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Gawel, E. (2016). Environmental and Resource Costs under Article 9 of the Water Framework Directive. Challenges for the Implementation of the Principle of Cost Recovery for Water Services. Duncker & Humblot. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-54759-3
Gawel, Erik. Environmental and Resource Costs under Article 9 of the Water Framework Directive: Challenges for the Implementation of the Principle of Cost Recovery for Water Services. Duncker & Humblot, 2016. Book. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-54759-3
Gawel, E (2016): Environmental and Resource Costs under Article 9 of the Water Framework Directive: Challenges for the Implementation of the Principle of Cost Recovery for Water Services, Duncker & Humblot, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-54759-3
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Environmental and Resource Costs under Article 9 of the Water Framework Directive
Challenges for the Implementation of the Principle of Cost Recovery for Water Services
Studien zu Umweltökonomie und Umweltpolitik, Vol. 13
(2016)
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Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erik Gawel ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Volkswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Institutionenökonomische Umweltforschung, und Direktor des Instituts für Infrastruktur und Ressourcenmanagement der Universität Leipzig. Er ist zugleich Leiter des Departments Ökonomie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung – UFZ in Leipzig. Prof. Gawel promovierte in Köln und habilitierte sich in Augsburg im Fach Volkswirtschaftslehre zu umweltökonomischen und finanzwissenschaftlichen Themen und war Gastprofessor der Universität Bremen im DFG-Graduiertenkolleg »Risikoregulierung und Privatrechtssystem«. Nach wissenschaftlichen Stationen am Finanzwissenschaftlichen Forschungsinstitut an der Universität zu Köln, dem Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung der Universität Bielefeld, dem Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung von Gemeinschaftsgütern (Bonn) und dem wissenschaftlichen Stab der Energie-Enquete-Kommission des Deutschen Bundestages ist er seit 2001 Professor für Volkswirtschaftslehre. Vor der IHK Frankfurt am Main ist er öffentlich bestellt und vereidigt für Entgeltfragen der kommunalen Ver- und Entsorgung. Er ist u.a. Mitglied der European Academy of Sciences and Arts, des umweltökonomischen Ausschusses im Verein für Socialpolitik und gehört dem wissenschaftlichen Beirat der Zeitschriften »Energies« und »Zeitschrift für Umweltpolitik und Umweltrecht« an. Als Umwelt- und Institutionenökonom blickt Prof. Gawel auf ein mittlerweile 25jähriges Schaffen im Dienste der Umweltforschung zurück. Er ist insbesondere als Brückenbauer zwischen Wirtschafts- und Rechtswissenschaft bekannt und gehört zu den profiliertesten deutschsprachigen Experten für ökonomische Instrumente in der Umweltpolitik, insbesondere für die Wasserwirtschaft.Abstract
Article 9 of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires Member States to take account of the principle of recovery of the costs of water services, including environmental and resource costs (ERC). Whilst Member States in practice claim discretion when applying Article 9, there is, however, an ongoing discussion of what is, in concrete terms, meant by and due for recovering full costs in European water policy. To make matters worse, in its judgement of 2014, the EU Court of Justice abstained from clarifying pestering problems of interpreting the legal requirements. What is more, this debate still lacks insights from decades of scientific discussion on water pricing in environmental economics. Therefore, the book provides a current in-depth analysis of all related questions of recovering the costs (ERC definition, concepts and instruments of cost recovery etc.), referring to both the legal as well as the economic aspects of pricing water services in line with Article 9 of the WFD.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preface | 5 | ||
| Inhaltsverzeichnis | 7 | ||
| List of Tables and Figures | 10 | ||
| List of Abbreviations | 11 | ||
| A. Problem Statement | 13 | ||
| B. The Term “Environmental and Resource Costs” | 16 | ||
| C. The Term “Water Services” | 21 | ||
| I. Problem Statement and State of the Debate | 21 | ||
| II. Proceedings Before the European Court of Justice in 2014 | 24 | ||
| 1. Infringement Proceedings Against Germany | 24 | ||
| 2. Water Services: No Definition of Scope by the ECJ | 25 | ||
| 3. The ECJ's Goal-oriented Approach | 26 | ||
| 4. Commission Invited to Take Renewed Action | 27 | ||
| 5. Causa Non Finita: Continuation Foreseeable | 28 | ||
| III. Is a Narrow Definition of “Water Services” Necessary to Limit Harm from Cost Recovery? | 28 | ||
| 1. Misleading Interpretations of Economic Instruments | 29 | ||
| 2. Responsibility for Costs as a Means of Water Conservation | 31 | ||
| IV. Interim Conclusion | 32 | ||
| D. Position of Environmental and Resource Costs in the Norm Architecture of Article 9 WFD | 33 | ||
| I. Definition of the Problem | 33 | ||
| II. Legal Interpretations of the Norm Architecture | 33 | ||
| III. “Efficient Use of Resources” as a Key Term | 35 | ||
| IV. Relevant and Irrelevant Environmental and Resource Costs | 40 | ||
| V. Interim Conclusion | 41 | ||
| E. Environmental and Resource Costs as a Component of Cost Recovery: Which Costs Are to Be Recovered? | 43 | ||
| I. Principle of the Purpose Relatedness of the Costs | 43 | ||
| II. The Cost-related Purpose of Article 9 of the WFD | 45 | ||
| III. Extent of ERCs – Dependant on Both Water Status and Function of Cost Recovery | 47 | ||
| IV. Reference to Water Status as a Recovery Concept: Achievement of Environmental Objectives According to Article 4 WFD as an Abolishment Threshold? | 49 | ||
| 1. Overview | 49 | ||
| 2. Functionality of ERC Allocation in Case of Achieved Environmental Objectives | 50 | ||
| 3. Target-relatedness of Article 9 of the WFD | 53 | ||
| V. Interim Conclusion | 57 | ||
| F. Concepts for “Taking Account” of ERCs: How Should These Costs Be Recovered? | 58 | ||
| I. Interpretation Efforts in the Legal Literature: “Taking Account” as an Obligation Problem | 58 | ||
| II. Taking Account as a Calculation Problem | 60 | ||
| III. Approximation of Environmental and Resource Costs by Means of the Costs of the Measures? | 66 | ||
| IV. Concepts for “Taking into Account” Provided by the Economic Theory of Environmental Policy | 72 | ||
| V. Nine Arguments Against Focusing on Calculating Environmental and Resource Costs | 75 | ||
| 1. Environmental and Resource Costs Cannot Even Remotely be Calculated Accurately in Practice | 76 | ||
| 2. There is More to Taking Account of Environmental and Resource Costs than Identifying Formal Cost Recovery Levels | 76 | ||
| 3. Calculation Problems Give Rise to Dubious Derivative Concepts | 77 | ||
| 4. There is No Legal Obligation to Provide a Calculation Solution | 79 | ||
| 5. Environmental Economics Does Not Necessarily Support Calculation Approaches | 80 | ||
| 6. Calculation Approaches are Costly and Time-consuming | 83 | ||
| 7. Calculation Approaches Distract from the Real Challenges | 83 | ||
| 8. Calculation Approaches are Not Required from a Conceptual Point of View | 84 | ||
| 9. Calculation Approaches Weaken the Political Legitimation of Cost Recovery Policy | 85 | ||
| VI. On the Critique of Decisionist Approaches to “Taking Account” of ERCs | 86 | ||
| 1. Overview | 86 | ||
| 2. Four Arguments in Favour of Politically Defined Environmental and Resource Costs | 87 | ||
| a) No Watering Down of the Legal Requirements | 87 | ||
| b) No Particular Estimation Problems and No Inefficiency | 89 | ||
| c) Avoiding the Political Paradox: Do the Obvious Instead of Waiting for the Impossible | 89 | ||
| d) The Lack of Enforcement Monitoring and Vested Interests in a Calculation Approach to Taking ERC into Account | 90 | ||
| 3. Interim Conclusion | 90 | ||
| 4. Farewell to ERC Accounting? | 92 | ||
| G. Instruments for ERC Accounting | 94 | ||
| I. The Question of Instrument to Comply with Article 9 WFD | 94 | ||
| II. Efficient Resource Use – an Equivalent Case for Command-and-control Policies? | 95 | ||
| III. Interim Conclusion | 98 | ||
| H. Conclusions | 100 | ||
| List of References | 104 | ||
| Subject Index | 114 |