Simon Marr, in collaboration with Arne Schwemer, contributed a chapter on the Precautionary Principle in German Environmental Law to the Yearbook of European Environmental Law, which, in its third volume, focuses on the implementation of legal principles in EC environmental law.

In February 2000, the European Commission published guidelines on the application of the precautionary principle. This attempt to clarify the scope of application was prompted by the implementation of the precautionary principle in numerous international treaties and policy declarations, as well as in Community legislation and national laws of many countries.

In their contribution, Marr and Schwemer demonstrate that the interpretation of the precautionary principle differs in terms of scope of application, content and impact on the burden of proof in international, European and national law. After summarising the significance of the precautionary principle in international and EC law, the authors focus on its implementation in German environmental law and show how it is applied in legal practice. Furthermore, they ask whether there are any useful lessons to be learned from the evolving practice on the national, but also on the European and international, levels.