Research On Environmental Tort Liability Of Bankrupt Enterprises

Accelerated industrialization has on one hand promoted the rapid development of market economy in China,and on the other hand made environmental issues increasingly prominent.As the backbone force for industrialization,enterprises might pursue their own economic benefits at the cost of environment.According to the principle of “polluter pays”,bankrupted enterprises carrying out environmental tort behaviors are supposed to pay;more importantly,environmental pollution normally involves the environmental comfort and health welfare of citizens as well as fundamental rights like physical right and health right,so it is necessary to ensure that the rights and interests of victims of environmental tort have to be advocated.For enterprises with normal production and operation,there are relevant laws and regulations like Environmental Protection Law and Tort Liability Law.However,under the current legal framework,it is nail-biting to investigate into the environmental tort responsibility of bankrupted enterprises.On one hand,there is contradiction in legislation for liability fixation principle of environmental tort responsibility,the stipulation about the prescribed period of litigation is unreasonable,and bankrupted environmental tort is not put under special protection.On the other hand,bankrupted enterprises,in shouldering environmental tort responsibility,are also confronted with obstacles like absence of tort responsibility subject and non-implementation of relief system.Based on the above,this dissertation combines the system design for environmental tort responsibility of bankrupted enterprises in typical countries in an attempt to solve the problems in the same area in China,with a view to helping build environmental tort responsibility system of bankrupted enterprises with Chinese characteristics.Before conducting the research,it is a must to clarify the concept of “environmental tort responsibility”.This dissertation starts from this point,goes further to discuss the concept and features of environmental tort responsibility of bankrupted enterprises,and then combines with “polluter pays theory”,“fairness and justice theory” and “social responsibility theory” to show the necessity of building the system.The second part of the dissertation reviews contemporary laws and regulations about environmental tort responsibility in China,finding that the stipulations about “whether environmental tort responsibility is applicable to no-fault liability” are not consistent;moreover,due to the status quo of absence of liability subject of enterprises after bankruptcy and failure to get preferential compensation for bankrupted environmental claim,the victims of environmental tort are confronting with great difficulties in obtaining compensation.In the third part of this dissertation,the angle of comparative law is adopted to examine relevant foreign systems.Outside the country,the understanding of environmental tort issues of enterprises after bankruptcy is quite mature,and the solutions are appropriate,both of which can provide approaches for the system construction in China.By referring to foreign experience and combining with Chinese reality,this dissertation proposes measures for the improvement of environmental tort legal responsibility system of bankrupted enterprises in China,including perfecting the prescribed period for litigation of environmental tort responsibility,guaranteeing the priority of bankrupted environmental claim,establishing the responsibility subject reservation system of bankrupted enterprises,improving environmental responsibility insurance system,implementing environmental protection fund system,and carrying out bankrupted enterprises assets withholding system.