International conventions

In Europe, liability for damage caused by pollution is governed by a diversity of legal instruments, namely, international conventions, EC legislation and national law. Of the international conventions that address environmental liability issues, only certain sector-specific conventions have so far come into force. This applies to the nuclear liability conventions and the conventions regulating oil pollution damage by ships. These conventions provide for elaborate, but limited, compensation systems. Limitations exist especially with regard to the territorial application, the types of compensable damage and the amounts of compensation available. Compensation for impairment of the environment is only awarded by the oil pollution conventions and the new nuclear liability conventions, but not by the 1960 Paris Convention and the 1963 Vienna Convention. Liability is strict, covered by mandatory financial security, and exclusively channelled to the ship owner or the operator of the nuclear installation. Claims may also be brought directly against the insurer or another person providing for financial security. International conventions governing liability for the transboundary movement of waste and the transboundary effects of industrial accidents have not yet entered into force. With regard to damage caused by the transboundary movement of living modified organisms, the 2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety proposes a new liability system in the near future.

The only convention that would establish a comprehensive environmental liability regime, the 1993 Lugano Convention of the Council of Europe, has not yet entered into force.