Valentin Roden

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 16 (2018), Issue 4, Page 523 - 535

In May 2017 the new § 13b was amended to the German Federal Building Code (“BauGB“). § 13b BauGB introduces an alternate planning process to draft small-scale land development plans at the fringe of existing settlements, by referring to the procedural simplifications of § 13a BauGB. If the conditions of application of § 13b BauGB are fulfilled, planning processes are exempted from several procedural steps, such as the environmental impact assessment or environmental report. Planning processes, making use of the simplifications of § 13a BauGB, but missing the conditions of application from § 13b BauGB, result in plans, that are usually unlawful and void. Therefore, municipalities are highly affected by application problems of the new regulation. The article addresses the current and most important application questions of § 13b BauGB. On the one hand it analyses the material scope of application, which is connected to the legal term of “Wohnnutzung”. On the other hand it examines the geographical scope of application and the spatial relation to the planning process pursuant to § 13a BauGB. In consideration of jurisdiction and the scientific debate, the article proposes suggestions to provide greater legal certainty for local planning authorities.

Wolfgang Kahl, Valentin Roden

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 13 (2015), Issue 4, Page 280 - 292

Due to the persistent problems related to the conservation of biological diversity, conservation strategies for both plant species and their genetic material should not be restricted to their natural habitats (in situ), but should also include ex-situ-conservation under the protection of botanic gardens. The article illustrates the existing regulations for the conservation of plant species in botanic gardens in a multi-level governance system. In contrast to the commitments in Article 9 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), EU Environmental Law, such as the Habitats-Directive (92/43/EEC), and the German Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG) restrict the collection of plants, their exchange between different botanic institutions and the application of specimen to habitats. In general, both levels of regulation focus on in-situ-conservation, while the existing regulations provide an insufficient legal framework for the use of ex-situ conservation measures in support of in-situ-conservation. The article develops proposals for the strengthening of ex-situ-actions without compromising the fundamental right of academic freedom, Article 5 para. 3 of the German Constitution (GG), of botanic institutions as mostly university research facilities.