China And International Environmental Liability

Few countries are likely to have a more important global environmental role in coming years than the People s Republic of China. Professors Faure and Song have prepared a remarkable collection of essays that provide valuable insight on one key aspect: China s engagement with issues of liability for environmental damage at the domestic and international levels. There is much to be learnt from the pages of this commendable, rich and accessible work. Philippe Sands QC, University College London and Matrix Chambers, UK This book considers the ways in which transboundary environmental pollution can be remedied through a variety of legal instruments. Particular attention is paid to the pollution of the Songhua river in China, but legal remedies to transboundary pollution are also discussed in a broader context. The focus of the book is on international environmental law and international conventions as well as the application of national environmental law in a transboundary legal context. Thus contributions also concentrate on voluntary approaches, the importance of transboundary environmental impact assessment and the application of national criminal law to transboundary pollution. Not only is transboundary pollution discussed from the perspective of international law, but also from that of the application of national law to transboundary pollution, thus centering on private law, administrative law and criminal law. As such, this book will be of great interest to academics, practitioners and students.

The approach throughout is both legal multi-disciplinary and comparative. The relevant international conventions are examined (particularly the 'Bunker Convention' of 2008), with particular attention to their implementation in China and Europe, as well as the independent US regime. In addition, detailed empirical data from well-known case studies provide important insights into the working of international and national prevention and compensation mechanisms.

Liability and Environment analyzes the role of law, in particular civil liability, in controlling environmental pollution and risk. In modern environmental policy, liability has become a popular instrument. In this book, Prof. Bergkamp takes a fresh look at civil liability for environmental harm in an inter- and transnational context. Over the last decade, industry's liability exposure for environmental harm has expanded significantly. At the international, EC, and national level proposals for onerous strict environmental liability regimes are pending. The `polluter pays principle', which is an articulation of the `cost internalization' theory in the environmental area, is believed to justify such liability regimes. Applying an instrumental approach to legal instruments, Prof. Bergkamp aims to redefine the role of liability in the heavily regulated environmental area. He shows that liability for environmental harm is not justified by the polluter pays principle, is an uncertain and unreliable instrument for achieving prevention, results in an inefficient insurance scheme, and plays a dubious role in adjusting activity levels. Based on an analysis of the basic characteristics of alternative legal instruments, Prof. Bergkamp concludes that civil liability should play a more modest, limited role in an environmental law system dominated by public law. Where deterrence is not the objective, first party insurance, compensation funds, or other public law regimes should be preferred over liability rules. In addition to civil liability of private parties, Liability and Environment discusses State liability under international, EC, and national law. Under international law, breach of a primary obligation triggers a State's liability. Prof. Bergkamp argues that this rule should be applied also to liability of private parties. In the environmental area, a business' primary obligations are spelled out in detailed permit conditions, regulations, and statutes. According to Prof. Bergkamp, only if a primary obligation is breached, a private person should be liable for environmental harm. The system that Bergkamp advocates is an objective fault liability regime, in which public environmental law defines the standard of care for both government and industry. "In rebuilding our civil liability system, we should keep in mind that what is good for industry should be good for everyone (or it is not good for anyone), we should keep in mind that what is good for private parties should be good for the state (or it is not good for either). In rebuilding our civil liability system, the international law of State responsibility, which is unpolluted by risk spreading and activity level considerations, will guide us a long way." This book is aimed at advanced law students, academic scholars, and practitioners. In addition, it will be of interest to policy and legislative analysts, legislators, and government officials. Professor Bergkamp's book cannot be described as "solving" the problems of legal and regulatory control of environmental harm, whether within a nation or internationally. As suggested before, however, the very idea of a "solution" is illusory. All legal and regulatory regimes around the world are today and will remain for the future in a state of perpetually continuing development. The virtue of this fine book is that it moves the process of that development forward by a very substantial measure. from the Foreword by George L. Priest.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this book provides ready access to legislation and practice concerning the environment in China. A general introduction covers geographic considerations, political, social and cultural aspects of environmental study, the sources and principles of environmental law, environmental legislation, and the role of public authorities. The main body of the book deals first with laws aimed directly at protecting the environment from pollution in specific areas such as air, water, waste, soil, noise, and radiation. Then, a section on nature and conservation management covers protection of natural and cultural resources such as monuments, landscapes, parks and reserves, wildlife, agriculture, forests, fish, subsoil, and minerals. Further treatment includes the application of zoning and land-use planning, rules on liability, and administrative and judicial remedies to environmental issues. There is also an analysis of the impact of international and regional legislation and treaties on environmental regulation. Its succinct yet scholarly nature, as well as the practical quality of the information it provides, make this book a valuable resource for environmental lawyers handling cases affecting China. Academics and researchers, as well as business investors and the various international organizations in the field, will welcome this very useful guide, and will appreciate its value in the study of comparative environmental law and policy.

This book focuses on how public and private international law address civil liability for transboundary pollution. In public international law, civil liability treaties promote the implementation of minimum procedural standards in domestic tort law. This approach implicitly relies on private international law to facilitate civil litigation against transboundary polluters. Yet this connection remains poorly understood. Filling the gap, this book engages in a meaningful dialogue between the two areas and explores how domestic private international law can reflect the policies developed in international environmental law. It begins with an investigation of civil liability in international environmental law. It then identifies preferable rules of civil jurisdiction, foreign judgments and choice of law for environmental damage, using Canadian private international law as a case study and making extensive references to European law. Liability for transboundary pollution is a contentious issue of the law, both in scholarship and practice: international lawyers both private and public as well as environmental lawyers will welcome this important work.

Climate change and its adverse impacts on nature and human society are clearly felt. Who should bear the responsibility? Should anyone be held liable for grave losses and damages related to climate change? In what way and to what extent can these issues be addressed in legal mechanisms both globally and locally? Will an international liability regime an ultimate solution? Are courts ready for and capable of resolving these disputes that find intricacy of law, policy and science? To shed light on these issues, this book is structured with four main themes on the discussions of climate change liability and related mechanisms. They are: 1) state liability and responsibility, 2) climate change litigation, 3) climate change liability and alternatives, and 4) dispute resolution and remedies. Reflections on the concepts of liability/responsibly/accountability have provided for nuanced understandings of their functional dynamics in climate change governance. Our findings also suggest that International and domestic courts have become a vital player in attribution or distribution of climate change liability. In addition to formalistic rights discourse and rigid liability regime, a few alternatives such as carbon market, insurance, mediation or soft law are also finding their ways to ensuring sustainability of climate change governance.

Marine oil pollution is one of the most damaging environmental liabilities of our time, and is taken very seriously by governments. Although international conventions take the lead in the legal regime underpinning prevention and compensation of marine oil pollution damage, national legal systems differ considerably in how they interpret and apply their monitoring and enforcement responsibilities. This is the first book to present a comparative analysis of the law with respect to marine oil pollution, with expert contributions emphasising particular solutions in Europe, the US, and China. The authors draw on the full range of legal sources, from theory and legislation to procedure and actual case studies. Written by both academics and practitioners?senior academics with a wide experience in the field, and practitioners who have extensively dealt with marine pollution issues?the work is not confined to a mere legal analysis, but offers a more inclusive law and economics perspective, solidly built on a substantial analysis (in English) of the law in the European, US, Chinese, and international contexts. Individual contributors focus on countries with which they have particular expertise or experience. This book will be of interest to corporate counsel, international lawyers, academics, and policy makers, as well as to students of (international) environmental and maritime law. In addition, the book is especially valuable to non-Chinese lawyers for its clear insight into the complex Chinese environmental legal system.