Considerations on the international regulations relating to the sanctioning of acts harming the environment

• Author: Daniel-Stefan Paraschiv
• Position: Ph.D. Lecturer, Faculty of Law 'Spiru Haret' University
• Pages: 57-61

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicaljournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No. 1 (2015), pp. 57-61

57

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS RELATING TO THE

SANCTIONING OF ACTS HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT

D. Ș. Paraschiv

Daniel-Ștefan Paraschiv

*Correspondence

Ph.D. Lecturer – Faculty of Law

“Spiru Haret” University

e-mail: drept_vl.paraschiv.daniel@spiruharet.ro

Abstract

Even if international law manifested initially as quite reluctant in the acceptance and,

especially, the massive international liability for environmental damage, since the second half

of the twentieth century were adopted several international legal instruments of general and

special nature which include regulations on environmental protection measures, but also on

the liability of those guilty of altering it.

Key words: environmental protection, international conventions, illegal acts, liability,

sanctions

Introduction

One of the basic principles of international law is the idea that any breach of an

engagement involves an obligation to repair1.

International Responsibility represents an essential institution of public international

law that establishes what consequences arise for an entity as a result of the breach of an

international obligation2, representing also the mechanism through which is obtained the

restoration of legality - if the legal order is disregarded by a state or another subject of public

international law3.

Permanent degradation of the natural environment causes particularly complex

environmental problems, manifested by lack of harmony between the man-made and natural

environment4, leading not only to the destruction of the ecological balance, but also the

reverse reaction5, environment becoming less favorable for the realization of socio-economic

activities, human life6, which can no longer be considered the center of the biosphere7.

1 D. Ruzie, Droit international public, 15ème édition, Édition Dalloz, Paris, 2000, p. 264. With regard to

international jurisprudence, the Permanent Court of International Justice stressed that “it is a principle of

international law and even a broader conception of law, that any breach of an engagement involves an obligation

to fix”, namely Factory at Chorzów (Germany v Poland), Judgment of July 26, 1927, PCIJ, Series A, no. 9

(http://www.icj-cij.org/pcij/serie_A/A_09/28_Usine_de_Chorzow_Competence_Arret.pdf ), p 29; in the same sense, see

the case Corfu Channel (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland against Albania), Judgment of

December 15, 1949, ICJ Reports 1949 (http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/1/1663.pdf), p 263

2 D. Popescu, Felicia MAXIM, Drept internaţional public, Renaissance Publishing House, Bucharest, 2010, p.

322.

3 P.-M. Dupuy, Droit international public, 7ème édition, Dalloz, Paris, 2004, pp. 457.

4 I. Mihuț, Autoconducere şi creativitate, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 1989, p. 259.

5 M.-L. Larsson, The Law of Environmental Damage: Liability and Reparation, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers,

The Hague, 1999, p. 39.

6 I. Avram, D. Şerbănescu, Mediul înconjurător al Terrei încotro?, in RRSI, No.1, January-February 1989, page

32, which shows that the planet's fertile land turns into desert, and the disappearance of many species of plants

and animals can lead to the inability to find cures for some serious diseases that kill tens of people daily.