" Principles of environmental policy " or " principles of environmental law " appear to be steadily gaining ground. They are being increasingly incorporated in all kinds of soft law instruments and international treaties. Since the European Act, they have been recognised by the EC Treaty, and they are receiving attention in the European environmental action programmes and in the recitals of European environmental directives and regulations. They are appearing more and more often in national legislation too. It should therefore not come as a surprise that practising lawyers are asking themselves increasingly what kind of role these principles have to play in legal practice. What is their exact impact ? Are they merely policy lines with no legally binding effect ? Or are they legal principles and, if so, what are their ramifications ? In order to examine all this more closely, the Environmental Law Centre and the Institute of Maritime Law of the University of Ghent, in association with the Centre d'étude du droit de l'environnement of the Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis, organised a workshop in Ghent on 1 October 1999 in the context of Environmental Law Network International. The papers presented there have been revised by their authors for the purposes of this book and also take into account the discussions that were held. The Environmental Law Network International (Elni) is a network of about 350 individuals an organisations from all over the world who share an interest in environmental law. Elni vides an international forum for the exchange of news, views, ideas and in so doing promotes international communication and cooperation of those working in this field. The Environmental Law Centre is the research unit that co-ordinates the research work of the environmental law teaching staff of the Law Faculty of the University of Ghent. The Centre depends from the Public Law en Tax Department and works in close collaboration with the Civil Law Department and the International Public Law Department. From the outset (1982), the Centre was closely involved in policy orientated scientific research. In this respect we can highlight the work of the Interuniversity Commission for the revision of Environmental Law in the Flemish region (1989-1995). The Centre provided both the chairmanship and the secretariat of that Commission. The Maritime Institute (MI) of the University of Ghent is a research institute within the Department of International Public Law (Faculty of Law). The MI has four objectives. At first the MI organizes a multidisciplinary post-graduate mastercourse in Maritime Sciences, one of the five specialized post-graduate courses of the Faculty of Law. Either on its own or in collaboration with other institutions the MI organizes conferences, colloquia and workshops. As an independent research unit the MI is advising and carrying out studies for governemental, non-governemental or private companies on maritime and environmental related topics. At last the MI is involved in various training projects in co-operation with other organizations or universities. The Environmental Law Research Centre (Centre d'études du droit de l'environnement CEDRE) is based in Brussels at the Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis since 1990. CEDRE's research team is composed of a group of researchers whose work focuses on the study and development of environmental law, at domestic and international levels. The Center's activities include academic research, teaching (LLM level), organization of colloquiums, seminaires and legal advice for public authorities. It has a large expertise in the fields of environmental law principles, administrative and public environmental laws and of the impact of primary and secondary Community law on national environmental policies, as appears from his numerous publications.

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