Green paper on remedying environmental damage
A European Commission green paper on environmental damage (COM (93) 47) has recently been published by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. The paper aims to stimulate discussion with a view to the Community developing better means to deal with the issue. The Commission invites contributions to the debate in order to further the harmonization of national legislation, which currently varies greatly between the Member States. The green paper shows that the principle of civil liability is highly useful as a legal and financial tool to make those responsible for causing damage pay compensation for the costs of remedying that damage. However, that there are a number of problems and difficulties impeding its implementation. Where the principles of civil liability cannot be applied, there remains the possibility of turning to different existing systems of joint compensation. A further area for debate concerns the possibilities offered by collective identification mechanisms, even though these might involve new limitations.