MEPs vote in favour of 'polluter pays' law

Wednesday, 14 May 2003 12:00 AM

MEPs have voted in favour of legislation that could force companies to pay the full cost of restoring areas that they have polluted, rather than simply paying fines.

This polluter-pays policy, included in the draft Environmental Liability Directive, has been welcomed by environmental campaigners who believe that if the law goes through it will act as a strong deterrent to businesses.

Today's vote followed the first reading of the directive, and it will have to be agreed upon by the Council of Ministers before the law can be passed.

If it does go through it will mean that companies will also have to have to take out insurance or put money aside to prove that they can pay for clean-up operations.

Labour MEP Bill Miller had called for the law to go even further to make companies responsible for restoring the site where the environment had been damaged.

The proposed legislation has been put forward as a response to several environmental disasters in recent years where taxpayers have picked up the bill including the cyanide pollution in the Tisza river in Hungary and Romania in 2000, the widespread pollution from the Donana metal mine in Spain in 1998 and several oil disasters including the one earlier this year that is still blighting the Galician coast.

However, the outcome of the vote will not be welcomed by businesses. The CBI is concerned that companies could end up paying for the restoration of areas where they are not the sole polluter, and that the system would be hard to police fairly.

Janet Asherson of the organisation noted today: "The scope of the initiative is not firm - we don't know what species or habitats are finally going to be included."

And she added: "We don't need endless interpretation, giving unlimited and total liability for every emission whether or not it causes damage."

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