Landowner's liability and waste management : perspectives from private law

The paper focuses on the so-called landowner liabilities according to the directive on environmental damage (directive 2004/35/CE, ELD) and the waste framework directive (directive 2008/98/CE, WFD). Several recent rulings of the European Court of Justice have shown that there may be some overlaps between the two pieces of legislation. This is especially true with regard to the liability of the "innocent" owner, that is to say, the owner of a contaminated land who is not responsible for the soil pollution nor for the improper waste disposal but nevertheless is considered financially responsible for certain costs. As discussed in the paper, the questions are still controversial as soil is not subject to a comprehensive and coherent set of rules in the European Union and at a national level only few EU Member States have specific legislation on soil protection.