독일은 민법전(BGB)과 같이 법전화된 법률이 많다. 환경법전(UGB)은 1980년대 이래 오랜 시간 법전화를 둘러싸고 매우 열띤 토론을 벌인 끝에 정부안이 마련되어, 드디어 오랜 논의에 종지부를 찍을 듯 하였지만 2009년 2월 공포될 것으로 예상되었던 환경법전이 연방하원의회(Bundestag)에서 통과되지 못하여 다시 난항을 겪게 되었다. 독일 연방 환경부장관인 시그마 가브리엘(Sigmar Gabriel)에 따르면, 이번 2009년 2월에 는 의회 내의 기민당(CDU)과 사민당(CSU)의 협의그룹에서 합의를 이루지 못해 법률안이 부결되었지만, 곧 새로운 협의체를 구성하여 합의를 할 것이고 조만간 법률안이 의결될 것으로 낙관하고 있다. 환경법의 법전화 작업은 독일에서 연방의 각 분야의 환경관련 법률과 16개 주 법률을 통합하는 아주 의미 있는 작업으로 평가 된다. 그럼에도 불구하고 여전히 이에 반대하는 의견은 법전화 작업이 많은 문제점이 내재되어 있다고 지적하고 있다. 우리나라 환경법은 1963년 「공해방지법」을 시작으로 "단일법주의"에 의한 환경입법의 기초를 마련하였다. 이후 "절충주의"로 불리는 1970년대의 「환경보전법」시대를 거쳐, 1990년대 「환경정책기본법」에 의한 "복수법주의"를 채택하여 오늘날에 이르고 있다. “복수법주의”에 의한 환경법체계는 오염을 종류별, 대책별로 정리하고, 오염매체별로 체계화하고 있다. 따라서 경직성을 극복하고, 구체성과 시의성 있는 대책을 마련하기 용의하다는 평가를 받고 있다. 그러나 환경법의 분산과 이중규제, 체계적 통일성의 결여라는 문제점이 있다는 지적을 받고 있으며, 이를 보완할 필요가 있다. 이러한 대안으로 “통합법주의”에 입각한 통합환경법의 제정을 둘러싼 논의가 활발하다. 이 글은 우리보다 20년 정도 일찍 환경법전 제정 논의를 시작하고 환경법전안을 마련한 독일의 논의와 환경법전안의 내용을 살펴보아, 우리의 통합환경법 제정 논의에 시사점을 제시하였다.

In Germany there are many codified laws such as the Code for Civil Law (BGB), which, when the idea of its codification was first introduced, caused heated discussions for and against it, but now is proven to be useful. So does the codification of Environmental Law in Germany, which has been progressed since the 1980s with intense discussion of its use. However, the House of Representatives of the German Parliament (Bundestag) could not pass the resolution for the Code for Environmental Law (UGB), supposed to be promulgated in February 2009, which becomes a huge setback. According to the Minister of Federal Department of Environment, Ms. Sigmar Gabriel, the reason for this failure was that at that time, there was disagreement between CDU and SPD at the council level and she was optimistic that there would be a new council to be formed in the Parliament so that this proposal for codification would be passed through the Parliament. The codification of the current Environmental laws, both federal and every 16 states, is evaluated as meaningful in Germany, despite the fact that there are still serious conflicts, oppositions and many inherent problems ahead . In the meantime, the Korean Environmental Law was started in 1963 as the Environmental pollution Act, a single law laying out the groundwork for the future legislation on the environment. Today, multiple codes have been enacted such as the Environment Conservation Act in 1977 and Environmental Policy Act in 1990. Note the plural codes system has organized the contamination by each kind and each measure and sorted contaminants systematically. Therefore, this approach has been assessed as effective to overcome rigidity and to take concrete and timely measures. However, there are still issues to be resolved: the uneven distribution of the regulations, and the dual-regulation problem, the lack of systematic uniformity. Today, with the development of environmental law in South Korea, the discussion on the uniform codification of environmental laws becomes active and it is now timely to bench mark the progress of such development in Germany.In this paper, with an overview of the development and the progress of German environmental codes, we will discuss integration process which gives us the direction on how to deploy the future legislative efforts in Korea.

In Germany there are many codified laws such as the Code for Civil Law (BGB), which, when the idea of its codification was first introduced, caused heated discussions for and against it, but now is proven to be useful. So does the codification of Environmental Law in Germany, which has been progressed since the 1980s with intense discussion of its use. However, the House of Representatives of the German Parliament (Bundestag) could not pass the resolution for the Code for Environmental Law (UGB), supposed to be promulgated in February 2009, which becomes a huge setback. According to the Minister of Federal Department of Environment, Ms. Sigmar Gabriel, the reason for this failure was that at that time, there was disagreement between CDU and SPD at the council level and she was optimistic that there would be a new council to be formed in the Parliament so that this proposal for codification would be passed through the Parliament. The codification of the current Environmental laws, both federal and every 16 states, is evaluated as meaningful in Germany, despite the fact that there are still serious conflicts, oppositions and many inherent problems ahead . In the meantime, the Korean Environmental Law was started in 1963 as the Environmental pollution Act, a single law laying out the groundwork for the future legislation on the environment. Today, multiple codes have been enacted such as the Environment Conservation Act in 1977 and Environmental Policy Act in 1990. Note the plural codes system has organized the contamination by each kind and each measure and sorted contaminants systematically. Therefore, this approach has been assessed as effective to overcome rigidity and to take concrete and timely measures. However, there are still issues to be resolved: the uneven distribution of the regulations, and the dual-regulation problem, the lack of systematic uniformity. Today, with the development of environmental law in South Korea, the discussion on the uniform codification of environmental laws becomes active and it is now timely to bench mark the progress of such development in Germany.In this paper, with an overview of the development and the progress of German environmental codes, we will discuss integration process which gives us the direction on how to deploy the future legislative efforts in Korea.