The precautionary principle - Conceptual approaches

The precautionary principle can be considered one of the most remarkable legal developments of recent years. Born in the context of environmental protection, it has spread to other areas of law. Today, it is the most widely publicized principle of environmental law. Yet its meaning and scope are not always fully understood. In fact, the principle is often abused and torn between its defenders and opponents.

The precautionary principle can be seen as the natural offspring of the uncertain union of law and science. Today, the scientist calls on the politician and the politician relies on science when a decision has to be made. However, this union reveals the conjunction of two weaknesses. On the one hand, the complexity of scientific discoveries and the human interventions they induce paradoxically lead to considerable uncertainty about the effects of these interventions. On the other hand, politics has been weakened by the collapse of the value systems on which it is based, and by the globalization of the economy. As a result, political power tends to protect itself by sheltering behind the opinions of experts, who are themselves plagued by uncertainty and whose impartiality is sometimes called into question. Public opinion, more or less enlightened by the media, intuitively senses that science and technology are fraught with potential dangers, and calls on political leaders to exercise caution. The social acceptability of an experiment or technology then seems to become the essential criterion for decision-making. The precautionary principle clearly represents the legal translation of this situation. It thus illustrates one of the major evolutions in the legal system.

First enshrined in international law and incorporated into a number of conventions, it has been included in almost all environmental treaties since the 1990s, but it is also intended to be applied in all areas affecting human safety.

Its "success" does not, however, clarify the meaning given to it, nor the scope it is recognized or promised. In order to shed some light on, and attempt to understand, current developments in the precautionary principle, this document attempts to approach the principle from different angles: conceptual, cultural, political, economic, legal, social and, of course, scientific.