Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Table of cases
- Table of legislation
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART 1 NEGATIVE HARMONIZATION
- PART 2 POSITIVE HARMONIZATION
- 5 Harmonization in European Community law
- 6 Harmonization in United States law
- 7 Comparative analysis
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW
6 - Harmonization in United States law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Table of cases
- Table of legislation
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART 1 NEGATIVE HARMONIZATION
- PART 2 POSITIVE HARMONIZATION
- 5 Harmonization in European Community law
- 6 Harmonization in United States law
- 7 Comparative analysis
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW
Summary
This chapter, which is devoted to United States law, follows the same subdivisions as those adopted in the context of European Community law. The first two sections deal with important institutional questions. The first section addresses the question of the existence of a constitutional basis for federal environmental action. The second section then discusses, in parallel to the Community principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, whether the federal government's exercise of regulatory authority over environmental matters is limited in any significant way out of respect for the states' residual sphere of competence over these matters. Having discussed the power of the federal government to act in the environmental field, as well as the potential limits imposed on the exercise of such power, the third section examines how in the areas of product standards, process standards and waste the federal government has attempted to balance trade and environmental objectives through or in the context of its legislative action. Finally, the fourth section deals with the question of pre-emption, i.e., whether, once the federal government has legislated, states may adopt stricter standards than federal standards or if federal standards are exhaustive.
The principle of attributed powers
Like the EC Treaty, the US Constitution is founded on a system of limited, attributed powers pursuant to which the states remain the ordinary bearer of sovereignty, while the federal government has only the powers entrusted to it by the Constitution.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Trade and the EnvironmentA Comparative Study of EC and US Law, pp. 143 - 182Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997