Editorial note

Council Recommendation 75/436 Euratom, ECSC, EEC of 3 March 1975 regarding cost allocation and action by public authorities on environmental matters seeks to apply the ‘polluter pays’ principle at both the Community and the Member State level. The operative elements are in the Annex. The principle, intended to induce reductions in pollution levels and a more rational use of environmental resources, is considered to be effective and equitable; if applied uniformly throughout the Community, it should avoid trade and investment distortions (paragraph 1). The polluter pays principle is defined as requiring the party responsible for pollution to meet the cost of measures to eliminate or reduce pollution according to quality objectives or standards set by public authorities – in other words, environmental protection should not be dependent on state aid (paragraph 2). The ‘polluter’ is the person who damages the environment directly or indirectly or creates the conditions for damage to occur; where it proves too difficult to identify the polluter, the costs are to be borne by the person whose penalisation will yield the optimal result from an economic, administrative and environmental point of view (paragraph 3).

Two economic instruments are identified as capable of implementing the polluter pays principle: standards and charges (paragraph 4). The Recommendation specifies which particular expenditures the polluter must bear in order to comply with the polluter pays principle and outlines two permissible exceptions (paragraphs 5 and 6).