Interest Analysis On Environmental Legislation

As a basic aspect of the social life, interest is the only and effective power in social development and also the source of social conflicts. It explains all the complex social activities. Interest analysis, therefore, becomes an important methodology in jurisprudence researches and an important tool to grasp the essence of various social members. According to the jurisprudent theory of interest analysis, the legal regulation results in the interest gain or loss. It is also a just, formal and final method for interest restriction. The value of laws is also a kind of interest value. The main task of law lies in conforming and balancing the interest and insuring the legitimate interests. Reviewing the environmental legislation based on the theory of interest analysis, the existing environmental legislation needs improving in such aspects as idea, principle, system and content, the reason being inappropriate interest adjustment, such as unjust structure, unsuitable adjusting method, imperfect representative mechanism, unsmooth express channel, hindered implementing approaches, etc. The environmental legislation involves many aspects to be improved. Therefore, it is not appropriate to study through a general interest analysis. The legislation on WEEE management is selected as a typical example to the research on the environmental legislation.The amount of the WEEE in China will increase greatly in the next decade. The environmental and resources problems caused by the use and disposal of WEEE will become one of the most obstacles for social and economic development. The existing policies and laws on environmental resources protection are not established and enacted to manage WEEE and not so practical, too. So it is urgent for China to enact a special law on WEEE management. The major interest relations involved in the law include four types. The first is the relations between environmental public interest and economic public interest, which is interest interaction among different generations and industries. The second is the relation between environmental public interests, which involves regional, generational and functional factors. The third is the relation between environmental public interest and economic private interest, which mainly involves the internalization of environmental pollution. The last relation is between economic private interests, which involve WEEE-related environmental torts and cost-sharing between producer, consumer and state caused by the recycling, use and disposal of WEEE. The laws, management systems and the interest balance in WEEE management of other countries provide necessary references for us. The balance between economic private interests is especially focused in the legislation in some other countries, which is adopted as a method to increase environmental public interests and to ensure related interests. The current situation of China should be thoroughly considered in legislation on WEEE management. The market of used electronic electric equipment should be established, and the recycling should be encouraged.Most of the interests involved or to be adjusted in the legislation on WEEE management are legitimate interests, so the emphasis should be put on the balancing to the conflict between them. The principles to be observed in the law include interest maximization, urgent interest priority, remedy to interest loss and public interest-oriented. The basic ideas in the legislation include: homo-origin, limitation and encouraging, stable development and fair risk distribution. The ultimate valves should include: liberty, fairness, efficiency and order. The WEEE management law, with the characteristics of both economic law and environmental law, is a comprehensive legislation. To increase operability and enforceability, the legislation on WEEE management should provide definite stipulations, quantified requirements and liabilities. Besides, the requirements of WEEE management should be included in other policies and laws to cope with the obstacles in WEEE management. The implementing mechanisms can be summarized as administrative obligation, administrative guidance, economic encouragement and public participation. The principles to be confirmed include: principle of public interest priority, principle of risk prevention, principle of government liability and incentive, and the principle of public participation and autonomy. The legal systems should have such characteristics as normalization, enforceability, universally-application, stability and predictability, and should come up with the needs of interest balance and current situation of China. Based on the pursuance, these legal systems can be classified into four categories: public interest-oriented, public and private interest-oriented, private interest-oriented and interest realization-oriented.The most important issue in the legislation on WEEE management is balance and confirmation of interests. The analyses on the legislation on WEEE management provide a possible way to the perfect and further development of environmental legislation. The environmental legislation should be based on interest adjustment principles. The concrete measures include: positioning the idea in protecting and increasing environmental public interest; taking interest confirmation and balance as orientation in establishing legal systems for a rational interest structure; establishing various implementing mechanisms for the increase of interest.