Managing liabilities – with a little help from the EU
The Environmental Liability Directive (2004/35/EC) is one of the most controversial pieces of environmental legislation to emerge from the EU to date. Effective in England from 1st March 2009 through the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2009, it requires operators to not only actively prevent environmental damage to protected species, natural habitats, water and land, but also to make good any such damage should it occur or there be deemed an "imminent risk "of it occurring.
Operators covered by the new regulations must consider how to reduce the extent of any damage and must also carry out longer term remedial measures to make good residual impacts. Since the regulations provide for both strict and fault-based liability, there may also be no need to prove that the damage arose from negligence.
As with all business decisions, the key to meeting the new regulations is to ensure that responsibilities for managing risk are clear, and that management have the necessary information needed to make the right decisions. At Tripos, we are working alongside several clients to help them understand what the regulations mean for their organisations, and how through cost-effective, pragmatic, and careful planning they can minimise and monitor the risk, and cap any remaining exposure. With over 30,000 cases of environmental damage occurring each year, we believe that a little forethought is really a small price to pay to avoid falling foul of the law.
For further information on managing business risk from these or other regulations, please contact Vicky Keeble at [email protected].
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