The State Obligation Of Environmental Pollution Liability Insurance

Environmental pollution liability insurance is aimed at environmental torts.It protects citizens' environmental rights,and it is a socialized remedy for tort liability.On the one hand,environmental pollution liability insurance is quite different from other liability insurances.On the other hand,although this insurance is different from social insurance in nature,its starting point is to protect the public interest.As one of the types of insurance,environmental pollution liability insurance naturally has an economic externality,and the important means to internalize this externality is the performance of state obligations.State obligations have different connotations in different fields.Ordinary state obligations are widely known.In recent years,the discussion of state obligations in the field of environmental law has gradually been recognized and accepted.But in the field of environmental pollution liability insurance,few people talk about state obligations.With the advent of public trust theory,welfare state theory,and service administration theory,state obligations have been increasingly mentioned.At the theoretical level,due to the theoretical homogeneity of the environmental rights attributes,quasi-public goods attributes and external attributes of the environmental pollution liability insurance and the relevant theories of state obligations,on the premise of this,state obligations have emerged.On a practical level,state obligations have a legal basis.The practice of environmental pollution liability insurance shows that the fulfillment of national obligations is closely related to the healthy development of the insurance.The development of insurance itself has its limitations.In the case of market failure,if the performance of state obligations is lacking,the expected results cannot be achieved.According to this,in the environmental pollution liability insurance,the state obligations are necessary and feasible.In the early 1990 s,China's environmental pollution liability insurance emerged,and state obligations also emerged.So far,China's environmental pollution liability insurance is still an voluntary insurance,the degree of intervention of state obligations is low.There are mandatory requirements only in specific areas,Such as oil pollution from marine vessels,inland navigation of dangerous chemicals,offshore oil exploration and development,offshore oil and gas mineral resources development,and pollution prevention in the Taihu Basin.To be clear,the compulsory regulations for environmental pollution liability insurance in China are all reflected in the field of water resources,and most of the relevant regulations are presented in the form of regulations.The development model that is mainly voluntary and supplementary is destined to make the development of China's environmental pollution liability insurance difficult.When many people have noticed this,the call for compulsory legislation for environmental pollution liability insurance has intensified in theory.At the practical level,regional trials have also gradually opened up,requiring some companies to compulsory insurance,trying to learn from them and make steady progress.It is undeniable that some results have been achieved in the pilot areas,but this effect is minimal in terms of the overall development of environmental pollution liability insurance.Now that environmental pollution liability insurance is a socialized relief of tort liability,digging its theoretical connotation and learning from practical experience can essentially draw the conclusion that the performance of state obligations is irreplaceable.So,although China's environmental pollution liability insurance has been implemented for quite a long time,the results are not satisfactory at the national level or in local pilot projects.In fact,this is due to the absence of state obligations,which play an irreplaceable role in environmental pollution liability insurance.The practical situation shows that the state obligations in the environmental pollution liability insurance still need to be improved.At the same time,the performance of obligations cannot be bottomless or unlimited.In the construction and improvement of state obligations,first of all,it is necessary to clarify the principles of construction.State obligations must conform to the principles of public interest,the principle of legal reservation and the principle of interest measurement.Secondly,the specific performance of national obligations must be optimized so that it can play its due role at the legislative,law enforcement and judicial levels.Finally,it is still necessary to strengthen the legal constraints on national obligations,so as to ensure the healthy development of the entire environmental pollution liability insurance system.