A regional meeting “Applying the Polluter-Pays Principle to environmental compliance assurance in the Eastern Partnership” took place virtually on 11 March 2024.
The main objectives of this regional meeting were to:
- facilitate an information exchange on the latest developments in environmental compliance assurance in the Eastern Partnership;
- discuss environmental liability provisions and the approximation of the EU ELD in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova;
- take stock of implementation of the EU4Environment: Green Economy Programme on environmental compliance assurance and gauge interest in possible future areas of support.
Participants
Participants in this meeting were practitioners from environmental inspectorates and policy makers from the Eastern Partnership, EU and OECD countries; officials and experts from EU institutions and civil society representatives; the OECD Secretariat and representatives of the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL).
Background
The Polluter-Pays Principle, which requires polluters to bear the environmental and social cost of their actions, is a cornerstone of any environmental compliance assurance system. It is the basis for much of the European Union’s environmental acquis, including the EU Environmental Liability Directive (ELD).
The principle is still not widely applied in practice in the Eastern Partnership countries, however. Most of the existing liability provisions for environmental damage require polluters to pay instead of remediating the environmental damage occurred while the administrative fine levels remain low.
That said, the principle is recognised in some of the environmental legislation of these countries, and some countries are making concerted efforts to reinforce it. Georgia has recently adopted a stand-alone Law on Environmental Liability with the purpose of approximating the EU ELD, and Armenia and Moldova are currently developing legislative proposals for the purpose of approximating the ELD. Moldova’s Law on Environmental Protection and the founding document of the Inspectorate for Environmental Protection of Moldova refer to it as well.
The EU4Environment: Green Economy Programme has aimed to support the application of the Polluter-Pays Principle to the environmental compliance assurance systems of the Eastern Partnership countries.
Presentation slides:
Item 2. Strengthening environmental liability provisions in the Eastern Partnership
Comparative Analysis of Environmental Liability Provisions in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova (Dr. Colin Mackie, University of Leeds)
The Environmental Liability Legislation in Moldova (Iordanca-Rodica Iordanov, Ministry of Environment of Moldova)
Item 3. Taking stock of achievements and challenges in environmental compliance assurance in the Eastern Partnership
Highlights on regional developments and support provided by EU4Environment (Olga Olson, OECD)
Applying the Polluter-Pays Principle to environmental compliance assurance in the Eastern Partnership (Tariel Iremadze, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia)
Polluter-Pays Principle (Arpine Sukiasyan, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum)