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3 The Role of Legislation
within the European Union (EU). It aims to introduce the fundamentals behind some
of the key legislation that exists today and provides links to further resources that
describe and discuss it.
Widely seen as currently having one of the most robust and multifaceted sets of
chemical legislation, the EU is used as a model for introducing regulatory aspects
within this chapter (and also where relevant in later chapters). A shorter introduction
is provided for a few other international and national regulatory bodies.
3.2
Developing Measures and Standards
Legislation can be understood as the creation and implementation of binding
standards in the common interest. In particular, legislation for safety and protection
of human health and the environment deals with the development of a system of
rules for handling technology. This concerns, for example, operation, technical
design, protection and control measures, as well as questions of liability.
In the EU, five main types of legislation are passed that will be discussed in this
chapter (EU, 2019): Regulations are binding acts that have to be fully applied as they
are written across all EU member states. Directives set a goal that all EU member
states must achieve, but each member state can establish its own laws to achieve it.
Decisions are binding acts that must be followed by the countries or entities they
specifically address. Recommendations are nonbinding and serve as a way for a
government entity to make their views on an issue known. Similarly, opinions are
nonbinding and issued by EU government institutions and committees to clarify
their viewpoints.
Developed legislation related to safety and the protection of human health and
the environment has two important motives:
1. To react to societally relevant events
2. To proactively align with societal protection goals
The next two sections will elaborate on these two motives.
3.2.1 Reactive Legislation in Response to Relevant Events
Perhaps the most well-known example of reactive product legislation is the ban
of the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, which is commonly known
by its acronym DDT. The compound was widely used starting in the 1940s to
control arthropods such as lice and mosquitoes to limit the spread of the diseases
malaria and typhus. Concerns regarding its adverse effects on the environment were
highlighted and brought to the attention of the public in 1962 when Rachel Carson
published her now-famous book Silent Spring (Carson, 1962). Carson researched
and called out strongly suspected links between the increasing use of chemical
pesticides and observed damage to human and environmental health. DDT was later
3 The Role of Legislation
within the European Union (EU). It aims to introduce the fundamentals behind some
of the key legislation that exists today and provides links to further resources that
describe and discuss it.
Widely seen as currently having one of the most robust and multifaceted sets of
chemical legislation, the EU is used as a model for introducing regulatory aspects
within this chapter (and also where relevant in later chapters). A shorter introduction
is provided for a few other international and national regulatory bodies.
3.2
Developing Measures and Standards
Legislation can be understood as the creation and implementation of binding
standards in the common interest. In particular, legislation for safety and protection
of human health and the environment deals with the development of a system of
rules for handling technology. This concerns, for example, operation, technical
design, protection and control measures, as well as questions of liability.
In the EU, five main types of legislation are passed that will be discussed in this
chapter (EU, 2019): Regulations are binding acts that have to be fully applied as they
are written across all EU member states. Directives set a goal that all EU member
states must achieve, but each member state can establish its own laws to achieve it.
Decisions are binding acts that must be followed by the countries or entities they
specifically address. Recommendations are nonbinding and serve as a way for a
government entity to make their views on an issue known. Similarly, opinions are
nonbinding and issued by EU government institutions and committees to clarify
their viewpoints.
Developed legislation related to safety and the protection of human health and
the environment has two important motives:
1. To react to societally relevant events
2. To proactively align with societal protection goals
The next two sections will elaborate on these two motives.
3.2.1 Reactive Legislation in Response to Relevant Events
Perhaps the most well-known example of reactive product legislation is the ban
of the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, which is commonly known
by its acronym DDT. The compound was widely used starting in the 1940s to
control arthropods such as lice and mosquitoes to limit the spread of the diseases
malaria and typhus. Concerns regarding its adverse effects on the environment were
highlighted and brought to the attention of the public in 1962 when Rachel Carson
published her now-famous book Silent Spring (Carson, 1962). Carson researched
and called out strongly suspected links between the increasing use of chemical
pesticides and observed damage to human and environmental health. DDT was later