The precautionary principle in civil liability: Contribution to the  development of  traditional rules

EL BABIDI Siham, PHD researcher University MohammedV Rabat-Morocco

Introduction :                                        

In today’s environment of rapid scientific research and technological development, different ways of  applying new knowledge and innovations are constantly being engendered that present us with more possibilities and challenges[1].

Spectacular industrial development that has been caused by social, economic and technological transformations,  has touched the various aspects of human life.As a consquence, it has pushed the  modern legislations to seek new and effective mechanisms along with traditional rules of civil responsibility,  in order to strike a balance between the intensive use of technology (which became a new pattern of  living) and its likely hazard in order to minimize the risks posed by certain contemporary humanitarian activities and practices.

The precautionary principle (PP) has gained much importance and has critically influenced academic dialogue,especially after the various crises[2] seen by the world  in recent years. This proved that the development of technology and biological sciences has created new risks that weren’t familiar, such that existing legal solutions are no longer sufficient to confront them.

These factors had paved the way for a gradual transition from applying the traditional civil liability rules to establishing a new responsibility framework which seeks to bring the global Preventive liability based on Precaution.

Therefore, it can be said that these risks have been a major reason for applyng the precautionary principle  in order to garantee better prevention from risks of industrial activities, and products that pose a real threat to the environment, health and safety.

In other words, The precautionary principle has become one of the most important topics that are addressed and discussed in modern times, because of  it’s application to both international and domestic laws.  Furthermore, it was regarded as a protective mechanism with a preventive function, especially when it comes to potentially uncertain, irreversible and serious damage.Which  leads to ask the following question: Should the precautionary principle become a true principle of civil liability law?

The  objectives of this paper are, first to examine and discuss issues arising in the definition and the specific conditions of the principle  in order to apply it in the specific field of civil liability ; and second to consider the impact of the precautionary principle on traditional rules in civil liability.Especially when it comes to realize the importance of  the precautionary approach as a logical extension of commonsense concepts that guide daily life : ‘’ an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure’’ ; ‘’ better safe than sorry’’. It challenges us to prevent harm before it occurs[3].

Discussion

1.0Legal concepts of the precationnary principle:

The origins of the precautionary principle can be traced back to the german domestic law vorsorgeprinzip[4] aimed at the protection of human health against the effect of certain chemical substances[5].

However, it was  devoted at the international level through the international agreements and treaties on environmental issues. The precautionary principle is included in the 1992 Rio declaration on Environment and Development, and in the united nations framework convention on climate change[6]. Later the Precautionary Principle was incorporated into the article on precaution (Article 5.7) of the world trade  Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS Agreement) of 1994, as well as into the Biosafety Protocol that was approved in Montreal in January 2000[7].

The precautionary principle or precautionary approach, is used in  variety of ways, and a wide range of formulations exists[8].

Since, there isn’t any unified defintion for this principle, i will firstly explore the various definitions given to the PP, then i will secondly examine  the application conditions as follows.

1.1Definitions:

The precautionary principle was formulated for the first time in the Rio declaration on environnement and development in 1992, it was enumarated as one of the important principles to guide environmental protection.  Principle 15 espouse the PP as follows :

 «  in order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by states acording to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty  shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevalent environmental degradation ».

Equally, the PP was espoused in the London Declaration (Second international conference on the protection  of the north sea 1987) as follows :

« …In order to protect the North sea from possibly damaging effects of the most dangerous substances, a precautionary approach is necessary which may require action to control inputs of such substances even before a causal link has been established by absolutely clear scientific evidence. »

Therefore, the precautionary principle has taken root to domestic laws especially environmental  and consumer laws,  after beeing one of the most applicant  principles in the international law.  These include the French law  which adopted the precautionary approach in their constitution, the principle was established through (article 5[9]) which provides for it as follows :

« Where the realization of damage, although uncertain in the State of scientific knowledge, could seriously and irreversibly affect the environment, the public authorities shall ensure, by application of the precautionary principle, and in their areas of attribution, the implementation of risk assessment procedures and the adoption of provisional and proportionate measures in order to counter the realization of the damage . »

Correspondingly, the French environmental Law called law of Barnier[10] adopted in 1995, attempted to provide for the precautionary principle as follows:

«  the lack of certainty, under the present state of scientific and technological knowledge, should not lead to postpone effective and proportionate measures aimed at preventing threats of serious and irreversible damages to the environment at an acceptable economic cost »

Moreover, in Italy  the legal recognition of the precautionary principle has been concreted with Legislative Decree No. 152/2006 (Environment Code), article 301 (“implementation of the precautionary principle”), paragraph 1, States: “pursuant to the precautionary principle referred to in article 174 (2) of the EC Treaty, in case of dangers, if  not potential, for human health and the environment, a high level of protection must be ensured “. Legislative Decree No. 4/2008 then introduced into the environmental code.[11]

Similary, It was also approved by the Algerian Legislature in Act No. 10-03 of 19 July 2003 related to  environmental  protection in the context of sustainable development, where article 3 states:

”… The lack of certainty, due to current scientific and technical knowledge should not be a reason to postpone effective measures to prevent the risk of serious damage to the environment, at an acceptable economic cost. “

Although, there isn’t any unified definition of the precautionary principle, but conditions that should be achieved in order to apply it without giving an exhaustive definition may be established.

It can be adumbrated that the precautionary principle is a special concept, that Can be reflected in these five key elements:

Firstly: It concerns uncertain or probable risks that aren’t proven yet.The precautionary principle must be applied to face rationnal danger.It must logically be related to serious or irreversible damage, even if there is an ignorance of the causes.

Secondly: It’s  not just about the present, but even the future. It is a principle for future generations as for present generations.  Which lead to a collective-public responsibility approach.

Thirdly : It is essentially directed to the “serious ” or “irreversible” threats. Therefore, the precautionary principle requires a set of procedures for risk assessment; tracking, conducting scientific studies, monitoring and surveillance…

Fourthly : It recognizes the need to take temporary,  appropriate measures to deal with irreversibledamage. Prevention is only a limited measure of temporary and modifiable measures based on emerging knowledge.

Fifthly : It is often resorted  under the designation “risk management”, which depends on the intervention of the public authorities (political, legal, administrative…)

1.2Precautionary princple or prevention principle: What is the difference[12] ?

In matters of personal health, prevention and precaution are widely recognized ‘’best practices’’[13], they  are often confused, as they are used as synonymous concepts because of their great convergence. To the contrary, they are different in a range of aspects, perhaps the most important of which are :

• The precautionary principle based on confronting  the potential risk  due to lack of absolute scientific certainty about its seriousness and the gravity of the damages involved. In other words,  adopting the precautionary principle  is based on the lack of scientific certainty according to the available scientific knowledge and the absence of the causal link.

This suggests that adopting the  prevention principle would be limited only to the therapeutic role (repairing the damage), while the prominent role of precaution is the prevention from probable risks, which finds it’s basis in doubt and future fears.

Accordingly, what distinguishes precaution from prevention is scientific knowledge, so the traditional preventive responsibility concept based on the economic analyses standing on the balance  between  benefits and proven  damage to reduce harmfull effects, is no longer usefull in keeping with the technological developments that resulted in threats of the emergence of new risks , which has become a new paradigm with which to confront these dangers, which is sought by the precautionary principle.

1.3 Conditions to apply the precautionary principle :

In order to apply the precautionary principle, three basic conditions must be available :

      1.Lack of scientific certainty : Prior research generally confirms that the PP obliges the authorities to take an early account of potential hazard, without waiting their full scientific establishement[14]. Besides, The precautionary measures should be taken when facing irreversible risks that are scientifically uncertain.

However, the precautionary principle is a norm and a benchmark to address situations of scientific uncertainty on potential damage to health and the environment[15]. Even if they cannot immediately show full scientific evidence supporting their allegations, states have to prove that they are actively committed to resolving existing uncertainty in a reasonable time limit[16].

For instance, article 5.7 of SPS agreement reads :

« In cases where relevant scientific evidence is insufficient, a member may provisionally adopt sanitary or phytosanitary measures on the basis of available scientific information, including that from the  relevant international organizations as well as from sanitary and phitosanitary measures applied  by other members.

In such circumstances, members shall seek to obtain the additional information necessary  for a more objective assessement of risk and review the sanitary or phytosanitary measure accordingly within a reasonable period of time »[17].

Typically, This requirement is that the precautionary principle is not resorted to proven risks, it is a prudential approach only applied when sufficient scientific evidence is not available based on current scientific knowledge.The availability of which would provide sufficient data on the risk and magnitude of potential damage.

In fact, the precautionary principle is one of the non-traditional solutions, it constitutes an exception to the rule of ‘’The law’s dependence on scientific and technological progress ’’.

Given the discussion above, This principle has not arisen as a result of the harmfull results of scientific/industrial developments  on  environment, health and safety, but on the contrary, to avoid the absence of certainty or the lack of scientific evidence, in order to require legal regulations in preventing their occurrence .

   2.Threat of serious or irreversible harm : The PP is addressed in order to face harmfull consequences caused by human’s dangerous activities. It is applicabale to prevent serious, irreversible dammage and it’s harmfull effects on human health and environment.

    3.Acceptable economic cost : The precautionary principle requires precautionary measures to be  proportionate to the severity of potential damage but also to the plausibility of the threat and inversely to the costs of prevention, that include loss of benefits[18].

1.4The influence of the precautionary principle on traditional rules of responsibility:

Liability  is the obligation of a person under the applicable law to provide compensation for damage resulting from an action for which that person is deemed to be responsible[19].

The precautionary principle has brought a new vision with which to explore the civil liability based on probable risks. It is addressing the ‘’probable damage’’ instead of proven damage, it provides also the extension of a causal link.

1.5 Precautionary Principle and Potential damage: New vision

The occurrence of damage leads to liability in general, whether in domestic or international law[20].

Therefore, The Moroccan legislator defined the damage through chapter 98 of C.O.C as follows :

« the loss and the necessary expenses that were or will have to be spent to repair the results of the harmfull act, as well as the benefit he was denied in the ordinary course of the results of the harmfull Act. »

In fact, the damage can’t be compensable unless if there is a set of elements, which is indicated by the legislator  as follows:

• The dammage should be direct, to clarify it must be directly caused by the  harmful act (the error), which is confirmed by the Moroccan legislator in chapter 77 of the C.O.C.
• The damage must be adressed to a legitimate interest.
• The damage must be achieved immediately.

Conversely, The damage that is intended here is the potential damage, which did not occur and there is no confirmation that it will occur. Therefore, it is extremely likely to occur  but this possibility degree varies betweeen strength and weakness.

Consequently, The adaptation of damage in the context of the precautionary philosophy requires to look for new techniques that include the potential damage  in the range of damage that entails the various legal effects of civil liability, provided that the likelihood of such damage is serious and irreparable. These techniques determine the necessary compensation to offset past, current and future damages without directly valuing them in economic terms, by equalizing the amount of loss and gain of resources and services over time[21].

In other words, the liability arising from the precautionary approach is a liability based initialy on risk, since the latter, in turn, is uncertain and unknown.

 In addition, it is based on the fear of encountering serious, non-refundable potential damage that may not materialize.

Extension of the causal link : Scientific causality is a pre-condition of legal causation but not sufficient to establish the latter. English law divides the notion of legal causality into two : The Judge first asks whether the damage would have happened without the fact in question.The fact will be considered to be the cause  if it is a necessary condition for damage. The time a causal link in fact is established, the Judge goes on to the second condition ; to decide whether the type of the  injury is a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the fact in question[22].

According to some doctrine[23] The causal link, could be explained as follows :

«  it is not sufficient for tort to cause harm to a certain person because of  another person’s error,Rather, it must be the direct cause of the damage. »

According to German law, the person who violates the precautionary principle is responsible, because of a causal infringement, when it is not possible to disregard his/her action (marketing of a dangerous product)[24].

In addition, the Moroccan’s Obligations and Contracts code, article 77 provides that :

“Any act committed by a person with his or her choice, without being permitted by law, causing material or moral damage to others, commits the perpetrator to compensate for such damage, if it is established that the act is the direct cause of the injury…’’

In the same way, Article 78 of the C.O.C states :

“Every person is responsible for the moral or material damage he has caused, not only by doing so.. .When it’s proven that this error is the direct cause of the damage…”

In this regard, one researcher[25] goes on to say:

“… The doctrine considers that, if it is unreasonable to require absolute certainty as to the absence of potential harm, prior to authorizing a polluting activity, it does not then accept a requirement of absolute certainty in the causal link through the extension of the judge’s acceptance of the indicators and physical evidence, and sufficient to establish a sufficient probability of the causal link, thereby becoming certainty required in a relatively causal relationship.

Thus said, the precautionary principle would broaden the traditional concept of causation, since instead of being a direct and constant relationship between the risks and the damage, it would become a mere relative probability and proportional relationship for the judge to be inferred by various legal presumptions and factual circumstances.

• The impact of the precautionary principle on compensation rules:

Compensation is the significant effect of a proven civil liability, as it is a way of redressing the harm suffered by others.

As the development of contemporary humanitarian activities has resulted in threats of new risks, the traditional rules of compensation, although sufficient to cover proven damages, are not sufficient to cover potential damages.

The consensus has been that the precautionary principle has a preventive role before its compensatory character, primarily aimed at precaution against unknown risks, since before recourse is made to damages, a range of preventive measures are taken.  Such as temporary prevention of the activity or temporary with drawal of the commodity or product to avoid damage.

However, the developing concept of damage in the light of the emergence of ecological damage which threatens health and safety, as a result of the infinite manufacture and the use of chemicals,  petroleum, atomic energy in all activities (medical industry Services)… presented a set of legal problems concerning the nature of the possible compensation for probable damage.

Correspondingly,It can be said that the nature of these potential damages imposes the necessity of distributing two kind of compensation in the light of the precautionary principle :

The Intial compensation: Initially, to compensate for the damage as long as the latter has not yet been achieved, but the current scientific indicators do not confirm nor negate the possibility of achieving it.

On this basis, the precautionary indemnity is considered as a deterrent sanction for not observing the precautionary principle, as it would affect the actions of entrepreneurs with future risks to the environment, where they remain responsible until the harmful activity is achieved and its results are completed.

In this regard, Professor Echerkaoui explains:

”… The importance of compensating the victim has prompted many legislations to consider creating new mechanisms to ensure that some groups are compensated… One of the most important of these mechanisms is the so-called guarantee funds, which only guarantee the injured in a precautionary manner. [26]“

In the same way, the Professor adds:

”… On the other hand, given the nature of some international risks, international funds have been created to ensure compensation for damages resulting from such risks, for instance the International Fund for Compensation of damage caused by marine pollution , which was created under the 1971 Brussels Convention “.

In this regard, the Moroccan legislature, provides in article 60 of law 11.03 on the protection and restoration of the environment, that:

“A national Fund for the Protection and rehabilitation of the environment shall be established and determined by the applicable text of the legal framework of this Fund and its functions, resources and expenses.”

Thus, the probability nature of the damage requires the Judge to make the initial indemnity a guarantee of the victim’s collateral, while it is a deterrent to the perpetrator of the harmful activity because of its irregularity and disrespect for the precautionary principle by evaluating the harmful effects of the activity or the product in a rough manner.

The final compensation: If the precautionary compensation for damage under the precautionary principle is considered as a lump-sum deterrent, it’s the discretionary power of the Judge, where the later assesses the risk and the approximate adaptation of the damage likely to occur.

Then Final compensation requires that the damage occured, since the later moves from being merely an uncertain potential harm to become an achieved proven damage, to which the various ordinary rules of responsibility apply.

Thus, the final compensation requires that the damage be fully compensated, as it includes the various material, physical and moral damages suffered by the victim, and the damages that should have been taken care of in order to avoid their occurrence.

The adoption of the precautionnary principle in assessing compensation also calls for a certain period of time for the aggrieved to claim supplementary compensation in case  of  damage aggravation or its increasing effects.

Conclusion:

In  summary, the changing nature of  damage has made the precautionary principle a new approach to risk management, the importance of which stems from trying to control  risks in order to guarantee human safety, health and environment ; especially in the light of the alarming rise of the world’s disasters as a result of the development of science and industry, in addition to  the increasing demand and rush to use nuclear energy regardless of its dangerous consequences.

Therefore, the precautionary principle today is the cornerstone to build  the global preventive responsibility, considering that serious ecological damage (global warming, ozone hole, water and air pollution,…) as well as the health damage (endemic diseases caused by the industrial diet),  Can’t pass without being accounted for, as the thinker Hans Jonas goes writting  in his famous book ‘’ the principle of responsibility’’ ; it is not possible to evade responsibility in the face of future generations by registering this damage against unknown, although everyone must take responsibility as much as his contribution to it.

Therefore, the adoption of the precautionary principle can only be achieved by establishing its legal value :

1. Admittedly,by activating it at the realistic level and establishing mechanisms to strengthen its application (assigning the task of managing risks to certain competent authorities), considering that this principle is a tool owned by the  state public authorities. In order  to manage  the potential hazards of a serious-irreversible risks that may affect human health  or environmental balance.
2. Expertise must be rigorously organized to achieve quality and credibility.
3. This principle must be stipulated and regulated within the legal rules.

Finaly, The application of the precautionary principle should not be limited to environmental damage only, but should be extended to the consumer’s sector ; especially to all health-safetyaspects in sequence of  protecting the consumer and guaranteeing  food security.

References :

• Pascal Gastineau-Emmanuelle Taugourdeau : Which compensation for whom , Documents de Travail du Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne ,November 2012 ; Submitted on 26 Dec 2012, hal archives ouvertes.
• Olivier Godard : the precautionnary principle between social norms and economic constructs, Cahier n° 2005-020, June 2005 .
• Olivier GODARD : Revisiting the precautionary principle under the light of 2002-2003 Frensh and international events, October 2003, Cahier n° 2003-018
• Olivier Godard : the precautionnary principle, the environnment and international trade : sovereignty and collective preferences in question, cahier n° 2005-06
• Olivier Godard : the precautionnary principle between social norms and economic constructs, Cahier n° 2005-020, June 2005
• Claude HENRY- Marc HENRY : formalization of the precautionnary principle, Cahier n° 2002-008
• Abderrahman Echarkaoui, Civil law: A recent study of the general theory of obligations and contracts in light of the impact of the new economic Law concepts , first edition 2015

عبد الرحمان الشرقاوي- القانون المدني : دراسة حديثة للنظرية العامة للالتزام على ضوء تأثرها بالمفاهيم الجديدة للقانون الاقتصادي, الطبعة الأولى 2015

• Mohammed hamidani : Environmental civil liability in Algerian and comparative legislation- towards a protective environmental responsibility. Edition dar al jami’a 2017 , p 171.

محمد حميداني، المسؤولية المدنية البيئية في التشريع الجزائري و المقارن نحو مسؤولية بيئية وقائية. دار الجامعة الجديدة،2017 ص 171

• Carl SMITH : the precautionnary principle and environmental policy science, uncertainty, and sustainability. Special series(pdf document) p 263.
• Gonzalo Quintero-Olivares : le principe de précaution et sa difficile incorporation au droit pénal1101, p406 – Article published in : «  L’INFLUENCE DU PRINCIPE DE PRÉCAUTION SUR LE DROIT DE LA RESPONSABILITÉ CIVILE ET PÉNALE COMPARÉ » Recherche réalisée avec le soutien de la Mission de recherche Droit et Justice Septembre 2016.
• The precautionnary principle : world commission on the Ethics of scientific knowledge and technology,printed in France, published in 2005 by the UNESCO.
• Roosie COONEY : the precautionary principle in biodiversity and natural resource management, an issue paper for policy makers, researchers and practitioners ; IUCN policy and global change series No.2/ the world conservation Union 2004
• Simon Taylor : la responsabilité civile et l’incertitude scientifique : rapport sur le droit anglais, published in : « l’influence du principe de précaution sur le droit de la responsabilité civile et pénale comparé.» Recherche réalisée avec le soutien de la Mission de recherche Droit et Justice Septembre 2016.
• Christian Jäger : le principe de précaution comme maxime d’action en droit de l’environnement et de la santé ainsi que ses répercussions sur le droit pénal Allemand ; Recherche réalisée avec le soutien de la Mission de recherche Droit et Justice Septembre 2016.

[1]The precautionary principle- world commission on the ethics of scientific knowledge and technology- published in 2005 by the united nations educationnal scientific and cultural organization , p 1.

[2] For instance,Bovine spongiform encephalopathy commonly known as mad cow disease.

[3] Carl SMITH :the precautionary principle and environmental policy science, uncertainty, and sustainability. Special series.p 263

[4] Claude HENRY- Marc HENRY : formalization of the precautionary principle, Cahier n° 2002-008,p2

[5]  Gonzalo Quintero-Olivares : LE PRINCIPE DE PRÉCAUTION ET SA DIFFICILE INCORPORATION AU DROIT PÉNAL1101, p406 article published in :« L’INFLUENCE DU PRINCIPE DE PRÉCAUTION SUR LE DROIT DE LA RESPONSABILITÉ CIVILE ET PÉNALE COMPARÉ » Recherche réalisée avec le soutien de la Mission de recherche Droit et Justice Septembre 2016.

[6] The precautionary principle : world commission on the Ethics of scientific knowledge and technology,printed in France, published in 2005 by the UNESCO p 8.

[7] The precautionary principle : world commission on the Ethics of scientific knowledge and technology, published in 2005 p 8.

[8] Roosie COONEY : the precautionary principle in biodiversity and natural resource management, an issue paper for policy makers, researchers and practitioners ; IUCN policy and global change series No.2/ the world conservation Union 2004 p 1

[9] « Lorsque la réalisation d’un dommage bien qu’incertaine en l’état des connaissances scientifiques, pourrait affecter de manière grave et irréversible l’environnement, les autorités publiques veilleront, par application du principe de précaution, et dans leurs domaines d’attribution, à la mise en œuvre de procédures d’évaluation des risques et à l’adoption de mesures provisoires et proportionnées afin de parer à la réalisation du dommage. »

[10] La loi 95-101 , dite loi Barnier( Article L110-1) cite : « le principe de précaution , selon lequel l’absence de certitudes, compte tenu des connaissances scientifiques et techniques du moment, ne doit pas retarder l’adoption de mesures effectives et proportionnées visant à prévenir un risque de dommages graves et irréversibles à l’environnement à un cout économiquement acceptable . »

[11] Michele Cespa : LE PRINCIPE DE PRÉCAUTION EN ITALIE – LE PROBLÈME DES CHAMPS ÉLECTROMAGNÉTIQUES-Article published in : « L’INFLUENCE DU PRINCIPE DE PRÉCAUTION SUR LE DROIT DE LA RESPONSABILITÉ CIVILE ET PÉNALE COMPARÉ » Recherche réalisée avec le soutien de la Mission de recherche Droit et Justice Septembre 2016, p 337

[12]  « …The PP deals with risks with poorly known outcomes and poorly known  probability, the unquantified possibility is sufficient to trigger the considerations of the PP, this distinguishes the PP from the prevention principle : if one does have a credible ground for quantifying probabilities, then the prevention principle applies instead. In that case, risks can be managed by, for instance, agreeing on an  acceptable risk level for the activity and putting enough measures in place to keep the risk below that level… »

The precautionnary principle : world commission on the Ethics of scientific knowledge and technology, published in 2005, p 13.

[13] Carl SMITH : the precautionnary principle and environmental policy science, uncertainty, and sustainability. Special series (pdf document) p 263.

[14]Olivier Godard : the precautionary principle, the environnment and international trade : sovereignty and collective preferences in question, cahier n° 2005-06, P 3

[15] Olivier Godard : the precautionary principle, the environnment and international trade : sovereignty and collective preferences in question, cahier n° 2005-06, P 6

[16]Olivier Godard : the precautionary principle between social norms and economic constructs, Cahier n° 2005-020, June 2005, P 6

[17]Olivier Godard : the precautionary principle between social norms and economic constructs, Cahier n° 2005-020, June 2005 p 6

[18]  Olivier GODARD : Revisiting the precautionary principle under the light of 2002-2003 Frensh and international events, October 2003, Cahier n° 2003-018, p 7

[19] The precautionnary principle : world commission on the Ethics of scientific knowledge and technology, published in 2005 p 24

[20]  Yousfat Ali Hachem- Abdelkader Mahdaoui : international liability for damage caused by nuclear Leaks, P 5

[21]  Pascal Gastineau-Emmanuelle Taugourdeau : Which compensation for whom ,Documents de Travail du Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne ,November 2012 ; Submitted on 26 Dec 2012, hal archives ouvertes, p 4

[22] Simon Taylor : LA RESPONSABILITÉ CIVILE ET L’INCERTITUDE SCIENTIFIQUE : RAPPORT SUR LE DROIT ANGLAIS Université Paris Diderot /« L’INFLUENCE DU PRINCIPE DE PRÉCAUTION SUR LE DROIT DE LA RESPONSABILITÉ CIVILE ET PÉNALE COMPARÉ » Recherche réalisée avec le soutien de la Mission de recherche Droit et Justice Septembre 2016, p 266.

[23] Abderrahman Echarkaoui, Civil law: A recent study of the general theory of obligations and contracts in light of the impact of the neweconomic Law concepts , first edition 2015  p 119

[24]Christian Jäger : LE PRINCIPE DE PRÉCAUTION COMME MAXIME D´ACTION EN DROIT DE L´ENVIRONNEMENT ET DE LA SANTÉ AINSI QUE SES RÉPERCUSSIONS SUR LE DROIT PÉNAL ALLEMAND ;Recherche réalisée avec le soutien de la Mission de recherche Droit et Justice Septembre 2016, p 329.

[25] Mohammed hamidani : Environmental civil liability in Algerian and comparative legislation- towards a protective environmental responsibility. Edition dar al jami’a 2017 , p 171.

[26] Abderrahman Echarkaoui, Civil law: A recent study of the general theory of obligations and contracts in light of the impact of the neweconomic Law concepts , first edition 2015  p 393.