The polluter pays principle has been held to be a sound principle by this court in indian council for enviro legal action v. In the light of the precautionary principle, environmental legislation may also provide for measures which are taken to. In environmental law, the polluter pays principle is enacted to make the party responsible for producing pollution responsible for paying for the damage done to the natural environment. In this article we will illustrate how these guidelines may be helpful to solve current environmental issues. The polluter pays principle does not only apply if there is a real pollution in terms of harm or damage to private property andor the environment.
The idea that a polluter should pay for the environmental harm it causes is wellrooted in western legal history. It has been almost ten years since the introduction of plastic levy in botswana. This work traces the history of the polluter pays principle the ppp in the early economic literature from 1920s. Case law of the european court of justice on the polluter pays principle provides guidelines for burden sharing and recovery of costs. It is shown how an approach to proportioning industrial costs to waste that is described can be applied to the polluterpays principle in a way. The oecd recommended the ppp as the guiding principle concerning the international economic aspects of environmental policies in 1972. Explanation this is a basic economic principle currently being adopted in legislation by many countries that requires the producers or generators of pollution to pay for the costs of avoiding pollution or of cleaning up or remedying its effects. The idea behind the polluterpays principle is, the entity that pollutes or creates environmental degradation is the one that should directly pay the cost of the polluting action as opposed to letting society as a whole pay the cost.
The polluter pays principle ppp basically means that the producer of goods should be responsible for the cost of preventing any pollution caused as well as remedy any damage so caused. The polluter pays principle and costbenefit analysis of. It is regarded as a regional custom because of the strong support it has received in most organisation for economic cooperation and development oecd and european union countries. There is no agreed definition of the term polluter pays principle. Introduction the polluter pays principle ppp basically means that the producer of goods should be responsible for the cost of preventin. The paper discusses the concept of polluter pays principle ppp as a case study for the city of shillong.
Economic goods have ownership, the owner has the right to sell it in the market. In this analysis particular attention is paid to the difficulties which are encountered when seeking to categorise cross compliance. The second is referred to as the polluter pays principle. Application and development of the polluterpays principle. Oecd ilibrary is the online library of the organisation for economic cooperation and development oecd featuring its books, papers and statistics and is the gateway to oecds analysis and data. It was declared by the court that redemption of the damaged.
Tool for environment pollution control and management. Bennett, agriculture and the polluter pays principle. The primary function of the principle is that it helps in allocating the costs and repairing the damage, between different stakeholders, for the harm caused by them to the environment. Agricultures status as the major source of nitrate in rivers and aquifers in. The polluter pays principle states that whoever is responsible for damage to the environment should bear the costs associated with it. There is a close relationship between a countrys environmental policy and its overall socioeconomic policy.
History and evolution of the polluter pays principle. The polluter pays principle is a way of internalising the externality. Managing the impacts of sugarcane farming on the great. The polluter pays principle is an economic rule of cost allocation. This is not because their laws are explicitly or implicitly based upon different models of the polluter pays principle as such. There are two principles that are often discussed in light of this case.
The polluter pays principle is an environmental policy principle which requires that the costs of pollution be borne by those who cause it. Discussions of where the costs of climate change adaptation and mitigation should fall often focus on the polluter pays principle or the ability to pay principle. The concept of polluter pays principle was described in indian council for envirolegal action v. In this case, the payment imposed to agents i b y the polluterpay principle exceed the non cooperative cost of pollution for i. Unfortunately, the polluter pays principle that is currently guiding public policy has lost the concept that environmental problems are essentially about interpersonal conflicts over the use of property. The polluter pays principle made an important impact in the famous mc mehta oleum gas leak case. Ii application of the polluter pays principle the polluter pays principle was for the first time, applied and defined in the case of indian council for envirolegal action v. Commandandcontrol approaches include performance and. The rise and fall of the polluterpays principle in. The decisions reflect an aspiration, or a principle of the international justice system.
The polluter pays principle and costbenefit analysis of climate change. For instance, a factory that produces a potentially poisonous substance as a byproduct of its activities is usually held responsible for its safe disposal. The first was established in the provision above, that a state has an obligation to prevent transboundary harm. The polluter pays principle is only one of several important environmental principles. I then discuss some support for the beneficiary pays principle that has been developed in the literature. The shillong metropolitan region, includes the towns of lawsohtun, madanrting, mawlai, mawpat, nongkseh, nongmynsong, nongthymmai, pynthorumkhrah, shillong cantonment, umlyngka and umpling. We will argue that the guidelines of the polluter pays principle apply to the establishment of. The polluter pays principle in european community law and. The levy was introduced as part of measures to combat littering of plastic bags and reduce their negative effects on the environment. This article traces the evolution of polluterpaysprinciple ppp as an economic, ethical and legal instrument and argues that it has the potential of effecting global responsibility for adaptation and mitigation and for generating reliable funding for the purpose. In this case, explaining the meaning and scope of the polluter pays principle the court observed the polluter pays principle, as interpreted by this court, means that the absolute liability for harm to the environment extends not only to compensate the victims of pollution but also the cost of restoring the environmental degradation. Some of the literature is referred to briefly for contextual purposes at relevant. The source of the principle is in the economic theory of externalities.
The court observed, we are of the opinion that any principle evolved in this behalf should be simple, practical and suited to the conditions obtaining in this country. Review of implementation of the rio principles study prepared by the stakeholder forum for a sustainable future. Under the principle it is not the role of government to meet the costs involved. Behind the multitude of international environmental instruments sit generally accepted and potentially powerful principles like the polluter pays principle ppp. The effective implementation of international environmental law has taken on greater urgency in recent times. Polluter pays principle is a globally well recognized and a much celebrated environmental law principle. The polluter pays principle demands that the financial costs of preventing or remedying damage caused by pollution. It makes the firmconsumer pay the total social cost, rather than just the private cost. Chapter 2 coauthored with christian barry examines what we take to be the most challenging objections that have been presented to the beneficiary pays principle. In essence, the union interpretation of the polluter pays principle is not shared by the member states. Simon caney has recently defended a hybrid view, which includes versions of both of these principles. Ministers from the 15 member states, and environmental ngos, are concerned that a key clause added in the draft eu environmental liability proposal, would exempt polluters from the polluter pays principle if they comply with environmental permits. This article traces the evolution of polluterpaysprinciple ppp as an.
The polluter pays principle is the commonly accepted practice that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent damage to human health or the environment. In 1972, the oecd wrote guiding principles concerning. In recent days, the polluter pays principle is seen as a way of internalizing pollutionrelated costs within the context of the economic rationality of the enterprise. Exploring liability and the polluter pays principle. By requiring the polluter to take responsibility for the external costs arising from its pollution, the principle allocates these costs to the polluter. The polluter pays principle ppp was first mentioned in the recommendation of the oecd of. The paper maintains that, as a means toward achieving the ideal of a sustainable development, industrial waste should best be regarded in businesseconomic terms as having the same basic status as regular products. Interpretation of polluter pays principle ppp in india. The polluter pays principle was for the first time, applied and defined in the case of indian council for envirolegal action v. It then discusses two ways to ensure that prices reflect the true cost of production and consumption. Under this system, an assurance bond, equal to the best estimate of the largest potential future. Unilateral standards on ppms that discriminate for example between electricity imports.
Characteristics of environmental goods environmental goods are public goods. The main objective of environmental taxes is to pass on the cost of pollution on polluters. Polluter pays principle an overview sciencedirect topics. Mann ian, a comparative study of the polluter pays principle and its international normative effect on pollutive processes, forbes hare, british virgin islands 2009 9. Slide 3 ecj answer on erika case liability the application of the polluter pays principle within the meaning of the second sentence of the first subparagraph of article 1742 ec and article 15 of directive 75442 would be frustrated if such. The environmental liability directive eld is a law that could, and should, be a powerful tool for putting this into practice, but it is widely underused or, in some cases, unknown.
Tool for environment pollution control and management a case study on pollution of bandi river by textile industries in pali, rajasthan by. Costanza and cornwall 1992 propose combining the precautionary principle with the polluter pays principle to develop an environmental depositrefund or assurance bonding system. First published in 1997, this volume goes some way towards redressing the imbalance caused by a lack of attention paid to the environmental implications of the fiscal system by systematically examining the irish fiscal system in an effort to identify the environmental effects through its incentives and suggesting ways of altering that system in an. The polluters pays principle is the commonly accepted practice that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it. For example, in the case of a company that is polluting a river, the cost might be to downstream recreational users who have to give up or cut back on certain.
Similarly the scope of its application is also doubtful and there is lack of clear agreement on permissible exceptions. Environmental principles have been heralded as bringing much to environmental law and this has been welldiscussed elsewhere. The polluter pays principle in chinese environmental law. The polluter pays principle is logical and simple those who cause pollution and environmental damage should be responsible for rectifying it. The polluter pays principle is normally implemented through two different policy approaches. This chapter begins by defining the polluterpays principle as an economic rule of cost allocation whose source lies precisely in the theory of externalities, requiring the polluter to take responsibility for the external costs arising from his pollution.