Trends in the Environmental Legislation of the European Community and their Consequences for the German Chemical Industry. Environmental legislation from the EC has changed considerably in recent years. The directives of the early eighties contained mainly general guidelines and generous limit values. Due to the need for unanimous voting for the decisions stricter thresholds were not achievable. They had relatively small impact on Germany because that country’s internal legislation was more stringent. There is now a new trend which gives cause for concern. Many elements of the latest directives do not match the German legal system and lead to stringent conditions. This is due to the fact that they have to be implemented in addition to existing legislation : Much written information and evidence of performance are required, relating to e.g. the installations and the management of the company. As a consequence there will be further complications in the approval procedure for chemical plant.