Companies operating in the European Union should be subject to a single environmental liability regime rather than the existing 27 national systems that are inconsistent and poorlycoordinated, European Parliament lawmakers said in a resolution adopted Thursday.An updated EU liability framework should require consistent reporting of incidents so companies would have to pay for any environmental damage they cause, according to the nonbindingresolution. The EU also should reverse the current burden of proof so companies involved in incidents would have to prove they couldn’t have known about risks to theenvironment, the resolution stated.In addition, the resolution call for reforms to strengthen rules on the responsibility of company boards for harmful actions or for failing to act. That would make it easier to hold toaccount directors who “cause environmental damage through irresponsible decisions, as in the Volkswagen case,” the resolution said, referring to the so-called Dieselgate tailpipeemissions scandal.
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