Legal protection against damage to environmental pollution

Abstract

Intensive industrial and technological development poses an increased risk to the environment. Often, the consequences of environmental pollution are inviolable, and the prevention of damage is, as a rule, cheaper than remedying the damage that has already occurred. For this reason, in both comparative and domestic legislation, the application of preventive measures has priority in relation to measures of repressive character. If, however, preventive measures are committed, and the damage occurs, citizens have a range of restitutive measures at their disposal. The paper analyzes international declarations, directives, conventions and other legal regulations protecting states and citizens from damage in the field of ecology. From these international documents, a whole series of obligations arises that the Republic of Serbia, as a member of the United Nations and candidate country for membership in the European Union, has to fulfill, or a whole series of provisions from the aforementioned international legal regulations that must be implemented in its laws and by-laws. A special section in this text is dedicated to our positive legislation in the field of legal protection against environmental damage. Analysis of the current state of affairs in the field of environmental legislation and practice led to concrete conclusions and suggestions of the author in the direction of improving the unsatisfying position of environmental protection rights, with particular reference to the mechanisms of legal protection against damage caused by environmental pollution.

Keywords

• ecological damage
• environmental complaint
• environment
• pollutant