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Scientific Uncertainty and the Enforceability of Environmental Liability
67-85Views:201This study examines the ways in which environmental liability for environmental harm is allocated under Hungarian laws and regulations and in the practice of domestic courts. Specifically, it focuses on how laws handle the uncertain nature of causal links between a given pollution and its possible source, and which actors should bear the costs of remediation. The study posits that the uncertain nature of scientific evidence impacts the way environmental liability can be allocated and enforced, as scientific evidence can never establish requisite causal links with absolute certainty. The article first enumerates and discusses the sources of scientific uncertainty and demonstrates that it inescapably burdens scientific evidence. It then examines how laws and regulations in force handle causal uncertainty and the ways in which liability for environmental harm is distributed among various actors. The study concludes with proposing legislative amendments in order to allocate environmental liability in a more equitable way in cases when the causal processes remain inherently uncertain.
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Regulatory Proposal of the Ombudsman for Future Generations
10-28Views:206The most important provisions of environmental liability are available, but the effective enforcement still requires the regulation of several legal conditions. The ombudsman for future generations, following a wide professional and social coordination issued a complex regulatory proposal. The proposal is based upon the EU Environmental Liability Directive within the framework of the existing liability scheme, with a broader understanding of liability, and with the most inclusive approach of the polluter pays principle. Among other elements it covers the financial guarantees, the formation of the financial coverage of state intervention, the implementation of environmental liability attached to the real estates, the availability of and access to the environmental information, the more effective enforcement of environmental liability, and also the setting of conditions of implementation within public administration. The main objective is to promote responsible environmental behaviour.
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Environmental Liability Law: Environmental Civil Experts’ view
86-112Views:135Environmental liability legislation, both the ELD in Europe and CERCLA in US, is burdened with significant compromises, but even if so, they are too leniently implemented. Moreover, rather scarce data are available on the liability cases and on the status of polluted sites, therefore the system is unable to amend itself. There is no reason to be surprised: expenses of protection or remedy of the polluted sites are enormous, the concerned industries would get into a poor competition position in the market if faced with too stringent liability. In the exceptional cases when their deeds are revealed and enforcement actions start, they still might retreat behind the bastions of limited responsibility of their companies. In such situations public participation is a vital element of any progressive outcomes. In the present study we examine the efforts of J&E, a network of public interest environmental lawyers to contribute to moving out the European environmental liability systems from their stalemate position and enhance their effectiveness.
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The Concept of the Responsibility to Protect, Is There Anything New under the Sun?
67-78Views:183The concept of the responsibility to protect has emerged in the practice of the United Nations in the past years, inducing much criticism in the literature. The aim of the author was to present the concept in Hungarian and to analyze it from international legal point of view. According to the author the concept is just a paraphrased principle, responsibility has already existed under the relevant norms of international law. Nevertheless, the content of the obligation and responsibility is not fully clear, especially with respect to the exact meaning of prevention.
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Dark Waters? The Place of Environmental Liability in the Environmental Policy Toolkit (Issues of Regulatory Methodology and Environmental Principles)
42-66Views:280The starting point of the study is that environmental liability is not only a tool of ex-post sanctioning and remediation, but also helps to enforce the principles of prevention and precaution. It examines the rules on liability for environmental damage in a broader context and links the various instruments of environmental policy by presenting their relationship to the environmental policy principles and typifying the policy instruments of environmental protection.
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Limits of Environmental Liability: Summary of the Guest Editor
189-198Views:187This summary is an attempt to demonstrate that despite all the differences in how limits of environmental liability are perceived by the authors of this special issue due to different approaches to environmental liability, a common framework can nevertheless be drawn encompassing them all. Each article of the special issue elaborates some of the aspects of the concept of environmental liability. Despite the differences in the evaluation and assessment by the authors of the role of stakeholders and of the facts having an impact on the concept of environmental liability, it is shown that all of them are analysing the very same subject. The apparent differences are due to the different contexts in which environmental liability is examined and evaluated. Thus, the summary underlines that there is a need for system thinking related to environmental liability.
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Strict Liabiliy and Predictability: The Austrian Economic Analysis of Tort Law
Views:54This article provides a critical analysis of the main claims of the Austrian school of law and economics on tort liability. It reviews the normative claims of the Austrian school. It identifies the requirements the Austrian achool articultes towards law and which can be described in five points. According to them positive law should be (i) abstract, (ii) simple, (iii) predictable, (iv) should change incrementally, and (v) should reflect the basic informal rules, social expectations. They maintain that in the case of tort liability, a prima facie strict liability would meet these requiremes much better than the negligence rule. The article contests this claim and argues that it is not clear that the strict liability would be more predictable or better suited to informal social rules.
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The Role of Non-Governmental Organisations in the Enforcement of Environmental Liability
113-127Views:266Public participation is an essential part of the mechanism of dealing with environmental problems. Both the Aarhus Convention and Union law stipulate that citizens and environmental NGOs should be guaranteed access to justice that includes providing legal standing for environmental NGOs individuals and directly affected by a breach of environmental law. In accordance with the Environmental Liability Directive, persons adversely affected by environmental damage are entitled to ask the competent authorities to take action. However, there are major chellenges to the implementation of environmental legislation, faced by environmental NGOs in obtaining standing to bring legal challenges on environmental issues.
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The Importance of Health and Safety in the Liability of Employers for Damages
175-191Views:207Employers are deemed responsible for the health and safety of their employees while they are at work. This study's focus is the exemption from liability based on the foreseeability principle introduced to the Labour Code in 2012. Despite the proclaimed policy change, courts have remained reluctant to grant immunity to employers based on Article 166 of the Labour Code in case of workplace accidents. The uncertainty of interpretation hinders the execution of the new policy and questions the importance of proper health and safety measures implemented by employers to avoid liability. The study focuses on recent case law and employers' practice. The first part analyses the conclusions establishing business decisions of the employers, further investigating the cost performance conduct: pay a fine or spend on safety and health measures. The second part of the study examines cases related to workplace accidents, which are divided into five groups. This group's special attention given to liability in case of extreme weather conditions, third-party accidents, work safety rule violations, accidents, employers' inspection obligations, and other cases.
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The Observation, Review, and Possible Modification of the EU Environmental Liability Directive in Hungary
29-41Views:173The main secondary legal source of environmental liability in the European Union is the Directive 2004/35/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. Even though it was modified several times since then, it still remains the basic norm in the environmental field by establishing the regulatory frames by means of the polluter pays principle and the principle of prevention. The present study makes an overview of recent and potential further legislative steps in Hungary with regards to its implementation.
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Editorial
7-9Views:147The twenty-third issue of our journal aims to examine the environmental liability regulation in Hungary. Already at the start of Pro Futuro, our editorial board set the goal of publishing thematic issues from time to time. In 2020, we finally had the opportunity to do so. This issue is the result of a collaboration with Hungary’s Ombudsman for Future Generations.
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Book Review: Sipka Péter: Employer’s Liability in Theory and Practice
171-178Views:73Péter Sipka’s book was published in 2021 by HVG-ORAC under the title “Employer’s Liability in Theory and Practice”. On the one hand the author analyses the system of liability in depth, on the other hand the author widely describes the court decisions. Thanks to the monograph the reader can get to know the legal institution of employer’s liability for damage to employee’s health in its complexity. In addition to the examination of labor law, the connections between occupational safety and social security are also described.
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One step back. The Hungarian Constitutional Court’s decision about the Liability of Commenting on the Internet
142-150Views:167Restrictions on the freedom of expression have been subject to mixed and constant debates. The debates are increasing in the case of free speech on the internet. In the recent past the Hungarian Constitutional Court had to examine this problem and contribute to the discourse. This article presents decision 19/2014 of the Hungarian Constitutional Court concerning the freedom of expression on the internet. The subject-matter of the case was the liability for the comments. The study intends to show the arguable points of the Court’s reasoning.
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A divatszakmában dolgozó munkások védelmének helyzete
105-129Views:344The global fashion industry is characterized by a dynamic and complex supply chain. Clothing products and footwear reach consumers through various brands, from developing countries to Western countries. The exploitation of workers at the bottom of the supply chain goes hand in hand with huge benefits for those at the top of the supply chain. Due to the lack of direct contact with workers, brand owners and resellers often ignore the abuse of workers ’rights in the production of their products. Labor law rules alone are not enough to improve working conditions and ensure the rights of workers in the fashion industry. Brand owners and resellers have a vital role to play in changing their working conditions. By incorporating “soft law” solutions such as the UN Business and Human Rights Guidelines and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Screening Guide, responsible business conduct can be achieved. Incorporating voluntary initiatives into the business behaviors of brand owners and resellers has a significant impact on improving employee rights. In this study, I assess how the 2016 Transparency Draft has affected the protection of workers in the global fashion industry, how much the inclusion of Transparency and Sustainable Development Goals has improved the situation of exploitation of workers. The ILO regularly examines the issue through its analysis of human rights reports.
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Cumulation of Causes of Remedies for Non-performance and other Claims, with Special Regard to the Section 6:145. of Civil Code
60-78Views:180The Civil Code (Section 6:145.) excludes the possibility of parallel delictual claims of compensation for damages arising from breach of contract (non-cumul). This essay deals with the concept of concurrence of law and the concept of cumulation of causes of action and the relationship between contractual remedies and other sanctions grounded on a non-contractual basis. It examines the French doctrine of non-cumul, the proposal of DCRF and certain methods among the European legal systems. This essay analyzes briefly the two situations where the contractual and delictual bases could compete with each other and the application of the above mentioned provision may generate problems.
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In Contrast: Responsibility for Environment and Regulation in Finance
128-155Views:254The more environmental policy comes into the focus of fiscal policies of governments, the more prevailing are the interests in it influencing the governance as a whole. In the context of the European Union, the governmental role of the Member States’ increased less for initiating the (often invoked) environmental protection but such an increase is rather an end in itself. The responsibility for environment seems to represent the bright side, while the reality of financial regulations shows the dark side of government priorities.
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General Partnerships and the Fiduciary Duty in the US Legal System
58-67Views:247The law of fiduciary duty is as old as common law. It is the key element of the law of equity. The agency relationship creates a fiduciary relationship between the parties, which means that the fiduciary (agent) is subject to the direction of the one on whose behalf he acts (principal). This high standard of conduct – in the scope of the agency relationship – has become a separate liability form in the common law countries and has appeared not only in company law but in other parts of civil law as well. This paper presents the development and the basic elements of fiduciary duty in the field of general partnerships.
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The Intergenerational justice at the Constitutional Level
48-64Views:139The debates about the rights of the future generations have risen significantly in the last decade. The more attention we give to the question, the larger the number of new issues which emerge. As an example, the right to a healthy environment or the rights of the unborn can be mentioned. The aim of the study is to examine this question in connection with constitutions. The constitutional level could significantly affect the possibilities of the future generations. The theory of intergenerational justice is examined in relation to the main topic. The analysis of the population pyramid of the Brexit voters is mentioned as an example of a possible intergenerational injustice.