/library/oar/handle/123456789/1900 Mon, 29 Dec 2025 08:51:58 GMT 2025-12-29T08:51:58Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/40361 Title: The Water Framework Directive's effect on the regulation of sustainable water management in Malta Abstract: In 1995, the European Union recognised the need to formulate a legal framework for the protection and restoration of all types of waters including surface water bodies (namely, water courses and other inland waters, transitional waters and coastal waters) and groundwater bodies. The EU Water Framework Directive, enacted in December 2000, represents an innovative, integrated and holistic approach towards water management that seeks to consolidate all parts of the entire environmental system. In an attempt to determine whether the Directive is being implemented in an effective manner by the Maltese competent authorities, and also whether these measures have had an impact on the quality of our waters as a result, this study shall seek to examine various aspects of the Directive including its legal text. Description: LL.B Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/40361 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/40359 Title: Keeping to our commitments : does the Climate Action Act provide the adequate legal framework for Malta to implement its obligations on climate action? Abstract: Climate change is a global threat with implications extending beyond the environmental sphere, thereby affecting aspects of one’s social, political and economic life. Consequently, effort has been made to subject climate change to a wide array of legislative and regulatory initiatives both at an international, EU and national level. Malta’s first overarching legal framework on climate law, the Climate Action Act, was enacted in July 2015. It forms part of a larger trend of countries seeking to enact flagship legislation, with the UK Climate Change Act (2008) taking lead. This term paper seeks to answer two connecting research questions. Firstly, to identify which are the current legal climate change obligations Malta, as EU Member State and party to international agreements such as the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement has committed to fulfilling. Secondly, whether the Climate Action Act (2015) addresses in an effective manner such obligations by providing the adequate legal framework for their attainment. This term paper argues that from a legal perspective, an overarching legal framework is essential for mainstreaming the current applicable laws relating to climate change, thereby creating a clear and coherent institutional and legal structure. However, although the Act seeks to streamline climate policy making, the term paper concludes that the overall effectiveness of the Act in practice depends further on how it will continue to be implemented. Such implementation is in turn dependent on a series of factors, including most notably administrative goodwill of the institutions and public authorities concerned as well as a mechanism of efficient financial flows. Description: LL.B Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/40359 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/40358 Title: The role and functions of the Environment and Resources Authority under the new Environment Protection Act following the demerger from the Planning Authority Abstract: In 2002, the Development Planning Act was amended by means of the Cultural Heritage Act, whereby the Planning Authority ceased to exist and became the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA). The MEPA’s core functions were the implementation of environmental and development planning law, until in 2016 the MEPA was split in two distinct public authorities, the Environment Resources Authority (ERA) and the Planning Authority. In this study the roles and functions of the ERA are analysed by first looking at the development of environmental law in Malta which has been pertinent in providing a context to the role and functions that ERA holds today. The first Environment Protection Act in 1991 was crucial to codify environmental legislation and enable the enactment of further legislation, until in 2002 another Act was promulgated to provide the means to implement the environment chapter of the acquis communautaire, then in 2010 the Act that fused the Planning Development Act and the Environment Protection Act was promulgated, which was subsequently repealed following the demerger. The core functions of ERA do not solely emanate from the EPA, 2016 but also from other legislative bodies which put ERA in a decision-taker’s and consultative role on the Board of other Authorities such as the Lands Authority and the Planning Authority. ERA has morphed from a government department, to a Directorate within MEPA, to a distinct public authority responsible of environmental affairs. It has its own permitting and enforcement functions and is syndicated by the EPRT, the Legislative arm of public administration and other Constitutional Bodies such as the Ombudsman and the National Audit Office. The establishment of ERA has translated in a stronger environmental voice, albeit it is yet in its infantile stages and not without acknowledging that its voice can be made even sturdier by affecting legislative amendments that will provide ERA with stronger footing in the decision taking fora that impinge the environmental integrity the most. Description: LL.B Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/40358 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/40339 Title: A legal assessment of the waste shipment regulations in Malta Abstract: The rapid economic growth and globalisation over the past years sought an increase in waste generation which occasioned an increase in global waste trade. The scope of this term paper is to examine, from a legal perspective, the current legislative framework regulating the said operations and the enforcement measures implemented by EU Member States to ensure the protection of the environment and human health during transportation. Following an analysis of the leading international legal instrument regulating transboundary shipments of waste, the term paper continues to critically examine the EU and national legal frameworks regulating the said operations. This provides the backdrop for the next stage of the research as the term paper then studies and compares the implementation and enforcement measures undertaken by Malta, Ireland and Cyprus to give effect to these legal instruments. The term paper concludes with an overall audit of the different measures of enforcement undertaken by the said countries, and presents a number of proposals relating to the development of interoperable systems to better enforce and facilitate the operation of transboundary movement of shipments of waste. Description: LL.B Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/40339 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z