Principle pollutant-payer

The principle pollutant-payer east defines by the law (cf Article L. 110-1, II, 3° of the code of the environment) according to which the expenses resulting from measurements of Prévention, reduction of the Pollution and fight against this one must be supported by the pollutant.

Economic principle with the legal principles

The principle pollutant-payer is a principle rising from the ethical of Responsabilité, which consists in making take into account by each Economic actor the negative externalities of its activity. Its principle was developed by the liberal economist Arthur Cecil Pigou with the beginning of the year 1920.

The principle pollutant-payer was adopted by OECD in 1972, as an economic principle aiming at the cost allocation associated with the fight against pollution. This principle is one of the essential principles which found the environmental policies in the developed countries. It is at the origin of the internalisation of the costs of pollution by authors of pollution by the means of economic instruments (green or environmental taxation in the form of taxes, royalties, even of quotas (emissions of CO₂ for example) in particular).

In Europe , this principle appears among the basic principles of the treated of the European Union (1987) to juridically found the environmental policy of the Union. It was proposed in a White paper of 2000 on the “environmental Responsabilité”, which led to a Directive 2004/35 of April 2004 giving until April 30th, 2007 to the Member States of the EU to transpose her contents in national right. It also bases the requirement of tariffing of the services to the environment integrated for example within the framework of the parent directive on water (cf Article 9).

In France , the principle pollutant-payer or PPP became with the law known as " Barnier" one of the four large general Principles of the right of the French environment, with the principle of prevention, the precaution principle, as well as the principle of Participation (cf Code of the environment, Article L. 110-1). This principle for was not recognized as much in the Charte of the environment to constitutional value, the " principle of pollutant contributeur" he having been preferred by the component. This principle for had as much already found a full application with the law on the water of 1964 which established a system of royalties of pollution as of taking away of the water resource within the framework of the system of the Agence of water which ensure some since management under control of the Parliament.

Limits of the principle

In its concrete application, the problem is to manage to quantify these negative externalities, which can be done with difficulty in advance.

However at the beginning these negative externalities are most of the time unknown or difficult to quantify. But this obstacle is not insurmountable as shows it the solidity of the system of the royalties of the Agence of water instituted since 1964.

The principle of Prévention must then apply, to limit the future expenditure. It is the inciting base of this principle.

If the principle could not be constitutionalized in French right, it is undoubtedly taking into account its economic origin and that it carried in its center a delicate corrolaire: if the pollutant pays, does this payment grant a right to him to pollute?

Example

A remarkable example of principle “pollutant-payer” was the tax with the Essieu: it is known indeed that the wear of the road by a truck, at a given speed, believes like the fifth power of the weight in the axle (what wants to say that with weight by double axle, wear is multiplied by 32). One thus determined for the trucks a tax proportional to the fifth power of the weight by axle.

This tax, although having kept the same name, does not depend today any more directly on the weight by axle, putting fine at a policy of truth of the costs. However, the technique as regards roadways having evolved/moved, producing a more varied range of structures, the law of the fifth power of the weight to the axle did not reflect any more the truth of the costs.

See too

environmental Damage
Environmental economics
Self-regulation
general Tax on the polluting activities (TGAP)
articles of the : Category: Pollution

External bonds

the principle of the pollutant-payer, on the site Life-Publique.fr
environmental Taxation Report/ratio of the Council of the taxes 2005