91997E2902

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2902/97 by W.G. van Velzen (PPE) and Ria Oomen-Ruijten (PPE) to the Commission (17 September 1997)

Subject: Liability

At the beginning of August it was revealed that a huge soil-pollution incident had happened at Zelzate in Belgium, caused, as shown by test results, by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The PAHs, which are spread through the atmosphere, have been detected in weaker concentrations as far afield as the Zealand-Flanders border area, in particular in the localities of Sas van Gent and Axel in the Netherlands. A chemicals firm is suspected of having caused this pollution.

Can the Commission clarify the procedures that must be followed to force the Belgian polluter to assume liability for the damage that has been caused in the Zealand-Flanders region?

If the Belgian authorities are unable to arrive at a definite conclusion as to the identity of the PAH polluter in Zelzate, to whom must the injured parties in the Netherlands turn in seeking compensation for their losses?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (10 November 1997)

The Honourable Members are referred to the replies given by the Commission to written question P-2879/97 by Mrs Boogerd Quaak ((See page 90. )) and to their written question E-2900/97 ((See page 97. )).

The Brussels and Lugano conventions on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters cover the procedures to be followed with a view to ascertaining liability of the polluter. According to these conventions and the jurisprudence based on them, both the courts of the place where the damaging act took place (Belgium) and of the place where the damage occurred (also the Netherlands) would be competent. It is up to the judge to decide, on the basis of international private law rules, which national law, including liability rules, would have to be applied to the case.