环境民事公益诉讼中预防性责任之限缩适用

Limitations on the Application of Preventive Liability in Environmental Public Interest Litigation

环境民事公益诉讼中适用预防性责任的宽严标准,是影响环境风险司法治理成效的核心要素。司法实践和理论研究对预防性责任的适用呈现“从危害防止到风险预防”的逻辑进路,但存在适用规则不一的乱象,使得扩张化适用趋势抬头。预防性责任作为规制环境风险的司法举措,主要在于解决环境风险的责任分配问题,以堵截行政管理漏洞。作为适用预防性责任根据的风险预防原则,固然可以巧妙解决环境风险的归责问题,但因环境公益的泛化识别,违法性要件的虚置,因果关系判定的舍弃,责任形式的多元,均使得归责缘由过度抽象和缺乏具体的可操作性标准,有过度扩大适用范围之嫌。故当以维护环境公益为起点,建构起包括环境风险行为的违法性、重大风险的事实状态、因果关系在内的预防性责任构成要件,有效限缩应负预防性民事责任的主体范围,以免环境司法对其他合法权益的恣意侵犯。

The broad and stringent standards for the application of preventative liability in environmental public interest litigation are essential elements influencing the effectiveness of judicial governance of environmental risks.Judicial practice and theoretical research on the application of preventative liability follow a logic path from “harm prevention to risk prevention.” However,the disorder in the application rules have led to a rising trend of expansive application.Preventative liability,as a judicial measure to regulate environmental risks,primarily aims to address the the allocation of responsibilities for environmental risk actors and plug administrative loopholes.While the principle of risk prevention,as the basis for applying preventative liability,can effectively address the attribution of environmental risks,the potential for overly broad application arises due to the abstract nature and lack of specific operational standards resulting from the broad identification of environmental public interests,the virtual placement of illegal elements,the abandonment of causality determination,and the diversity of liability forms.Therefore,starting with the protection of environmental public interests,it is necessary to construct the constituent elements of preventative liability,including the illegality of environmental risk behavior,the factual status of major risks,and causality.This will effectively limit the scope of subjects liable for preventative civil liability to prevent arbitrary infringements on other legitimate interests by environmental judiciary.