Thesis-Anne-Vos-Masters-SBR-and-EU-Law-3

to spread in the European Union. It has been raised that shale gas extraction could be a ‘gamechanger’
(in order to address the increasing demand and dependency on some countries), 8 but is
that really the case?
The development of shale gas comes along with a lot of insecurities and it has received much
scepticism of the public. Many MS have tried to regulate some of these insecurities and
acceptance problems. In the Netherlands, the Minister of Economic Affairs has adopted a
moratorium on shale gas extraction and is currently occupied with the adoption of a Structure
Vision on Shale Gas in which he will set out inter alia how to regulate adverse effects and the
appointment of possible locations for shale gas extraction in the Netherlands. The European Union
has also started to explore the possibilities of regulation. After setting out a public consultation,
which made it clear that regulation was desirable, the European Commission has adopted a
Recommendation hereon in the beginning of 2014. This shows that the development of shale gas
extraction has had a turbulent year in the EU and its MS. While one year ago there was no
(specific) regulation on shale gas extraction in the EU or the Netherlands, now there is many
political discussion and already some (non-binding) regulation. It could however be wondered
whether these recently adopted or upcoming regulation is in compliance with the issues raised by
the public and the politicians, especially in respect of the public acceptance and environmental
concerns. Here lies the importance of this thesis.
1.2 Research question
Political discussion thus focuses mainly on the environmental aspects of shale gas extraction and
on the issue of public (non-)acceptance. It is interesting to research whether those raised
questions by politicians and citizens have some ground from a legal perspective. It is difficult to
assess whether the newly adopted Recommendation and the upcoming Structure Vision on Shale
Gas are in contrast with concrete legal rules, since those rules are not specified (yet) on shale gas
extraction. Therefore, this research will review the current and upcoming regulation on shale gas
with certain general principles of Union and Dutch law and certain environmental principles of
Union and Dutch law, which are generally applicable on all regulation. The research question will
be the following:
Is the current and upcoming regulation on shale gas extraction in the EU and in the
Netherlands in compliance with the general principles and the environmental principles of
Union and Dutch law? If not, how should those principles be taken into account when
developing new or adjusting current regulation thereon?
To answer this question, it is first important to look at the context of shale gas extraction: what is
shale gas actually and what are the techniques used for extraction? Here, the political discussion
and public debate is also set out: why is the public opposed to shale gas and what are the reasons
for extracting it? These questions constitute Chapter 2.
Then, it is essential to assess how the current regulation on shale gas extraction is constructed.
This will provide the framework that can be reviewed against the principles. First, the European
regulation will be set out (Chapter 3). It is necessary to discuss the European regulation prior to the
Dutch legislation, since the first has influence on the latter. The focus will lie on the EU regulations
and directives concerning the environment. Due to the extent of this research, there will be a
selection of the legislation that is considered the most important. Hereafter, the Dutch regulation
will be outlined in Chapter 4. The emphasis will again be on environmental aspects, but in addition
the regulation on spatial planning will also be discussed. At the end of Chapters 3 and 4 several
8
See e.g. https://cleanenergysolutions.org/blogs/11/shale-gas-game-changer-europe
8