While this manual of EU environmental policy is largely focused on EU legislation, it is important to view law in the context of the full range of policy instruments that the EU has on offer to pursue its treaty objectives, including those on the environment. Many of these policy instruments depart significantly from the traditional ‘Community Method’ of regulation in line with the recent trend towards new modes of governance at the EU and at a national level. This shift in policy emphasis was highlighted in the 2001 White Paper on European Governance (COM (2001) 428), which sets out the Commission’s intentions to follow a less top-down approach and promote the greater use of different policy tools, sometimes referred to as ‘New’ Environmental Policy Instruments (NEPIs)1. This section examines the range of different instruments available to the EU to pursue its environmental policy, including the main focus of this manual, legislation.