FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Carine Le Roy-Gleizes, Corentin Chevallier, Alice Messin-Roizard and Antoine Juquin, UGGC Avocats
• an uncontrolled waste-dumping offence, sanc- tioned by a three-year prison sentence and a EUR150,000 fine; and • an “ecocide” offence, introduced in cases of volun- tary environmental endangerment and sanctioned by a ten-year prison sentence and a EUR4.5 million fine. Moreover, the 2024 EU directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law must be trans- posed into French law by 2026. It introduces new offences, such as the manufacture, storage, and ille- gal use of mercury, or the illegal recycling of polluting ship components. Additionally, it is possible to be held liable for envi- ronmental damage under contractual liability. Such liability would likely arise in land purchases where a seller retains important information regarding the facility and the industrial history of the land (see 17. Transactions ). 5.2 Liability for Historical Environmental Incidents or Damage Administrative obligations and liability for historical incidents or damage may be transferred from one operator to another if the new operator is conduct- ing the same activities. Therefore, the new operator will be liable for the pollution relating to the continued activity even if they were not the operator at the time the pollution originated. Liability for pollution from the former operator that is unrelated to the continued activity is not transferred. The landowner cannot be liable for historical environ- mental incidents or damage, except under specific circumstances. In that regard, if none of the afore- mentioned former stakeholders can be identified, the owner of the contaminated land may be liable if their negligence or participation in the pollution can be proven. 5.3 Key Defences Administrative Liabilities When the classified facilities regulation applies, the prefect may order any administrative measure neces- sary to address a threat to the environment. Similar provisions are applicable under the water regulation
and to any type of environmental damage supervised by a regulatory authority. State liability Interested third parties (eg, neighbours of a classified facility) may seek the state’s legal responsibility for the lack of action taken to protect the environment. Public authorities can elude liability if they demonstrate that they have conducted the necessary checks to ensure the facility’s safety. More generally, there is an overall tendency to seek state liability for its inaction or insufficient action regarding environmental protection. By way of exam- ple, the Administrative Supreme Court found the state liable in several landmark cases concerning the insuf- ficiency of the measures enshrined in the Protective Atmospheric Plan, whereby the state was ordered to pay a penalty of EUR10 million for every six months of inaction. However, the same Court ruled in July 2025 that the state can only be held liable for insufficient monitoring on classified facilities (resulting in environmental dam- ages) if it appears that the measures taken were inad- equate considering the information available when they were taken, and not on the basis of subsequent findings or standards. Civil liability The key concepts of civil liability include “disturbanc- es of the neighbourhood” and “control over the things under one’s guard” (see 10.1 Civil Claims ). The French Civil Code also sets out the ecological prejudice rep- aration concept and provides that any person who causes an ecological prejudice must repair it. 6. Corporate Liability 6.1 Liability for Environmental Damage or Breaches of Environmental Law A corporate entity may be liable for environmen- tal damage or breaches of environmental law when acts of negligence or faults are demonstrated. Under French criminal law, the liability of the individual does not exclude the liability of the corporate entity. The
220 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook