Guidelines clarifying the scope of the term ‘environmental damage’ in the Directive on Environmental Liability (2004/35/EC) were adopted by the European Commission on Thursday 25 March to facilitate a common understanding of this concept.
They will provide greater legal clarity, “by making it clearer when operators are liable for environmental damage that they cause”, according to European Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius.
The Directive establishes a liability regime that makes companies accountable for their environmental damage when they could not prevent it. Under this regime, based on the polluter pays’ principle, operators are obliged to prevent and remedy any environmental damage caused by their activities.
The guidelines will help Member States to better assess how damage to water, soil and protected species and natural habitats should be prevented or remedied.
This notion of ‘environmental damage’ is closely linked to other legal requirements, notably in the Birds and Habitats Directives, the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
An earlier Commission assessment showed that a lack of common understanding between Member States and stakeholders of the application of the term ‘environmental damage’ was weakening the implementation of the Directive.
See the document: https://bit.ly/3vYjQzM (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)