On 5 July 1989 the Flemish government adopted the decision to set up an Interuniversity Commission for the Revision of Environmental Law in the Flemish Region. The task of the Commission was to `compile a draft Proposed Outline Decree relating to environmental protection, and to make the necessary recommendations to improve the effectiveness of environmental protection law'. This book, which is sponsored by the Flemish government, offers the English translation of the Draft Decree and is accompanied by a detailed analysis. The draft is an attempt to achieve a comprehensive codification of Flemish law on environmental protection. The object is to achieve a systematic body of law comprising all the rules in this area of the law, on the basis of a clear notion of the objectives and instruments of environmental policy. The book has been published in conjunction with the proceedings of the Conference on Codification of Environmental Law that was organised on the occasion of the presentation of the Draft Decree to the Flemish government.