Introduction to industrial environmental law

While environmental and health concerns emerged in French law with the rise of industrialization in the 19th century, the development and structuring of a genuine industrial environmental law dates back to the 1970s. In particular, the last few decades have seen an unprecedented development of this law, at international, European and national level, and of its field of application. It is characterized by its technical nature, which reflects scientific developments, the use of new resources, processes, substances and products, and improved knowledge. This technical and fast-changing nature has also made the legal framework more complex, even confusing. The growing body of applicable rules generates new sources of potential obligations and liabilities, which is why the legislator has recently been working to simplify industrial environmental law.

Although necessarily selective in this context, this article sets out to outline the main features of this law, determining its ever-changing contours, sources, main players, characteristics, implications and operational obligations for manufacturers. The discussion is also enriched by considerations relating to other areas of law, which industrial environmental law impacts more or less directly.

The article also deals with the extension of liability in environmental matters, on both new and more traditional grounds, but which judges are applying in new ways.