corporate environmental civil liability

In national law, corporate environmental responsibility has three aspects. Two aspects were taken into account quite early on by the law. These are the penal and administrative aspects. A third aspect has recently been recognized, first by case law and then by the legislature (law no. 2016-1087 of August 8, 2016): the civil aspect. Environmental civil liability must be understood as the obligation to respond to ecological damage, i.e. to repair damage caused to the environment, damage taken as such, independently of its repercussions on people and/or property. However, environmental damage was not totally denied until this recognition. In fact, civil liability very early on took into account derivative environmental damage, i.e. damage to the environment due to its repercussions on people and/or property, which covers property damage, extra-patrimonial damage and bodily injury linked to pollution. But environmental damage did not in itself constitute a prejudice. In view of its new status and future developments, environmental civil liability will be the only one examined in this article. Such liability arises in the event of an ecological accident, i.e. a sudden and fortuitous event with ecological consequences.

First, we will look at national law, studying the rules governing the implementation of environmental civil liability, the admissibility of actions for compensation and the effects of such liability (compensation primarily in kind, and secondarily in money). It will then be necessary to compare national law with European Union law. The latter does not provide for environmental civil liability, but has introduced a system of compensation for certain types of ecological damage, under the authority of the administrative police. The two systems of compensation (environmental civil liability and administrative policing), which complement each other, therefore need to be coordinated. Special attention will also be paid to the specific case of breaches of the duty of vigilance. Under French law, certain companies are subject to such a duty. Breach of this duty can cause, among other things, ecological damage (specific rules). Current national law and European prospects in this field will be examined. Finally, examples of international conventions on compensation for ecological damage will be presented.

The aim of this article is to illustrate the growing development of environmental civil liability on the part of companies, reflecting a desire to recognize the full environmental responsibility of businesses (a responsibility now recognized on all levels: civil (neglected until recently), criminal and administrative). Such a development was not so obvious, given that it involves compensation for damage caused to nature, which has no legal personality. And yet,...