Environmental responsibility and international regulation

Environmental "liability" is understood as the obligation to answer for environmental damage before the law, and to assume the civil, penal, disciplinary or other consequences. .

In international law, it is first and foremost the responsibility of the State, as the principal subject of international law. For this reason, this article will be devoted exclusively to State responsibility, bearing in mind that the international responsibility of international organizations obeys the same rules, subject to necessary adaptation. As for the criminal liability of the individual, who has become a subject of international law, it can also be incurred for violation of international norms, but only in very limited hypotheses, which remain marginal from the point of view of environmental protection.

State liability is a consequence of the non-application of the law. The principle is that the perpetrator of a violation of a legal obligation must answer to the subject or subjects to whom he has caused harm by infringing his or their rights. . As stated by the Permanent Court of International Justice as early as 1928, "it is a principle of international law, indeed a general conception of law, that any breach of a commitment carries with it the obligation to make reparation". . This liability regime is of customary origin and remains essentially customary today. This means that few conventional rules – treaties – have clarified or supplemented customary rules. The principles governing this liability can be compared to civil liability under national law.

We will analyze the conditions of State environmental liability under international law (first part), before identifying the methods used to settle disputes (second part). We will then show that, in certain cases, States have transferred liability to operators by introducing "no-fault" civil liability regimes (part three). Finally, we will highlight the role of national courts in ensuring compliance with international law (part four).