Ecosystem services have constituted a highly discussed topic especially since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. This is in particular valid for the literature in environmental sciences and related economic sciences. The topic has gained less attention in other social sciences and up until now legal scholars have hardly taken up the issue for an in-depth analysis. Moreover in the legal practice the term has not played any substantial role apart from its inclusion in soft law documents that lack concrete and effective implementation including enforcement mechanisms.

This paper addresses the issue of inclusion of the term ecosystem services in legislative documents with such mechanisms. Starting from a neutral position, it discusses the potentials and pitfalls of such an inclusion in the light of the ongoing contradictory discourse about the concept of ecosystem services.

This is done by an in-depth review of existing academic literature as well as by empirical quantitative research on EU-law, and by a case study. This case study concerns the on-going assessment of the inclusion of the term ecosystem services into a binding legal act of regional integration on the example of the Regulation of the European Union (EU) on Invasive Alien species. The analysis also covers primary data derived from questionnaires and interviews completed by a wide range of stakeholders from two member states of the EU.

The results provide an overview of opportunities and challenges of the inclusion of the term ecosystem services in this particular context of binding and enforceable regional integration law based also on a practical example. The ongoing implementation of this EU-Regulation can provide a blueprint for similar situations of coordinated legislative procedures between different levels of law-making and its implementation including enforcement. These situations can occur beyond a nation's borders or within.

Similar research has not been implemented yet according to the knowledge of the authors. Therefore, the results of this contribution provide innovative insights into an ongoing legislative procedure with binding rules on ecosystem services and useful hinds for similar other prospective attempts worldwide.

自千年生态系统评估以来，生态系统服务已成为一个受到广泛讨论的话题。这对于环境科学和相关经济科学的文献尤其有效。这个话题在其他社会科学领域受到的关注越来越少，直到现在，法律学者几乎都没有对此问题进行过深入的分析。此外，在法律实践中，该术语除了包含在缺乏具体和有效实施（包括执行机制）的软法律文件中之外，没有发挥任何实质性作用。

本文探讨了在具有此类机制的立法文件中纳入生态系统服务一词的问题。它从中立立场出发，根据对生态系统服务概念的持续矛盾论述，讨论了这种包容性的潜力和陷阱。

这是通过对现有学术文献的深入审查以及对欧盟法律的实证定量研究和案例研究来完成的。本案例研究涉及以欧洲联盟（EU）关于外来入侵物种的法规为例，对将生态系统服务一词纳入具有约束力的区域一体化法律行为的持续评估。该分析还涵盖了来自欧盟两个成员国的广泛利益相关者完成的问卷调查和访谈的主要数据。

结果还基于一个实际例子，概述了在具有约束力和可实施的区域一体化法的这种特殊情况下，将生态系统服务一词包括在内的机遇与挑战。该欧盟法规的持续实施可以为不同级别的立法及其实施（包括执法）之间的协调立法程序的类似情况提供一个蓝图。这些情况可能发生在一个国家的边界​​之外或内部。

根据作者的知识，尚未进行类似的研究。因此，这项贡献的结果提供了对正在进行的立法程序的创新见解，该立法程序对生态系统服务具有约束力，并为世界范围内其他类似的前瞻性尝试提供了有用的障碍。