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19 Colum. J. Eur. L. Online Supplement 1 (2013)

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                             THE COLUMBIA JOURNAL
                             OF EUROPEAN LAW ONLINE


Extraterritorial Application of EU Environmental Law - Implications of the ECJ's Judgment in

                            Air Transport Association of America.


                                       Tomasz Koziel1





Introduction


Climate change has become one of the most hotly discussed topics in the fields of science,

politics, and law. For lawyers, the problem of the changing climate poses particular

difficulties due to its scientific nature and global dimension. As a result, preserving

environmental equilibrium requires joint efforts on the international level and the involvement

of major players.2 However, previous attempts to adopt multilateral measures, such as the

Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, have

failed.3 The European Union (EU) has remained the only significant jurisdiction that has stuck

to its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, having established the Emissions Trading

Scheme (ETS).4 In 2012, the EU made the airline industry part of this scheme.5 The ETS's

cap and trade system covered foreign airlines flying to the EU, which did not sit well with the

foreign airline industry. Consequently, the industry called upon the European Court of Justice



' The views and opinions expressed in this article are strictly personal and should not be attributed to any entity
with which the author is affiliated.
2 HELMUT BREITMEIER ET AL,, ANALYZING INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL REGIMES: FROM CASE STUDY TO
DATABASE 104 (2006).
3 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 10, 1997, U.N. Doc.
FCCC/CP/1997/7/Add.1, 37 I.L.M. 22 (1998). Major players, including the U.S. and China, have refused to
ratify the Kyoto Protocol. This led some countries, e.g. Canada, to withdraw from the agreement.
4 European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/87, Establishing a Scheme for Greenhouse Gas Emission
Allowance Trading Within the Community and Amending Council Directive 96/61/EC, 2003 O.J. (L 275), 32
[hereinafter the ETS Directive].
5 European Parliament and Council Directive 2008/101, Amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include
aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community, 2009
O.J. (L 8), 3.