The polluter pays principle in the European regulation. The environment summited to juridical rules

Abstract

The polluter pays principle was introduced by the OECD in 1972 as one of the guiding principles related to the economic aspects of environmental policies. It is also present in the Treaty of the European Economic Community and at the international level it was enshrined in the Rio de Janeiro Declaration on Environment and Sustainable Development, and - more exhaustively - in the Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses of May 21, 1997. But the European environmental legislation is in continuous addatamento, raising questions about this principle that warrant answers based on the revision of the European rules applicable to the environment and its interpretation according to the jurisprudence emanated from the Court of Luxembourg. Thus, the environment in the European framework is an example of transversality when it comes to its protection, being at a conjunctural critical point due to its global nature. And things are made much more complicated from a legal perspective by the possible interactions between climate change with other fields of international law. However, the polluter pays principle has been the trigger for the first steps towards creating a theory of environmental responsibility.