The concept of liability for the degradation of the natural environment under Article 86 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland
Abstract
The concept of liability in environmental protection is addressed in the Constitutions in various ways if at all this issue is regulated in this type of act. The Polish constitutional legislator belongs to this group of constitutional legislators who have regulated the issues of legal liability in environmental protection in a direct manner. The constitutional legislator regulated this issue in Article 86 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In the system of Polish Law, legal responsibility in environmental protection has been linked to the universal duty of everyone to care for the state of the environment. The Basic Law itself defines two designations of this responsibility. Firstly, it is personal responsibility for the effects caused by oneself. Secondly, it is responsible for the deterioration of the environment. Thus, it is indicated that it is a model of individualised liability, as well as liability that results from the deterioration of the state of the environment. However, some of the institutions of the Environmental Law related to liability do not stand the test of constitutionality. It is difficult to see the deterioration of the state of the environment in the breach of reporting and information obligations. This raises the question
of the constitutionality of legal liability for the breach of these obligations. Additionally, it should be pointed out that the deterioration of the state of the
environment must be the result of a breach of the constitutional obligation to care for the state of the environment. Such a link results from the very construction of Article 86 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the conjunction “and” used by the legislator. The model of the concept of respon-
sibility in the protection of the environment in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland is a model linked to a universal duty, and not, for example, to the duties of the State or public authorities. It constitutes a modern solution making everyone aware that contemporary problems of environmental protection do not concern only the State, and that their solution should be the common domain of all subjects of the law. It also strengthens everyone’s awareness of their environmental responsibilities.
Keywords:
environmental law, environmental protection, constitutional basis for environmental protection, liability in environmental law, legal liabilityReferences
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