A regulatory view on science and predictive models

A lot of scientific knowledge is required to carry out and enforce environmental regulations. The paper deals with the relationship between law and science from a legal perspective. First, some difficulties in using science to carry out environmental regulations are outlined. After this, some legal concepts which try to cope with the problems are presented. Aspects discussed are the precautionary principle, the legal concept of ‘state of the art’, general standard setting, the flexibility of the regulations, and procedural regulations for the standard-setting process. Finally, the new challenge for science that derives from the legal demand of an integrated approach to environmental protection is addressed.