14 - The French Charter of the Environment and Standards of Environmental Protection

Summary

The 2004 Charter for the Environment was incorporated into the French Constitution in 2005. It completes the long list of constitutional rights that began with the 1789 Declaration. The objectives, rules and rights listed in the Charter have to be read and interpreted accordingly. The Charter focuses on education, formation and the promotion of sustainable development. It incorporates the precautionary and preventive principles as objectives of constitutional value and as such elevates them from the status of having simple protection through statute, to constitutional rights. The French Constitutional Council enforces those rights. On this basis, the Charter creates standards for legislative drafters. If those rights are not respected, the Constitutional Council may declare that a statute fails to comply with the constitution. This chapter considers in particular the considerations of the Constitutional Council in this respect and the manner in which standards related to the provisions of the Charter are developing.