Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) voted, on Wednesday 17 March, on compromise amendments to the draft legislative initiative report by Antonius Manders (EPP, Netherlands) to call on the European Commission to strengthen EU rules on the liability of companies for environmental damage.
While the outcome of the votes was not yet known at the time of going to press, the vast majority of the compromise amendments, if not all, were expected to be approved.
Revision of the ‘ELD’
Pointing out loopholes in the application of EU rules in the Member States, MEPs call in particular for the 2004 Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) to be revised as soon as possible, “taking into account new types and patterns of environmental crime”.
In their view, this directive should be transformed into a “fully harmonised regulation”.
Furthermore, the application of the directive should be harmonised in the meantime, they argue, while calling for appropriate financial and human resources to be allocated to the fight against environmental crime. For them, this includes strengthening the expertise of the relevant authorities, including prosecutors and judges.
“The law is full of blind spots maintained by the legislator, and the human and financial means to apply it are very insufficient”, said Manon Aubry (The Left, France).
In the same vein of improving the implementation of the ELD, MEPs recommend the creation of a “European Task Force on Environmental Crime” composed of qualified experts and European Commission officials.
This group of experts would not only be responsible for assisting those Member States who want their help to “implement the Directive”, but also for assisting and advising victims of environmental damage on the possibilities of legal action at EU level.
In addition, the Commission should provide Member States with further clarification and guidance on key legal terms in the ELD, including the development of a “harmonised classification of environmental crimes”.
Recognition of ecocide
In one of the compromise amendments put to the vote, MEPs call on the institution to examine the possibility of enshrining ecocide in EU law and diplomacy.
Marie Toussaint (Greens/EFA, France), who has been particularly active on this issue, said it was a real “step forward towards the recognition of a right to nature, the intrinsic value of ecosystems and their right to be protected”.
For the Greens/EFA, the legal recognition of ecocide is indeed a priority. This would make it possible to condemn the damage to nature itself, and thus to punish damage to ecosystems that is not currently covered by legislation.
Application of the ‘polluter-pays’ principle
Stressing the need to respect the polluter-pays principle, MEPs also insist that companies should bear the full cost of the environmental damage they have directly caused, “in order to provide them with incentives to internalise environmental externalities and avoid externalising the costs”.
Finally, they believe that the revision of the ELD should be aligned with the Paris Agreement and call on the Commission to carry out a study on how diffuse pollution is addressed by the different liability regimes in the EU.
The vote on the amended draft report will take place on Thursday 18 March, with a view to its adoption in the Parliament’s plenary session in April. EUROPE will continue to follow this story.
See the compromise amendments: http://bit.ly/3bRl1ZY (Original version in French by Damien Genicot with Marion Fontana)