Environmental liability and ICPE: scope of application

Environmental damage is damage that seriously affects certain components of the environment: species and natural habitats, water, soil and ecological services.

Environmental liability" is a specific system of liability designed to prevent and remedy such damage.

As the environment is a non-appropriable good, it should be emphasized that a person who has been the victim of pollution cannot claim compensation for his or her loss on the basis of the environmental liability regime.

Your environmental liability is thus added to your responsibilities under ordinary law:

• compensation for damage caused to property and persons, as part of your civil liability (see ICPE and civil liability [FIC 0101] );

• the criminal penalty incurred for a pollution incident constituting an offence, in the context of the implementation of your criminal liability (see ICPE and criminal liability [FIC 0100] );

• administrative penalties imposed by the prefectoral authority, in the context of ICPE regulations (see ICPE and liability to the authorities [FIC 0099] ).

It is important to identify :

• cases in which your environmental responsibility may be called into question;

• cases in which your environmental responsibility cannot be called into question.