Environmental Liability

Abstract

In Europe, liability for damage caused by pollution is governed by a diversity of legal instruments, namely international conventions, legislation of the European Union and national law. Of the numerous international conventions that address environmental issues, only certain sector-specific conventions, namely the nuclear liability conventions and the conventions regulating oil pollution damage by ships, are effective so far. The most important legislative act in this field, the 2004 EC-Environmental Liability Directive,¹ concentrates on the prevention and remedying of site contamination and on loss of biodiversity and does not apply to damage to person and property, or economic loss, suffered by private persons. This sort of damage will therefore still be regulated by national tort law in the future.