (Shipper must takes the final responsibility to pay transportation charge when using FedEx service. In case the charge billed to recipient or 3rd party but payer refuse to pay, then it will be billed back to the shipper). Under agency contract GSP takes responsible for collection of the debt from customer. However their limitation in managing this area makes the on time collection of the payment is not high. Bad debt at 2% and over due debt at about 15% lower the working capital. However as reflected in Figure 11, FedEx revenue is increased year on year and the company has a good profit ratio. In addition, with FedEx Pacific Inc as a mother company, FedEx finance is on strong base. Operation cost management Though most of the ground operation costs are covered by GSP under agency contract, there are areas for FedEx to control and save cost. They include: Cost for using commercial flights (where FedEx flight is not in operation) Cost for revenue supplies (Supplies that provided to customer for them to use FedEx service like airway bill, packing materialà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) Cost for claim settlement (for damage, late or missing shipment) At FedEx there is an index call cost per package in which all costs raise from handling a package is taken into account and bi-weekly management has a meeting to review it. This is a good tool for continuous improvement of cost saving. In 2010 the company had saved in average 2.3% of its cost per package in compare to the previous year. Facilities All the ground facilities are under GSP charge. But with booming business in past few years, the investment of the GSP on to this did not meet with requirement. Size of business in 2011 was almost 3 times larger than the one in 2006, but there was no major investment to expand ground facilities. That makes the station buildings and warehouses become too congested for FedEx operation and impacts to productivity and the service quality. Figure 13: FedEx ground facility Current Required  [2]   Gateway 800 sqm 1500 sqm Station 2000 sqm 2500 sqm Number of van 24 26 Number of truck 5 5 Number of motor-bike 20 20 Source: FedEx IE report 2011 Beside ground facility, communication network is very critical for FedEx. The network is not only for communication among FedEx locations, but also for posting and updating of shipment status. The network is considered as back bone of FedEx service. In Vietnam the company has its own lease lines to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. The lease lines are upgraded to meet with demand of growing business. The latest upgrade in earlier 2010 increased the lease lines capacity to 256 KBps. A broad band line was also established to be backup network for the lease line. This helps to avoid service impact due to communication problem. Marketing Marketing function in Vietnam is more on the implementation. Marketing planning is done at regional level by marketing management. With this arrangement, there is only 1 marketing specialist in FedEx Vietnam to cover the whole country. She has very limited decision making power on marketing plan. Most of the marketing campaigns in Vietnam are small with very limited budget. There is lack of big campaign in media that attracted mass audience. In Vietnam the new emerging market, FedEx does not have commercial TV advertisement while its major competitor DHL spends heavily on this. In past few years, FedEx involved in numerous of activities for community benefit like building 3 schools in Nam Dinh and Quang Nam, sponsoring transportation of medicine and equipment for Heart to Heart organization, major sponsor for OBIS flying hospital to Vietnam in 2007 and 2010, APEC summit in 2006. These activities were very efficient in bringing benefit to the community, but were not very well promoted by marketing and the number of earned media was not large. In terms of product that FedEx introduced to Vietnam market, the service is more diversify to provide customs more option for their shipment. Currently FedEx provide following services: International Priority (IP): This is fast, customs-cleared, door-to-door pickup and delivery of shipments to all international destinations for package weighted lower than 68 kgs. For those destinations in AsiaOne (all major cities in Asia) net work, document or packages sending under this service will be delivered on the day after ship date. This is FedEx Express core service in Vietnam International Economy (IE): This service is similar to IP service, but the transit time is longer than IP service and shipping rate is lower than IP. International Priority Freight (IPF): This is priority service using for package heavier than 68 kgs. This service is only available in designated cities/countries International Economy Freight (IEF): This is a new service launched in 2010 using for packages over 68kg. Customer use this service does not need a fast transit time. The price rate is lower than IPF and transit time is longer certainly. International priority Distribution (IPD): This is customized service using for customer who send shipment at different consignees at same country. The shipper can send all of them under 1 shipment and FedEx will separate the shpt to delivery to each consignee. This service is only available to some country and normally for global customer Beside the range of services provided, FedEx rate to each customer is different base on the customer volume. However this is not the main competition tools of FedEx. The company is more focus on its differentiation by excellent service. Despite of some weaknesses in marketing in Vietnam, FedEx brand is quite well known in business society thanks to its global image. However, to reach the level on brand awareness that FedEx has in other markets, marketing function in Vietnam should play a more active role. Sales In 2008, FedEx took over all sales activities from GSP. All sales personnel belong to FedEx. This enables the company to recruit and keep talent employee for this important function. The performance of sales team has been improved since then Currently sales team is organized under 3 sub-teams to take care of different groups of customers: Global sales: Take care of global accounts. These global customers are big accounts and very demanding for service quality. As many big international companies are setting up their business in Vietnam, revenue from this group of customer is growing very fast. In 2006, it took only 8% of total revenue, but in 2011 it took up to 27% Telesales: Take care of small accounts. There are low revenue customers but most profitable ones. Revenue from small customer takes 18% of the total FedEx Vietnam revenue. Field sales: Most of customer that taken care of by field sales are local importers/exporters. This area of sales have steady annual growth at 20% in recent year thank to strong growth in international trade in Vietnam With this arrangement, sales team can be more focus on targeted customer, hence the performance is improved. Figure 14: FedEx sales volume from 2006 to 2011 (Unit: 1 package) Source: FedEx country Review 2011 Before 2008, sales only focus on selling outbound, but with global sales network, both outbound and inbound volumes are taken care by sales. This supports strong growth of inbound volume (Figure 14). The exception in 2010 the inbound volume was down turn due to the fisrt year sales under direct management. Operation Air craft operation: With the launch of A310 to Vietnam in September 2009, FedEx increased its aircraft capacity to 5 times bigger than before  [3]  . The aircraft upgrade enables FedEx to introduce more services in and out of Vietnam. The company now can better secure space for its shipment and reduce the risk of dependence on commercial flights. The A310 serves both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. This first time ever FedEx aircraft arrives in Hanoi making big service improvement for the capital city. Transit time reduce by 1 day for both inbound and outbound. This was an excellent preparation for FedEx Asia hub relocation to China in first half of 2009  [4]  . Station operation: Operating under agency contract, FedEx is facing with number of issues for its station operation because of differences in business strategy. Investments in work forces, vehicles, equipments are not adequate. Coverage area of FedEx service in Vietnam is large while number of couriers is limited with 30 in Hanoi and 60 in Ho Chi Minh city making it a big challenge for pick up and delivery, particularly on the surge volume dates. With booming of EPZ and Industrial Park country wide, many provinces become potential markets for air express service. However FedEx direct pick up and delivery service is only available in big cities/provinces. In other provinces, pick up/delivery is provided through a domestic express service. It means any customs in non-direct service want to use FedEx service they have to send the shipment to FedEx by domestic service first. And the same arrangement for delivery, FedEx will have domestic service to deliver package to customer in these areas. This not only makes transit time for the package longer but also impacts to service quality that customer suppose to receive when they use FedEx service. FedEx in Vietnam operates with standard procedure of FedEx global. However the ability of courier team, especially English speaking and reading skill is not good making barrier for them to learn and consult customers on shipping requirement. There is lack of rewarding program to encourage courier team, so productivity and the over all performance is not very good. Gateway operation: FedEx has 2 gateways in Vietnam, one for Hanoi and the other for Ho Chi Minh city. Both gateways are in the same buildings with stations. That makes it convenient for customers in case they have to come to do customs clearance. But it is a disadvantage for the company to maximize the use of air craft arrival time. The main job of gateway is to ensure shipments are clear customs at shortest time, reduce number of shipment pending in customs warehouse. In Vietnam, FedEx is the first company that was selected by Vietnam customs to implement electronic clearance. By applying technology in to clearance process, this area of service has been improved remarkable. The percentage of shipment released for same day delivery in 2010 is 50% higher than the one in 2007. However the constraints of ware houses and clearance facilities and the lack of customs regulations on express clearance make this clearance still not yet reaches its height of potential. Customer service operation: Customer oriented system and excellent internal communication network are very supportive tools to customer service agents to successfully handle transaction with customer. However, the weakness of call centre which under GSP control with lack of necessary equipments makes it difficult for FedEx to measure and control call quality. There is considered number of complaints regarding to customer service in Vietnam. This is contrast with FedEx customer service in other countries where most of customer praise FedEx for professional, helpful and customer oriented service. In addition, shortage of manpower for this group in Hanoi (with only 3 persons) reduces the ability to handle customer calls to FedEx at this city. Service quality management: Service quality is non-compromised issue at FedEx. It makes FedEx different from competitor. The quality driven management concept has been put in FedEx today business. With that strategy, service quality is also one of the top priorities for FedEx in Vietnam. The company is very good in making all KPI (key performance index) in service to be measurable and has strong systems to control it. Service quality is measured by both network system (base on system scan) and data collection from practice. A group of operation excellence is formed up. This group is supported by advisors at regional level. The group is doing root cause analysis for all service issues and coordinates with respective operation teams for corrective action plan. The quality report is made on daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly depend on KPI. Bi-weekly there is meeting among all managers to review service quality issue for necessary actions. With this mechanism, quality improvement is continuous process at FedEx. Information Technology (IT) Information plays very important role with express company like FedEx. Provide customer with accurate and updated information is as important as on time delivery of the package. Within FedEx operation teams, information exchange and communication among the teams is also very critical for its success. FedEx in Vietnam has its own lease line to ensure the connection of network. This system is operated and managed by very experience and skilful IT team. Numbers of IT projects have been implemented in past few years to bring benefit to FedEx and its customers: Automation shipping tool: With software installed at customer site, customer does not need to wait for FedEx to bring in shipping forms for manual completion but they can create the form on their own at any time. With this customer can complete shipping document for many shipment just in few minutes. This helps FedEx to save cost while provide more convenience to customers. Transmission of shipping documents images: FedEx Vietnam now can transmit all shipping documents of its export shipments to countries of destination before shipment departs. With this ability, FedEx in destination does not need to wait for shipments arrival to retrieve the documents but having these documents much earlier than the physical shipment arrives. So they can do pre-arrival customs clearance and ensure that the shipment is immediate released for delivery once it arrives. This tremendously improves the service and saves FedEx hundred thousands of UDS a year for fax fee, storage fee. In conclusion, FedEx Vietnams major advantages are: Operating FedExs own flight to both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city Best express service from Vietnam to US, North America and Japan the key export markets of Vietnam Management awareness of service quality and use it as differentiator. A good service quality control system is put on place. Innovative service base on information technology Meanwhile, FedEx major weak points are operating under agency and poor quality call centre for customer operation. With above analysis, an IFE matrix is formed up by strategist team. The IFE matrix for FedEx Vietnam includes 12 factors with seven strengths and five weaknesses. Values of weight and rate for each factor are calculated base on average scores of the team members with some minor adjustment after review with the whole team (Appendix H). The final IFE matrix for FedEx is reflected in Figure 15. Figure 15: IFE Matrix of FedEx Vietnam No. Factors Weight Rate Weighted score 1 FedEx has 5 flights a week to both Hanoi and HCMC 0.14 4 0.56 2 Well known brand 0.12 3 0.36 3 Hub Operation Model Global Network 0.09 4 0.36 4 The best express service to US, North America and Japan 0.12 4 0.48 5 Wide range of services 0.04 3 0.12 6 Management awareness of service quality issue and use the quality of service as differentiator. 0.05 4 0.2 7 Innovative service on the base of information technology 0.04 4 0.16 8 FedEx operates under agency contract 0.15 1 0.15 9 Low quality call centre 0.13 1 0.13 10 High over due debt ratio 0.03 1 0.03 11 Poor marketing activities

The Transformation of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening Essay -- Kate C

â€Å"She wanted something to happen- something, anything: she did not know what† (Chopin). In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, the reader is introduced to Edna Pontellier, a passionate, rebellious woman. Throughout the novel, it becomes apparent how unsettled Edna feels about her life. The reader can identify this by her thoughts, desires, and actions, which are highly inappropriate for an affluent woman of the time. In the novel, Edna has an awakening and finds the courage to make the changes she sees necessary. Kate Chopin is able to make quality connections in order to symbolize her innermost desires. Chopin does this by providing references to the sea, and the birds, and then using them to foreshadow Edna’s end of life decision. The sea is typically used in order to express strength, life/ death, and calmness. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses the sea as a way to communicate Edna’s strength and empowerment. Two references that examine this idea are made available: one for the transformation of her body and one for the transformation of her mind. Edna’s learn-to-swim experience transforms her body during her awakening. Overcoming her fears and learning to swim is a significant experience because it shows how she is able to gain control over her body: â€Å"The voice of the sea speaks to the soul† (Chopin). This is a powerful statement due to the fact that it represents how Edna undergoes a dramatic change in character. She goes from listening and acting upon the influences of society, to following her own mind and innermost desires. These both play a large part in understanding Edna’s personal transformation from a quiet and fearful girl to an empowered and independent woman. Across many forms of art, birds ... ...el progresses, an awakening can be observed. This awakening greatly transforms Edna’s body and mind. Kate Chopin makes this evident by her use of references to the sea, the birds, and the foreshadowing of Edna’s end of life decision. These quality connections show the suffering, empowerment, and innermost desires of Edna throughout the novel, The Awakening. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Herbert S. Stone and Co., 1899. Print. Garrett Brown, Kimberly. â€Å"Dropping Hints and the Power of Foreshadowing in Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Awakening.† Blogs Goddard. The Pitkin Review. Spring 2010. Web. 20 March 2015. Mascarenhas, Cheryl. â€Å"Bird Symbolism and Their Meaning.† Buzzle. South University. 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 20 March 2015. Shmoop Editorial Team. "Birds in The Awakening." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 20 March 2015.

Environmental Law

AN INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL LAW James Maurici, Landmark Chambers Introduction 1. This talk will look at: i. What is environmental law? ii. The sources of environmental law iii. Some key concepts in environmental law: the precautionary principle, the polluter pays, public participation and access to environmental justice iv. An introduction to the main areas of environmental law: a. air quality b. climate change c. contaminated land d. noise e. environmental permitting f. waste g. ater h. nature conservation i. nuisance j. environmental impact assessment k. strategic environmental assessment l. REACH v. Some recent important environmental cases. 2. Further reading: the best introduction to the subject is the excellent Bell & McGillivray, Environmental Law (OUP, 7th ed. , 2008). What is environmental law? 3. There is no agreement on what environmental law is. This is a source of endless (academic) debate. 4. What is the â€Å"environment†? Some legal definitions †¦ i. S. (2) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (â€Å"the EPA 1990†) â€Å"The â€Å"environment† consists of all, or any, of the following media, namely, the air, water and land; and the medium of air includes the air within buildings and the air within other natural or man-made structures above or below ground. † ii. Environmental Management Standard ISO 14001 â€Å" †¦ air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans and their interrelationship †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ; iii. See also Annex I to the Aarhus Convention, of which more later †¦ 1 5. A â€Å"new† subject, underdeveloped? see â€Å"Maturity and methodology: starting a debate about environmental law scholarship† Fisher, Lange, Scotford and Carlarne, J. Env. L. (2009) 21(2), 213-250. Fundamental questions about environmental law: i. Christopher Stone, â€Å"Should Trees Have Standing? : Towards Legal Rights for Natural Objects† (1972) Southern California LR 450-501; ii. Wild Law? The term â€Å"wild law† was first coined by Cormac Cullinan, a lawyer based in Cape Town, South Africa (Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice, Green Books, Totnes, Devon, 2003): see http://www. ukela. org/rte. asp? d=5 and â€Å"On thin ice – Could ‘wild laws' protecting all the Earth's community – including animals, plants, rivers and ecosystems – save our natural world? â€Å", by Boyle and Elcoate (The Guardian, 8 November 2006) – the idea is â€Å"Fish, trees, fresh water, or any elements of the environment, †¦ having legal rights† which can be vindicated by local communities (http://www. guardian. co. uk/environment/2006/nov/08/ethicalliving. society). Environmental law has many aspects: i. Private law: tort – especially nuisance (public and private), and also property law; ii. Public law – state regulation: a. Setting standards: water quality, air quality; b. equiring authorisation of activities – town planning, environmental permitting; c. Prescribing procedures to be carried out – EIA, SEA; – nature d. Identifying land or species that must be protected conservation, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (â€Å"SSSIs†), the Green Belt, AONBs etc; e. Banning activities – fly tipping; f. Creating civil liability – contaminated land regime (see below); the Environmental Liability Directive 2004/35 implemented by the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2009 (http://www. defra. gov. uk/environment/policy/liability/) etc. iii. Criminal law: environmental crime: a.Numerous offences in many Acts; b. Environment Agency (formerly National Rivers Authority) v Empress Car Co [1999] 2 A. C. 22: unknown person opened the unlockable tap of a diesel tank kept by Empress in a yard which drained directly into a river, with the result that the contents of the tank overflowed and drained into the river's waters. Empressâ€⠄¢s conviction for causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter controlled waters contrary to the Water Resources Act 1991 s. 85(1) on a prosecution brought by the NRA upheld by HL; 6. 7. 2 c. See the Environment Agency’s prosecution guide: http://www. nvironmentagency. gov. uk/business/444217/444661/112913/? version=1&lang=_e d. A new approach: The Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 (â€Å"RESA 2008†) – main provisions brought into force 1 October 2008. The Act gives Government the power to give regulators, including local authorities, the Environment Agency, Natural England, English Heritage, the Countryside Council for Wales and others range of new enforcement powers (called â€Å"civil sanctions†). The Act was a response to a review by Richard Macrory1 that criticised the heavy reliance of most areas of regulation on criminal sanctions.The civil sanctions introduced are intended to provide regulators with an alternative to prosec utions and formal cautions. The intention is that the new sanctions will create a more proportionate regulatory framework, and reduce the administrative burden for regulators and businesses alike. 1. The civil sanctions created by RESA 2008 include: a. fixed monetary penalties in respect of relevant offences (ss. 39-41); b. discretionary requirements which may include variable monetary penalties, compliance requirements, and restoration requirements (ss. 42-45); c. top notices, which prohibit a regulated person from carrying on a particular activity (ss. 46-49); d. enforcement undertakings, whereby regulated persons avoid the effects of other civil sanctions by undertaking to take certain actions (s. 50). 2. The actual schemes for these civil sanctions are to be made by the relevant government departments in respect of the matters falling within their respective competences. RESA 2008 simply provides the statutory basis for such enforcement mechanisms. In the environmental context, the Environment Agency and Natural England are the first to be given powers under RESA.The Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010 and the Environmental Sanctions (Misc. Amendments) (England) Regulations 2010 have now been laid before Parliament. The Welsh Assembly Government is drawing up co-ordinated secondary legislation in Wales to extend civil sanctioning powers to the Environment Agency in Wales. 3. The Environment Agency press release on 3 February 2010 says â€Å"The Environment Agency will be consulting business from 15 February 2010 to help shape how the new powers will be implemented†. The Orders provide further detail on the level of the penalties to be provided for: 1R Macrory â€Å"Regulatory Justice: Making Sanctions Effective† Cabinet Office November 2006 3 4. 5. 6. 7. a. In relation to fixed monetary penalties, the level of penalty is set at between ? 100 – ? 300 (Para. 3, Sch. 1); b. In relation to variable monetary penalties, no max imum level is set by the RESA 2008, save that where the offence is triable only summarily, the penalty must not exceed the maximum amount for that fine (Para. 4, Sch. 2). An example case in the DEFRA consultation proposes a variable monetary penalty of ? 38,500 for a water pollution incident as a result of poor site maintenance.The Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010 though sets a maximum limit of ? 250,000. RESA 2008 provides that the regulator may only impose a monetary penalty in respect of a relevant offence where it is â€Å"satisfied beyond reasonable doubt† that the subject of the penalty has committed the relevant offence (s 39(2); s. 42(2)). Both fixed and discretionary monetary penalties are to be imposed by the service of a â€Å"notice of intent† to impose a penalty, which affords the subject of the penalty an opportunity to make representations to the regulator.If the person fails to convince the regulator that the penalty should not be issu ed (or perhaps that the amount of the penalty should be reduced), the regulator will then issue a final notice requiring the payment of a penalty. Where a fixed or variable monetary penalty is imposed on a person, or when a notice of intent is served, criminal proceedings cannot be taken in respect of that person (ss 41, 44). As such, the monetary penalty is intended to replace the criminal offence. Stop notices are notices issued by a regulator with the intention of prohibiting a person from carrying on a certain activity until the steps pecified in the notice have been taken. They can be imposed where the regulator reasonably believes that an activity (presently occurring or likely to occur) is causing, or presents a significant risk of causing, serious harm to human health, the environment, and the financial interests of consumers, and the regulator reasonably believes that the activity as carried on involves or is likely to involve the commission of a relevant offence (s 46(4)). Persons receiving a final notice, or a stop notice, have a right of appeal.That right of appeal must allow the subject of the penalty to challenge the decision on (at least) the following bases – see RESA 2008: a. That the decision to impose the penalty was based on an error of fact; b. That the decision was wrong in law; 4 c. That the decision was unreasonable (and in the case of variable penalties, that the amount of the penalty was unreasonable); d. In relation to stop notices only, that the person has not committed the offence and would not have committed the offence if the stop notice was not served. 8.In common with the other civil sanctions, the appeal is made to the new Regulatory Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal created under the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. RESA 2008 itself contains no indication of what level of scrutiny the Tribunal will apply to a decision of a regulator. On the face of the Act, it is not clear whether it should apply a Wednesbu ry test, or whether it should (in effect) retake the decision. However, the draft Order provides that â€Å"the regulator must prove the commission of the offence beyond reasonable doubt† on appeal and that â€Å"the tribunal must determine the standard of proof in any other matter†.An appeal from the First-tier Tribunal is to the Upper Tribunal on a point of law only. 9. Article 6 issues: see Rethinking regulatory sanctions: Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 – an exchange of letters E. L. M. 2009, 21(4), 183-18. iv. EC law: generally said 80% of environmental law in UK derives from EU – see below. v. International law: see further below, increasingly important. 8. Planning law: is planning law part of environmental law? Yes, undoubdetly. But beyond this talk to consider: see Moore A Practical Approach to Planning Law (10th ed, OUP).Who are the regulators? i. Central Government: Defra, DCLG, DECC but also DfT, BERR; ii. Local Government: histo rical role in public health protection. Now: Town & Country Planning, EPA 1990 (statutory nuisance); noise; also air quality and management and contaminated land (for non-special sites). Also a regulator under Environmental Permitting Regulations 2007 (soon to be 2010, â€Å"the EPR†) for certain installations; iii. The Environment Agency: an executive non-departmental government body, principal environmental regulator in England & Wales.Responsible for: environmental permitting, water resources, flooding and coast management, waste, emissions trading. 13,000 employees. In Scotland SEPA; iv. Natural England: merger of English Nature and Countryside Agency responsible for nature conservation, species and habitat protection, National Parks, Countryside and Rights of Way Act. CCW similar role in Wales. In Scotland Scottish National Heritage; v. Others: Maritime and Coastguard Agency; Drinking Water Inspectorate; Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. 5 9. The sources of environment al law (1) International Environmental Law 10.Important – direct influence on domestic law, but also on EC law and through that domestic law. 11. Some examples: the 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Pollution, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Aarhus Convention (see below). 12. Illustrate importance of International Law by reference to the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (â€Å"the Aarhus Convention†). The Aarhus Convention entered into force in October 2001. It was ratified by the UK in February 2005, and by the EU in the same month.As of 8 September 2009, there were 43 Parties to the Convention. 13. Article 1: In order to contribute to the protection of the right of every person of present and future generations to live in an environment adequate to his or her health and well being, each Party shall guarantee the rights of access to information, public partici pation in decision making, and access to justice in environmental matters in accordance with the provisions of this Convention. 14. The Convention contains three broad themes or ‘pillars': i. access to environmental nformation (Articles 4 -5); ii. public participation in environmental decision-making (Articles 6 -8); and iii. access to justice in environmental matters (Article 9). 15. Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said â€Å"Although regional in scope, the significance of the Aarhus Convention is global. It is by far the most impressive elaboration of principle 10 of the Rio Declaration, which stresses the need for citizens' participation in environmental issues and for access to information on the environment held by public authorities.As such it is the most ambitious venture in the area of environmental democracy so far undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations† (emphasis added). 16. It has had, and continues to have a profound impact on the development of EC and UK environmental law. 17. Access to environmental information: i. the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/3391) (â€Å"the EIR†); ii. implements Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to environmental information (â€Å"EI Directive†). The EI Directive repealed the earlier Directive 90/313/EEC and was intended to give effect to the Aarhus Convention. 6 18.The EIR apply to â€Å"environmental information†, which is defined in regulation 2 in the following way: â€Å"â€Å"environmental information† has the same meaning as in Article 2(1) of the Directive, namely any information in written, visual, aural, electronic or any other material form on– (a) the state of the elements of the environment, such as air and atmosphere, water, soil, land, landscape and natural sites including wetlands, coastal and marine areas, biological diversity and its components, including genetically modified organisms, and the inter action among these elements; (b) factors, such as substances, energy, noise, radiation or waste, including radioactive waste, emissions, discharges and other releases into the environment, affecting or likely to affect the elements of the environment referred to in (a); (c) measures (including administrative measures), such as policies, legislation, plans, programmes, environmental agreements, and activities affecting or likely to affect the elements and factors referred to in (a) and (b) as well as measures or activities designed to protect those elements; (d) reports on the implementation of environmental legislation; e) cost-benefit and other economic analyses and assumptions used within the framework of the measures and activities referred to in (c); and (f) the state of human health and safety, including the contamination of the food chain, where relevant, conditions of human life, cultural sites and built structures inasmuch as they are or may be affected by the state of the e lements of the environment referred to in (a) or, through those elements, by any of the matters referred to in (b) and (c)† 19. As is clear from the EIR, that definition replicates that in the EI Directive, which in turn is in similar terms to the definition of environmental information in the Aarhus Convention. The ECJ has treated â€Å"environmental information† as having a broad meaning under Directive 90/313/EEC.In Case C-321/96 Mecklenburg v Kreis Pinneberg – Der Landrat [1998] ECR I-3809, the ECJ found the wording of the definition (albeit different from that in the present version of the EI Directive) to create a broad concept of what can constitute environmental information. 20. A broad interpretation of the meaning of environmental information is also advocated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (â€Å"ICO†), see http://www. ico. gov. uk/what_we_cover/environmental_information_regulation/guida nce. aspx. Requests falling under the EIR must be dealt with under those regulations and not as an FOIA request. NB the procedures and exemptions are different. 21.The Supreme Court in Office of Communications v Information Commissioner [2010] UKSC 3 referred to ECJ the following question: â€Å"Under Council Directive 2003/4/EC , where a public authority holds environmental information, disclosure of which would have some adverse effects on the separate interests served by more than one exception (in casu, the interests of public security served by article 4(2(b) and those of intellectual property rights served by article 4(2)(e)), but it would not do so, in the case of either exception viewed separately, to any extent sufficient to outweigh the public interest in disclosure, does the Directive require a further exercise involving the cumulation of the separate interests served by the two exceptions and their weighing together against the public interest in disclosure? †. The information requested relates to the pr ecise location of mobile phone base stations in the United Kingdom. 7 22. For other cases touching on the EIR: see Veolia ES Nottinghamshire Ltd v Nottinghamshire CC [2010] Env. L. R. 2 and the BARD case discussed in the Annex below. 23. Public participation in environmental decision-making: In R(Greenpeace Ltd) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry [2007] Env. L. R. 29 (a challenge to the consultation process in relation to new build nuclear) Sullivan J said: â€Å"49. Whatever the position may be in other policy areas, in the development of policy in the environmental field consultation is no longer a privilege to be granted or withheld at will by the executive. The United Kingdom Government is a signatory to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention).The Preamble records the parties to the Convention: â€Å"Recognizing that adequate protection of the environment is essential to human wellbeing and the enjoyment of basic human rights, including the right to life itself, Recognizing also that every person has the right to live in an environment adequate to his or her health and well-being, and the duty, both individually and in association with others, to protect and improve the environment for the benefit of present and future generations, Considering that, to be able to assert this right and observe this duty, citizens must have access to information, be entitled to participate in decision-making and have access to justice in environmental matters, and acknowledging in this regard that citizens may need assistance in order to exercise their rights, Recognizing that, in the field of the environment, improved access to information and public participation in decision-making enhance the quality and the implementation of decisions, contribute to public awareness of environmental issues, give the public the opportunity to express its concerns and enable public authorities to take due account of such concerns Aiming thereby to further the accountability of and transparency in decision-making and to strengthen public support for decisions on the environment, †¦Ã¢â‚¬  50 Article 7 deals with â€Å"Public Participation concerning Plans, Programmes and Policies relating to the Environment†. The final sentence says: â€Å"To the extent appropriate, each Party shall endeavour to provide opportunities for public participation in the preparation of policies relating to the environment. † 51 Given the importance of the decision under challenge—whether new nuclear build should now be supported—it is difficult to see how a promise of anything less than â€Å"the fullest public consultation† would have been consistent with the Government's obligations under the Aarhus Convention †¦Ã¢â‚¬ . 24.See also what Lord Hoffmann said on public participation in the context of EIA in Berkeley (see below ). 25. Access to justice in environmental matters: Article 9 requires that members of the public have access to a review procedure before a court of law and/or another independent and impartial body established by law, to challenge the substantive and procedural legality of environmental decision-making. Article 9(4) requires that the procedures for rights of access to justice in environmental matters shall â€Å"provide adequate and effective remedies, including injunctive relief as appropriate, and be fair, equitable, timely, and not prohibitively expensive†.In recent times the key issue in England & Wales has been the â€Å"not prohibitively expensive† requirement: see below. 8 26. What is the status of the Aarhus Convention? i. It is an international convention, and the parties to the convention have established a Compliance Committee that can investigate alleged instances of non-compliance. There are currently three complaints relating to the UK in which decisions are awaited: a. ACCC/C/2008/27: this is a complaint brought by the Cultra Residents’ Association, County Down. The Association was one of five who were applicants in judicial review proceedings brought in the High Court in Northern Ireland.The judicial review proceedings related to the expansion of City Airport in Belfast. The proceedings were dismissed as being premature (Kinnegar Residents’ Action Group & Ors, Re Judicial Review [2007] NIQB 90 (7 November 2007)). The Department’s costs were awarded against the applicants in the sum of ? 39,454. The Association alleged that the award of costs violated its rights under Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention. b. ACCC/C/2008/23: this arises out of the Morgan v Hinton Organics case considered below. A summary of that case records the complaint as being that the communicants â€Å"rights under article 9, paragraph 4, of the Convention were violated when they were ordered to pay costs amounting to approximately ? 5,000 , which, in the opinion of the communicants, is prohibitively expensive. The costs order was issued following a discharge of an interim injunction obtained by them earlier in private nuisance proceedings for an injunction to prohibit offensive odours arising from Hinton Organics (Wessex) Ltd operating a waste composting site. The communicants allege that the issuing of the costs order by the Court, in circumstances where one month before it had agreed and made an order that there was a serious issue to be tried and that the Claimants should enjoy interim injunctive relief, amounts to non-compliance with article 9, paragraph 4, of the Convention†. c.A third communication concerning the UK has been brought Mr. James Thornton, the CEO of ClientEarth. The complaint there is that the â€Å"law and jurisprudence of the [UK] fail to comply with the requirements of article 9, paragraphs 2 to 5, in particular in connection with restriction on review of substantive legality in the cour se of judicial review, limitations on possibility for individuals and NGOs to challenge act or omissions of private persons which contradict environmental law, prohibitive nature of costs related to access to justice and uncertain and overly restrictive nature of rules related to time limits within which an action for judicial review can be brought†. ii.The status of the Convention in the domestic law of the UK was recently considered by the Court of Appeal of England & Wales in Morgan v Hinton Organics (Wessex) Ltd [2009] C. P. Rep. 26 – see further below. Carnwath LJ explained (see para. 22) that â€Å"[f]or the purposes of domestic law, the convention has the status of an international treaty, not directly incorporated. Thus its provisions cannot be directly applied by domestic courts, but may be 9 taken into account in resolving ambiguities in legislation intended to give it effect (see Halsbury’s Laws Vol 44(1) Statutes para. 1439))†. iii. The EC dime nsion: The EU itself has ratified the Aarhus Convention.As a result its institutions can take enforcement action against Member States for non-compliance. Indeed the provisions of Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention concerning access to justice have been inserted into two key EC environmental directives. Article 10A of the 1985 EC Directive on Environmental Impact Assessment (â€Å"EIA†) provides that Member States must ensure that members of the public have access to a review procedure before a court of law or other independent body to challenge the substantive or procedural decisions, acts or omissions subject to the public participation provisions of the Directive, and that â€Å"any such procedure shall be fair, equitable, timely, and not prohibitively expensive†.Directive 96/61/EC on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (â€Å"IPPC†), which provides for a consent system for a wide range of industrial activities, is similarly amended with a new Article 15a, which also provides that procedures for legal challenges must be fair, equitable, timely, and not prohibitively expensive. Also: a. The requirements of Article 9 have been recently considered by the ECJ: Case C? 427/07 Commission v Ireland 17 July 20092; b. It is well known that in 2006 CAJE (Capacity Global, Friends of the Earth, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and WWF) complained to the EC Commission about UK non-compliance with Aarhus in particular as regards the â€Å"not prohibitively expensive† obligation. A Letter of Formal Notice was sent to the UK in December 2007.It is understood that the Commission is currently considering whether to issue the UK with a Reasoned Opinion. It is said in Morgan v Hinton Organics that the Commission decision was awaiting the Sullivan Report (www. wwf. org. uk/filelibrary/pdf/justice_report_08. pdf, see below) This arose in the context of infraction proceedings against the Republic of Ireland. In the proceedings it w as alleged, inter alia, that Ireland had failed to transpose requirements in Article 10a of the EIA Directive and Article 15a of the IPPC Directive by ensuring that procedures for access to justice in respect of decisions made under those Directives were not prohibitively expensive.The Commission complained that â€Å"there is no applicable ceiling as regards the amount that an unsuccessful applicant will have to pay, as there is no legal provision which refers to the fact that the procedure will not be prohibitively expensive†. The ECJ concluded that: â€Å"92. As regards the fourth argument concerning the costs of proceedings, it is clear †¦ that the procedures established in the context of those provisions must not be prohibitively expensive. That covers only the costs arising from participation in such procedures. Such a condition does not prevent the courts from making an order for costs provided that the amount of those costs complies with that requirement. 3 Alth ough it is common ground that the Irish courts may decline to order an unsuccessful party to pay the costs and can, in addition, order expenditure incurred by the unsuccessful party to be borne by the other party, that is merely a discretionary practice on the part of the courts. 94 That mere practice which cannot, by definition, be certain, in the light of the requirements laid down by the settled case-law of the Court, †¦ cannot be regarded as valid implementation of the obligations arising from [the EIA and IPPC Directives]† 2 10 and the UK’s response to it. This is because the UK Government had indicated in would respond to the Sullivan Report. It then did not do so.The first public response to the Sullivan Report came in the form of the submissions of the UK to the Aarhus Compliance Committee in the Cultra Residents Association communication and related communications (see above). Some of the correspondence between the Commission and the UK is recorded in the judgment in Morgan (see below) as is correspondence between the Aarhus compliance authorities and the UK. 27. The influence of Aarhus in the English Courts: there have been numerous cases in England & Wales that have made reference to the Aarhus Convention in the costs context. The most common context in which this consideration has arisen is in respect of applications for a protective costs order or PCO – about which much more below. 28. The first time that Aarhus was mentioned by the Courts of England & Wales was in R. Burkett) v Hammersmith and Fulham LBC (Costs) [2004] EWCA [2005] C. P. Rep. 113. Since then Aarhus been at the forefront of the liberalisation of the PCO case-law. The restrictive approach evident in the (non-environmental cases) of R (Corner House Research) v. Secretary of State for Trade and Industry [2005] 1 WLR 2600 and R (Goodson) v Bedfordshire & Luton Coroner [2006] C. P. Rep. 6 has been relaxed and Aarhus has been at the forefront of this: The Court o f Appeal in an addendum to their judgment having referred to the requirement in the Aarhus Convention that judicial procedures in environmental law â€Å"not be prohibitively expensive† said: â€Å"75.A recent study of the environmental justice system (â€Å"Environmental Justice: a report by the Environmental Justice Project†, sponsored by the Environmental Law Foundation and others) recorded the concern of many respondents that the current costs regime â€Å"precludes compliance with the Aarhus Convention†. It also reported, in the context of public civil law, the view of practitioners that the very limited profit yielded by environmental cases has led to little interest in the subject by lawyers â€Å"save for a few concerned and interested individuals†. It made a number of recommendations, including changes to the costs rules, and the formation of a new environmental court or tribunal. 76. †¦. f the figures revealed by this case were in any sens e typical of the costs reasonably incurred in litigating such cases up to the highest level, very serious questions would be raised as to the possibility of ever living up to the Aarhus ideals within our present legal system. †¦ 77. Equally disturbing, perhaps, is the fact that this large expenditure on Mrs Burkett’s behalf has not, as far as we know, yielded any practical benefit to her or her neighbours. †¦ 80. We would strongly welcome a broader study of this difficult issue, with the support of the relevant government departments, the professions and the Legal Services Commission. However, it is important that such a study should be conducted in the real world, and should look at the issue not only from the point of view of the lawyers involved, but also taking account of the likely practical benefits to their clients and the public.It may be thought desirable to include in such a study certain issues that relate to a quite different contemporary concern (which did not arise on the present appeal), namely that an unprotected claimant in such a case, if unsuccessful in a public interest challenge, may have to pay very heavy legal costs to the successful defendant, and that this may be a potent factor in deterring litigation directed towards protecting the environment from harm. † 3 11 i. R (England) v LB of Tower Hamlets [2006] EWCA Civ 1742 – restrictive approach to â€Å"no private interest† not applicable in environmental context, Carnwath LJ refers to Aarhus; ii. May 2008 the report of the Working Group on Access to Environmental Justice Ensuring access to environmental justice in England and Wales chaired by Sullivan J. – Aarhus central to this report and report itself sience driven the case-law; iii.R (Compton) v Wiltshire Primary Care Trust; [2008] CP Rep 36 – a nonenvironmental case but Court of Appeal in relaxing requirements refers to Aarhus and the Sullivan Report; iv. Further consideration in R (Buglife) v Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation [2009] C. P. Rep. 8 – environmental case further considering criteria for grant of a PCO; v. Morgan v Hinton Organics (Wessex) Ltd – see above, further relaxation and citation of Aarhus; vi. Aarhus features prominently in Jackson Report – recommendation for judicial review generally and environmental cases for qualified one way costs shifting. (2) EC law 29. Hugely important – all environmental lawyers must be EC lawyers. 30. The TEU: i.Article 4: the environment an area of shared competence: EC and Member States; ii. Article 11(ex Article 6 TEC): â€Å"Environmental protection requirements must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the Union policies and activities, in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development†; iii. Article 114(3) (ex Article 95 TEC): â€Å"The Commission, in its proposals envisaged in paragraph 1 concerning †¦ environmental prot ection †¦ will take as a base a high level of protection, taking account in particular of any new development based on scientific facts. Within their respective powers, the European Parliament and the Council will also seek to achieve this objective†; iv.Article 191 – 193 (ex Articles 174 – 176 TEC) â€Å"Article 191 (ex Article 174 TEC) Union policy on the environment shall contribute to pursuit of the following objectives: — preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment, — protecting human health, — prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources, — promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems, and in particular combating climate change. 2. Union policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection taking into account the diversity of situations in the various regions of the Union. It shall be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay. †¦ 3.In preparing its policy on the environment, the Union shall take account of: — available scientific and technical data, — environmental conditions in the various regions of the Union, 12 — the potential benefits and costs of action or lack of action, — the economic and social development of the Union as a whole and the balanced development of its regions. †¦ Article 192 (ex Article 175 TEC) 1. The European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and after consulting the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, shall decide what action is to be taken by the Union in order to achieve the objectives referred to in Article 191. 2.By way of derogation from the decision-making procedure provided for in paragraph 1 a nd without prejudice to Article 114, the Council acting unanimously in accordance with a special legislative procedure and after consulting the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, shall adopt: (a) provisions primarily of a fiscal nature; (b) measures affecting: — town and country planning, — quantitative management of water resources or affecting, directly or indirectly, the availability of those resources, — land use, with the exception of waste management; (c) measures significantly affecting a Member State’s choice between different energy sources and the general structure of its energy supply. The Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, may make the ordinary legislative procedure applicable to the matters referred to in the first subparagraph. 3. General action prog rammes setting out priority objectives to be attained shall be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and after consulting the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.The measures necessary for the implementation of these programmes shall be adopted under the terms of paragraph 1 or 2, as the case may be. 4. Without prejudice to certain measures adopted by the Union, the Member States shall finance and implement the environment policy. 5. Without prejudice to the principle that the polluter should pay, if a measure based on the provisions of paragraph 1 involves costs deemed disproportionate for the public authorities of a Member State, such measure shall lay down appropriate provisions in the form of: — temporary derogations, and/or — financial support from the Cohesion Fund set up pursuant to Article 177.Article 193 (ex Article 176 TEC) The protective measures adopted pur suant to Article 192 shall not prevent any Member State from maintaining or introducing more stringent protective measures. Such measures must be compatible with the Treaties. They shall be notified to the Commission. † 31. Numerous Directives (as well as Regulations and Decisions) on environmental law will look at a number below but some examples: i. The Environmental Liability Directive 2004/25; ii. The Environmental Impact Assessment Directive; iii. The Waste Framework Directive; iv. Directive 2000/60 establishing a framework for EC action in the field of water policy. 32. Decisions of the ECJ: hugely important – purposive approach to interpretation especially visible in environmental context. A classic example is in relation to EIA 13Directive â€Å" †¦ the Court has frequently pointed out that the scope of Directive 85/337 is wide and its purpose very broad†. 33. Why EC law so important? Directly effective, and supreme! 34. And there is a further matter – Francovich liability and Kobler †¦ In Cooper v Attorney General [2008] 3 C. M. L. R. 45 Plender J. dismissed the first claim brought in the UK for damages, pursuant to the ECJ’s decision in Case C-224/01 Kobler v Republik Osterreich [2003] ECR I-10239. In that case the ECJ held that a Member State may be answerable in damages for failures by its courts of final instance to give effect to EC law, where the failure amounts to a sufficiently serious breach of EC law.The case arises out of what are alleged to have been sufficiently serious/manifest errors of EC law by the Court of Appeal when dismissing judicial review proceedings commenced by Stephen Cooper and the other then trustees of the CPRE London Branch in October 1999 in respect of the Westfields development: see R. v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham [2000] 2 C. M. L. R. 1021; [2000] Env. L. R. 549 and [2000] Env. L. R. 532. In dismissing the claim for judicial review the Court of Appeal’s r easoning was in part based on: (i) a finding that EIA could not be required at the reserved matters stage of the planning permission procedure; and (ii) that the EIA Directive did not require the Council to revoke a permission if it was granted in breach of the EIA Directive.Both findings have in effect been subsequently been overruled by the ECJ: see R (Wells) v Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, [2004] ECR I-723 on 7 January 2004; Case C-508/03 Commission v UK (Article 226 (as was) EC proceedings involving, inter alia, Westfields shopping centre); C-590/03 Barker and the House of Lords decision in Barker [2007] 1 AC 470. 35. As well as dismissing the judicial review in 2000 the Court of Appeal awarded against the trustees of the CPRE two sets of costs. The Kobler damages claimed were the recovery of those costs. Plender J. concluded that the case fell â€Å"far below the standard required to constitute a manifest infringement of the applicable law so as to give rise to a claim for damages†.He said: â€Å"[a]ny contention that a court adjudicating at last instance can be said to have made a manifest error of Community law when its judgment is, in some respect, inconsistent with a later judgment of the ECJ is as misconceived as it is inconsistent with the judgment in Kobler. Community law is a system in the process of constant development. This is recognized in the many judgments of the ECJ that refer to â€Å"the subsequent development of Community law applicable to this domain† (see most recently Case C 375/05, Erhard Geuting v Direktor der Landwirtschaftskammer Nordrhein-Westfalen fur den Bereich Landwirtschaft, 4th October 2007,  § 18. ) This being the case, inconsistencies between national decisions and subsequent judgments of the Court of Justice can be expected to arise.Claims based on the Kobler case are to be reserved for exceptional cases, involving errors that are manifest; and in assessing whether t his is the case, account must be taken of the specific characteristics of the judicial function, which entails the application of judgment to the interpretation of provisions capable of bearing more than one meaning. † 36. The Court of Appeal decision awaited, other Kobler damages claims – all in environmental cases pending †¦ 14 (3) Domestic law 37. Primary legislation: the ever growing nature of environmental law: i. 2008: the Climate Change Act 2008; Energy Act 2008, Planning and Energy Act 2008, the Planning Act 2008; Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008; ii. 2009: Green Energy (Definition and Promotion) Act 2009; Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009; iii. 010: Climate Change (Sectoral Targets) Bill; the Consumer Emissions (Climate Change) Bill; the Development on Flood Plains (Environment Agency Powers) Bill; the Energy Bill; the Environmental Protection (FlyTipping Reporting) Bill; Flood and Water Management Bill. 38. Most EC Directives transposed via secondary legislation via EC Act: Westlaw suggests that 596 statutory instruments concerned with the environment have been made since 1 January 2008! 39. Guidance, policies etc: â€Å"soft law† – voluminous in environmental law. 40. Case-law: environmental law occupies Courts from Magistrates Courts to the House of Lords: i. Recent environmental cases before the House of Lords include: R. (Edwards) v Environment Agency (No. 2) [2008] 1 W. L. R. 1587 and Wasa International Insurance Co Ltd v Lexington Insurance Co [2009] 3 W. L. R. 575.And again to illustrate how broad is environmental law: the first was a judicial review challenge to the grant of a pollution prevention control permit to allow the burn shredded and chipped tyres as a partial substitute fuel in cement kilns in Rugby and the second was about the construction and choice of law for a reinsurance contract concerned with environmental damage clean up. ii. Magistrates Court decisions in environmental cases can end up before the ECJ: see Case C-252/05 R. (Thames Water Utilities Ltd) v Bromley Magistrates' Court [2007] 1 W. L. R. 1945 (on the meaning of waste). 41. There have over the years been calls for the setting up of a specialist environmental court, see: H Woolf: ‘Are the Judiciary Environmentally Myopic? (1992) 4 Journal of Env Law 1; Professor Malcolm Grant’s Environmental Court Project: Final Report (2000, DETR) and R Macrory & M Woods Modernising Environmental Justice – Regulation and the Role of the Environmental Tribunal (UCL London, 2003). (4) the interface with human rights 42. The European Convention on Human Rights does not have any explicit environmental rights but there is a growing body of case-law – Article 8, (also Articles 2 and 3): i. Lopez Ostra v Spain 20 EHRR 277 ii. Guerra and others v Italy 26 EHRR 357; 15 iii. S v France 65 DR 250; iv. Hatton v United Kingdom (2003) 37 E. H. R. R. 28. Some key concepts in Environmental law 43. We hav e looked at some key concepts already: public participation; access to environmental information and access to environmental justice. 44.There are two other key concepts both of which we have seen mentioned directly in the text of the TEU: (i) the polluter pays principle; and (ii) the precautionary principle. (1) the polluter pays principle 45. In environmental law this is the principle that the party responsible for producing pollution should also be responsible for paying the damage done as a result of that pollution to the national environment. 46. International Law i. Possible regional ‘customary international law’ as a result of strong support by both EC countries and countries of OECD. ii. OECD early documents on ‘polluter pays’: a. Environment and Economics: Guiding Principle concerning international economic aspects of environmental policies (1972) b.The implementation of the Polluter Pays Principle (1974) c. Recommendation of the Council concerning the Application of the Polluter-Pays Principle to Accidental Pollution (1989) iii. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 1992: Set out in Principle 16 (Rio Declaration was document produced at 1992 UN Conference ‘the Earth Summit’ of 27 principles intended to guide future sustainable development around the world. Some regard the principles as ‘third generation rights’). 47. Applications in countries around the world i. Eco-taxes e. g. US: ‘Gas-Guzzler tax’ where cars with increased pollution pay more. ii. ‘US Superfund’ law requires polluters to pay for cleanup of hazardous waste sites. iii.Extended polluter responsibility – First described by the Swedish government in 1975 and applied by economies where the cost of pollution is internalised into the cost of the product to shift responsibility of dealing with pollution from governments to those responsible. See also OECD document ‘Extended Polluter Responsibi lity’ (2006). 48. EC Law: i. Article 191 TEU (ex Article 174 TEC): â€Å"2. Union policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection taking into account the diversity of situations in the various regions of the Union. It shall be based on the 16 ii. iii. iv. v. precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay. Sixth Community Environment Action Programme – which covers the period until July 2012 sets out the Polluter Pays Principle. Decision No. 1600/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, 2002 O. J. (L242) 1. EC Directive 2004/35/EC – Environmental Liability Directive – Embodiment of polluter pays principle and provides that the one responsible for the pollution should pay for the damage caused to the environment. Council Recommendation (75/436/Euratom, ECSC, EEC and the attached Communica tion): As a result of Article 174, the Commission set out the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle as well as a number of exceptions to the Polluter Pays Principle, which are also provided for under Article 175(5) of the Treaty.Commissions’ Technical Paper 1 on the new programming period 2000-2006: Application of the Polluter Pays Principle, differentiating the rates of community assistance for funds – Incorporates the polluter pays principle to community assistance for structural funds and ISPA infrastructure operations. 49. Domestic Law – Contaminated Land Regime (see below) – exemplifies it. Contained in Part 2A of the EPA 1990. Contained in Circular 01/2006, Annex 1, para. 37: â€Å"Under the provisions concerning liabilities, responsibility for paying for remediation will, where feasible, follow the ‘polluter pays’ principle†. Principle referred to in a number of domestic authorities including recently: Corby Group Litigation v Corby DC [2009] EWHC 1944 (TCC) and R. (Thames Water Utilities Ltd) v Bromley Magistrates' Court [2009] Env. L. R. 13. (2) the precautionary principle 50.The Preventative principle: Prevention of environmental harm should be the ultimate goal when taking decisions, actions or omissions with potentially adverse environmental impacts. And an important corollary of this is the precautionary principle: A precautionary approach should be taken whenever there is uncertainty as to whether environmental harm will arise, even if the remedy involves a substantial cost. 51. International law i. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 1992: a. Set out in principle 15. b. In addition, Principle 2 effecting the Preventative principle: States have†¦the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other states or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. ii.Article 2 of the Framework Convention on Clim ate Change 1992: â€Å"The ultimate objective is to achieve the stabilization of a greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere to a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system†. 17 iii. International cases: Trail Smelter Arbitration (US v Canada) 3 RIAA (1941): No state had the right to permit the use of its territory in a way that would cause injury by fumes to the territory, people, or property of another. In this case that Canada should prevent pollution entering the US. iv. Ad hoc expert group established by UNESCO to study the ‘precautionary principle’ and its application. 52. EC Law: i. Article 191 TEU (ex Article 174 TEC): â€Å"2. Union policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection taking into account the diversity of situations in the various regions of the Union.It shall be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental da mage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay. † ii. European Commission Communication on Precautionary Principle, endorsed by Heads of Government at a General Affairs Council at Nice in December 2000 (COM 2000 1) establishes essence of precautionary Principe and how it should be applied: â€Å"Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation†. iii.Sixth Community Environment Action Programme – which covers the period until July 2012 sets out the Precautionary Principle. Decision No. 1600/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, 2002 O. J. (L242) 1 iv. Cases, examples: a. Joined Cases T-74/00, 76/00, 83/00, 84/00, 85/00, 132/00, 137/00 & 141/00, Artegodan GmbH v Commission [2002] E. C. R. II-4945, at para. 184: Precautionary principle general principle of EC Law. b. UK v Commission [1998] Case C-180/96: ECJ held EC institutions could take protective measures without having to wait until the reality and seriousness of those risks became fully apparent (in this case Commission had issued decision on emergency measures to protect against BSE which UK was seeking to annul). c.Pfizer Animal Health SA v Council of the European Union [2002] T13-99: CFI affirmed that under the precautionary principle, EC institutions are entitled in the interests of human health to adopt; on the basis of currently incomplete scientific knowledge protective measures and that they have a broad discretion in this respect. v. Application in European directives relating to environment. Examples: a. Directive 2008/ 101/EC on greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme, Recital (19) specifically refers to precautionary principle. b. Directive on Hazardous waste particularly refers to precautionary principle. 53. Domestic Law: i. R v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry ex p Dud deridge [1995] (The Times 26 October 1995): Challenge brought that Secretary of State should 18 ssue regulations restricting electromagnetic fields from electric cables being laid as part of national grid under precautionary principle and Article 130r [now Art. 191] of EC Treaty. Court of Appeal held that precautionary principle had no distinct legal effect in the UK and Article 130r of EC Treaty did not impose such an obligation on the Secretary of State. ii. R (AMVAC Chemical UK Ltd) v The Secretary of State Environment, Food, & Rural Affairs and others [2001] EWHC Admin 1011: Court considered precautionary principle in detail. Crane J state precautionary principle requires that where threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of scientific certainty should not be posed as reasoning for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.Referred to UK Sustainable Development Strategy 1999 referring to precautionary principle, EC communication, Caragena Pr otocol on Biosafety 2000, Article 174(2) EU Treaty (Community policy on the environment†¦. shall be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventative action should be taken’). iii. Now recognised in domestic law: UK Interdepartmental Liaison Group on Risk Assessment (HSE) published paper on ‘The Precautionary Principle: Policy and Application’ iv. Application seen in domestic law: Incorporation in PPS25 (2001), development and flood risk where preventative principle is seen to be of particular importance. v. Included in White Paper 2007 on sustainable development. vi.UK ‘Sustainable development Strategy’ Chapter 4 specifically refers to the precautionary principle (available on defra website). vii. Included in defra ‘Guidelines on Environmental Risk Assessment and Management’ (1. 6: ‘Risk Management and the precautionary principle’). An introduction to the main areas of environmental law 54. T his can be no more than the briefest of introductions: (1) Air Quality 55. Human activities across the spectrum produce pollutants that affect the quality of the air around us, ranging from the everyday of driving to complicated industrial processes producing highly toxic fumes. Regulatory measures are put forward as a response to try and regulate the production of air pollutants that are produced.Initially there was a more reactive approach of addressing specific problems as they arose. Recently, with increasing concerns about air quality and climate change there is a more proactive and integrated approach to regulating the emission of pollutants. 56. Sources of Air Quality Law: i. International Law: Air pollution is not confined to boundaries – pollution caused by one country affects the air quality of another’s. International law has therefore long been concerned with pollution of the atmosphere. International treaties concluded tend to be framework treaties setting out broad principles which can then be implemented with more detail into domestic laws. Sources include: 19 a.The 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution – Imposes obligations to endeavour to limit air pollution using the ‘best available technology’ feasible. Followed by protocols on the reduction of specific pollutants. b. The 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone layer – Takes Action against activities that were likely to modify the ozone layer. Followed by the Montreal Protocol setting concrete targets and the 1999 Gothenburg Protocol aiming setting emissions ceilings for particularly acidic and ground-level ozone emissions, namelySO2, NOx, VOCs and ammonia. c. The 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change – Starts with the position of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’ imposing lesser burdens on developing countries in order to allow sustainable development.Stabilize greenhouse ga s emissions at a level that would not interfere with the climate system of food production. Provides for national inventories of emissions, integration of climate change issues. d. The Kyoto Protocol – Sets binding reduction targets for parties signed up to it (listed in Annex I). Adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005. Sets out specific reduction targets for different countries in relation to six gases: CO2, NOx, HFC’s, PFCs, methane, ground-level ozone. ii. EC Law: a. Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) – Aimed at defining principles of a common strategy to assess and define objectives for ambient air quality.Identified 13 ambient air pollutants for which various forms of specific controls were to be introduced under daughter directives. Controls mainly to take the form of limit values, target values, and alert thresholds. Implemented by Air Quality Standard Regulations 2007. Regime originated with Air Quality Framework Directive (96/62/EC). 200 8 Directive consolidates existing legislation apart from 4th Daughter Directive, and must be implemented by 11 June 2001. b. Daughter directives: 1. 1st Daughter Directive, 1999/30/EC: Set limit values for SO2, NO2, NOx, PM and lead; 2. 2nd Daughter Directive, 2000/69/EC: Set limit values for benzene and CO2 3. 3rd Daughter Directive, 2002/3/EC: Set objectives and thresholds for concentrations of ozone. 4. th Daughter Directive, 2004/107/EC: Set target values for concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, nickel and benzo(a)pyrene. 5. Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (IPPC) (96/61/EC) – Creates a regime for controlling polluting releases from certain industrial activities to air, water and land. Implemented by UK EPR 2007 (see below) 20 6. National Emissions Ceilings Directives (Directive 2001/81/EC) – Effects the Gothenburg Protocol by setting ceilings for each MS for emissions of Ammonia, SO2, NOx and VOCs which must have been met by 2010. Implemented b y The National Emissions Ceilings Regulations 2002. UK must report emissions of four NECD Pollutants annually, DEFRA produces yearly emission data. 7.Large Combustion Plant Directive (2001/80/EC) – Controls emissions of SO2, N0x and dust from large combustion plants with aim of reducing acidification by providing emission limit values for such pollutants. 8. Solvent Emissions Directive (1999/13/EC) – Limits emissions of VOCs in environment by requiring permits for such emissions in specified activities and installations. Amended by Paints Directive. Effected by EP Regulations, Schedule 14. 9. Petrol Vapour Recovery Directive – Aimed at controlling emissions from motor vehicles. Stage II PVR now proposed for controlling emissions when motor vehicles refuelling. 10. Paints Directive (2004/42/EC) – Limitation of emissions of VOC’s in certain paints.Furthers objective of reducing VOC emissions by setting limits for VOC use. Implemented in UK by Volatil e Organic Compounds in Paints, Varnishes and Vehicle Refinishing Production Regulations 2005. 11. Sulphur Control of Liquid Fuels Directive (1999/32/EC), objective to reduce emissions of SO2 resulting from combustion of heavy fuel oil and gas oil by limiting sulphur content in these oils. Implemented by Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels (England and Wales) Regulations 2007. 12. Waste Incineration Device (WID) (2000/76/EC) – Applies to most activities that involve burning waste, including burning waste to fuels. Regulates standards and methodologies for incineration of waste. 13.The European Pollutants Release and Transfer Register. Commission Decision 2000/479/EC – Provides for a European register of air emissions, allows direct comparison of air emissions across all member states. Member states have to produce a three yearly report on emissions to air and water at industrial installations if certain threshold values exceeded which are then recorded and maintained on the register. c. Domestic Law 1. Environment Permitting Regulations 2007 (see below) – Brings series of environmental controls together, including PPC and waste management licensing by requiring that an environmental permit must be granted for operation of a ‘regulated facility’.Permit requires regulators to exercise permit-related functions to deliver obligations with various 21 directives include large combustion plan directive, solvent emissions directive, waste incineration directive and petrol vapour recover directive. 2. Useful Guidance: DEFRA: Environmental Permitting General Guidance Manual on Policy and Procedures for A2 and B Installations; 3. National Air Quality Strategy: a. UK Air Quality Strategy: Strategy published by the Secretary of State containing policies with respect to assessment or management of quality of air. Required by s. 80(1) of Environment Act 1995. Sets specific objectives for different air pollutants. b.Local Air Quality Management: E nvironment Act 1995 imposes duty on LA’s to conduct reviews of present and future air quality within area, formulating ‘air quality management area’ (AQMA) where objectives not being met and formulating action plans if necessary. c. In addition: Advice in PS23 on relationship between determination of planning applications and pollution control (paras 8 to 10 and Annex 1). EIA requires inter alia air quality assessment. (2) Climate Change 57. This is of course big news: i. The Kyoto Protocol – Sets binding carbon reduction commitments for states. ii. The EU ETS Scheme – Directive 2009/29/EC (replacing Directive 2003/87/EC) implemented in UK by Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2005: a.On 1 January 2005 the EU ETS came into force. It is the largest multicountry, multi-sector greenhouse gas emission trading scheme worldwide. In total approximately 11,500 installations are presently covered by the EU ETS and it accounts for nearly 45% of total CO2 emissions, and about 30% of all greenhouse gases in the EU (see EU Action against Climate Change: EU Emissions Trading – An Open Scheme Promoting Global Innovation, CEC, Brussels). b. The EU ETS is the key policy introduced by the EU to help reduce the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. The importance of the EU ETS is further emphasised by the recitals to Directive 2003/87 (see recitals (1) and (2)).Article 1 of Directive 2003/87/EC states: â€Å"This Directive establishes a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community (hereinafter referred to as the â€Å"Community scheme†) in order to promote reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective and economically efficient manner. † The importance of the EU ETS has further been confirmed by the Court in Case T-178/05 UK v Commission; Case T-374/04 Germany v Commission and Case T-387/04 EnBW: see especially in Case T- 22 374/04 Germany v Commission paragraphs 1 - 5. In his opinion in Case C-127/07 Arcelor Advocate-General Maduron referred to the EU ETS as being â€Å"one of the cornerstones of Community environmental protection policy†. c.Under the Kyoto Protocol the EU is required to make an 8% reduction in emissions compared to 1990 by the first Kyoto Protocol commitment period (2008 – 2012)4. d. Recital (10) to Council Decision 2002/358/EC concerning the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC and the