Overview
ABSTRACT
This article discusses the relationship between environmental responsibility and international regulation. It raises the question of state responsibility for environmental damage. It shows the conditions under which it can be engaged and identifies the obstacles to its implementation. In particular, it highlights the difficulty of going before an international jurisdiction. Moreover, while the domestic judge remains the ordinary judge of the respect of international law, he still intervenes little to this effect. Climate trials could, however, create a momentum and encourage in the future the involvement of national judges in improving the effectiveness of international environmental law.
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Sandrine MALJEAN-DUBOIS: Research Director at CNRS - Aix-Marseille University, University of Toulon, University of Pau & Pays Adour, CNRS, DICE, Aix-en-Provence, France
INTRODUCTION
Environmental "liability" is understood as the obligation to answer for damage to the environment before the courts and to assume the civil, criminal, disciplinary, etc. consequences thereof. .
In international law, it is primarily the responsibility of the State, as the principal subject of international law. That is why this article will be devoted exclusively to the responsibility of the State, given that the international responsibility of international organizations is governed by the same rules, subject to any necessary adaptations. As for the criminal liability of individuals, which has become a subject of international law, they may also be held liable for violations of international norms, but only in very limited circumstances, which remain marginal from the point of view of environmental protection.
State liability is a consequence of failure to apply the law. The principle is that the perpetrator of a breach of a legal obligation must answer to the person or persons whom he has harmed by infringing their rights . As the Permanent Court of International Justice stated in 1928, "it is a principle of international law, indeed a general concept of law, that any breach of a commitment entails an obligation to make reparation" . The regime governing this responsibility is customary in origin and remains essentially customary today. This means that few conventional rules – treaties – have clarified or supplemented the customary rules. The principles governing this responsibility allow it to be compared to civil liability in national law.
We will analyze the conditions of state environmental liability under international law (part one), before identifying the methods for settling disputes (part two). We will then show that in certain cases, states have transferred liability to operators by introducing "no-fault" civil liability regimes (part three). Finally, we will highlight the role of national courts in monitoring compliance with international law...
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Environmental responsibility and international regulations
Conditions for State environmental liability under international law
Bibliography
Regulations
Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2015).
Escazú Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (2018).
Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998).
Ramsar...
Directory
Organizations – Federations – Associations (non-exhaustive list)
International Law Commission (ILC): https://legal.un.org/ilc/
International Court of Justice (ICJ): https://www.icj-cij.org/fr
Permanent Court of International Justice...
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