On 11 April, the Secretary General of the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) Gilbert Canaméras presented FERMA’s views on the future of the European Environmental Liability (ELD) to a public hearing held at the European Parliament.

He was one of the speakers representing stakeholders who participated in the hearing: Implementation of the European Liability Directive: the way forward

For FERMA The Commission’s MAWP has the potential to consolidate and strengthen best practices for the existing ELD. FERMA calls on the Commission to foster the dialogue between Member States and operators in the most sensitive industries using the MAWP as a framework to improve implementation of the ELD.

FERMA recommends that this dialogue includes the promotion of risk management practices to reduce the environmental risk for sensitive sectors.

FERMA continues to advocate against the introduction of an EU-wide mandatory financial security scheme. We believe capital resources are scarce and that current insurance voluntary systems are working well.

A register of ELD incidents is an interesting idea to increase reliable and comparable data about ELD incidents, but it should be designed carefully, notably as regards its availability and level of detail.

Video replay of the hearing  can be seen here (FERMA starting from 43’45”)