These Regulations transpose the provisions of the EU Environmental Liability Directive into law in England and Wales. Every year there are many thousands of cases of damage to the environment. The Regulations require action in response to the most significant cases, covering specific types of:
These specific types of damages are referred to in the Regulations as environmental damage. The Regulations apply to both imminent threats and actual cases of damage. Where these arise, those responsible must take immediate action to prevent damage occurring or remediate damage where it does occur.
The Regulations seek to ensure action is taken to put damage right rather than to penalise those responsible. They are based on the polluter pays principle‘ requiring those responsible to meet the cost of preventive and remedial measures. For the damage to species and habitats and damage to water covered, the Regulations introduce a new approach to remediating damage.
They require that, in addition to any measures taken to return the environment to the condition it was in before the damage occurred, measures should also be taken to make amends for where the damaged environment does not completely recover, and for the loss of environmental resources and environmental services pending recovery.
It should be noted that the Regulations do not cover all types of damage to the environment. They only cover environmental damage which is one or more of damage to:
An imminent threat of environmental damage means that there is a sufficient likelihood that environmental damage will occur in the near future. This may include circumstances where:
