1. Principles of environmental protection and aquatic environments

In France, the 1960s saw the adoption of the first major laws on water protection (in 1964 and then in 1992), nature protection and classified installations (in 1976), which established the major founding principles that are still, for the most part, applicable today. With these various laws, French law was one of the "driving forces" behind European environmental law, which drew heavily on it (§ 1.1 ).

In Europe, it wasn't until the 1980s that Community law took up environmental law and set up a common legal framework for Member States in various fields, particularly in the protection...