Ecotaxes and the European Union

Abstract: This article examines how an ecotax should be introduced by the European community, but implemented through the Member States, to comply with community obligations under Rio and Kyoto It analyzes whether the community has the legal power to impose taxes on Member States and the principles that can help shape not only regulation but also taxation. The author then ponders the reason for the failure to adopt a community level ecotax before looking at the core case law. He concludes with a look at how the ecotax question shows the problem of competition in economics.