Environmental Liability. Study for a Future Amendment of European Legislation

The great challenge of this century is to figure out how we can achieve development, combat climate change, conserve wildlife, and protect our common resources, in global terms, while maintaining a balance between the environment and social and economic considerations. Environmental liability, conceived by the European Union and the Member States as an instrument of administrative law in substantial and sanctioning terms, is one of the preferred for protecting the environment and ensuring sustainable development. It is a new approach to the environment as an injured party, allowing the repair of pure ecological damage, and ensuring its prevention. Given the particular characteristics of environmental damage, namely the fact that the environment is a collective good and has no geographical limits, environmental liability must focus on a cross-cutting and transnational approach. A European environmental liability regime was adopted and entered into force about 15 years ago. This work aims to assess the current usefulness of that regime and the need for its possible modification, through a comparative and critical analysis of the options took by some of the Member States, particularly Portugal, and the data available in this matter, and suggest aspects in which the regime can be improved