Dogmatic interpretation of sustainability as a legal principle in the regulation of the circular economy

Absztrakt

This paper examines the doctrinal status of sustainability as a legal principle and explores how its normative content is concretised through the regulation of the circular economy. Drawing upon legal doctrine and legal theory, the study analyses the concept of legal principles, competing monist and pluralist approaches to the normative structure of sustainability, and the conditions under which sustainability may acquire genuine legal force. It argues that the legal status of sustainability cannot be determined in the abstract level but depends on the institutional and regulatory framework within which it operates. The paper identifies European Union circular economy regulation as the most developed example of the life-cycle-based normative concretisation of sustainability. Rather than treating the circular economy as a distinct legal principle, the study demonstrates that it transforms the abstract requirements of sustainability into a coherent system of legally enforceable obligations governing the entire life cycle of products, from design and production to use, repair, reuse, and recycling.