By: Gary Gallon
As Europe moves ahead of Canada and the United States in measures to protect the environment, it is now dealing with assessing who is liable and who pays, when pollution damage is externalized by companies. What is interesting is that the new European Union requirements imposing strict liability for environmental damage, will not harm business competitiveness, Environment. This is according to EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström. The EU unveiled the paper on a law that would seek to exact compensation from those responsible for damage caused by accidents such as the December Erika oil spill off the coast of France and the mine disaster of 1998 that spilled toxic waste into Europe's largest migratory bird stopover, Doñana National Park in southern Spain. According to the paper, all "dangerous or potentially dangerous" activities regulated by European Union law will be subject to the liability regime. This will include use of agricultural pesticides and some instances of genetically modified crop cultivation, according to Commission officials.
Members of the European Parliament in the Green/EFA group today panned the white paper, saying it offered too many loopholes and that crucial questions remained "very vague." Source, ENDS Environment Daily, e-mail envdaily@ends.co.uk. See the full story at ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2000/ 2000L-02-11-01.html
Originally published in THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER, 506 Victoria Ave., Montreal, Quebec , H3Y 2R5 - Ph. (514) 369-0230, Fax (514) 369-3282, e-mail cibe@web.net
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