The legal anatomy of an environmental damage case
A case of damage caused to the environment stands on three pillars: the principle from which liability arises; the relation between fees and compensation; and the supervisory bodies and limitation. This page explains how these three links work under the Law on Environmental Protection and what the person preparing such a case should know.
Polluter pays and the other principles
The substantive foundation of the case lies in the principles: polluter pays — the subject of an activity is obliged to compensate the damage it has caused to the environment; risk reduction — the obligation to take measures to prevent or reduce the risk of harmful impact; paid nature use — the use of natural resources is chargeable; and restitution — a degraded environment must be restored to a state as close as possible to its original condition. These principles are used in court as the starting point of interpretation.
Fees do not replace compensation
The norm on fees is decisive for the case: deriving from the principles of paid nature use and polluter pays, taxes are established in Georgia for harmful impact on the environment, for the use of natural resources and other taxes; their structure, amount and payment procedure are established by law in accordance with the Constitution. The main point is that the payment of fees does not release the subject of an activity from the obligation to compensate damage caused to the environment. In other words, the amount paid to the state and the restoration of the damage are two different, parallel obligations.
By the same logic, for activities especially dangerous to the environment, financial assurance of the risk of causing damage is mandatory, its regime being established by the law on environmental liability — at high risk the source of remediation must be secured in advance.
State control, evidence and limitation
State control in the sphere of environmental protection and the use of natural resources, except oil, gas and natural hydrogen, is exercised by the ministry, the department, the Agency of Protected Areas, the Agency of Nuclear and Radiation Safety and the state forest management body. The department carries out inspection — scheduled or unscheduled checks and surveys; the basis of a check is an individual administrative-legal act, whose appeal does not suspend the check.
From the dispute perspective this means: the inspection materials of the controlling bodies are often the initial source for establishing the fact of damage, and the imposition of liability on the perpetrator does not release him from compensation — these two tracks do not replace each other.
The limitation period for a claim for damage caused to the environment is 10 years from the moment the right of claim arises. The right of claim arises from the moment the controlling body learned of the damage and of the person obliged to compensate it. This means the period is not counted from the factual moment of the damage but from the moment of the controlling body's awareness — and in structuring the case, establishing precisely this point often decides the matter.