EU Environmental Liability Directive: the extent to which the polluter should pay

With Professor Nicolas de Sadeleer, University of Saint - Louis, Brussels

Tuesday, 27 August
1pm - 2pm
Room 920, Level 9,
Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton

Given that the 2004/35/EC directive on environmental liability (ELD) is ‘founded’ on the polluter-pays principle, that principle has been invoked to justify a strict liability regime. Given that the ELD ventures into highly sophisticated national legal and doctrinal traditions, it comes as no surprise that in spite of a lengthy gestation period it left a flurry of unresolved conceptual puzzles.

Against this background, the speaker shall shed light on the EU case law regarding the strict liability of operators and owners of contaminated lands.

Presenter

Professor de Sadeleer is Professor of EU law at the University of Saint - Louis, Brussels. He recently has been reappointed as a Jean Monnet Chair in the EU in the area of Environmental Law. Formerly held a Marie Curie Chair at the University of Oslo. Professor de Sadeleer held a Jean Monnet Chair on Trade and Environment in 2010-14. He has been a guest professor at different African, Australian, Asian, Latin American and North American Universities. He was appointed in 2017 Distinguished International Visiting Professor at the University of Canberra, Australia. He cooperates with more than 20 universities across the EU. Professor de Sadeleer is the author of 11 books and has written many articles on EU environmental law, free movement of goods, internal market and EU tax law.