European Union law
Corporate environmental civil liability

French companies may therefore be held liable under civil liability for ecological damage. However, they may also be held liable under environmental liability, another system for remedying ecological damage, which should not be confused with civil environmental liability. Environmental liability is a system governed by administrative law, meaning that it falls within the relationship between the company and the administrative authority and leads to measures prescribed by the administration rather than by a judge (unlike civil environmental liability, where a judge is involved). The distinctive feature of environmental liability is that it borrows the mechanisms of civil liability, hence the term “liability.” Consequently, the conditions for the application of civil liability must be met, namely ecological damage, a triggering event, and a causal link between the damage and the event. These...