Brenda Short's presentation

On 14th June 2006, Brenda Short, a lecturer in Environmental Law, gave the Parliamentary Commission an outline of the existing law in respect of Power lines/ EMF, including:

• Some variations in the law of the 4 countries, although legislation derived from EU law will essentially be the same in each country. If it is unclear as to whether a particular law applies to EMF emitting facilities, it may be a matter for a court to give a ruling on interpretation of the legislation. If EU legislation is involved, then it may become a matter for the European Court of Justice.
• Current legislation referring to EMF limits.
• The Precautionary Principle in law
• Planning laws which allow power lines to have permitted development rights in certain circumstances.
• Conditions which require the installation of power lines to be accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment.
• The various pollution control regimes in , none of which are applied to EMFs.
• Civil liability
• Citizen’s redress- the use of judicial review to challenge decisions by public bodies and the use of the Human Rights Act 1998 in pollution cases.