TY - JOUR
T1 - Buds to Blossom Later
T2 - The Precautionary Principle, Environmental Impact Assessment and Intergenerational Equity in the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project Case and Thereafter
AU - Nagy, Boldizsár
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Eleven, Boom uitgevers Den Haag. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Why did the ICJ fail to apply the precautionary principle, the duty to conduct environmental impact assessment and the respect for intergenerational equity in the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project Case in 1997? Why and how has it circumvented these concepts/principles then, most of which later emerged in its subsequent jurisprudence – that is the central question of this article. It reviews the international legal status of these concepts before the judgment was adopted in 1997, the arguments of the parties in the written and oral pleadings referring (or not) to these concepts and the “afterlife” of the three concepts/principles, showing that in the 25 years after the judgment environmental impact assessment became a firmly established international legal obligation, the precautionary principle exerts stronger influence but is still somewhat debated as to its precise content, especially outside the EU and intergenerational equity (fairness to future generations) has remained a guiding principle upon which no direct claim may be based, but that may change soon in light of the climate litigation reviewed. The hardly visible undercurrent of the text suggests that had these concepts/principles been adopted by the international community by 1997, the ICJ could have reached a different conclusion. But time was not ripe for that in 1997.
AB - Why did the ICJ fail to apply the precautionary principle, the duty to conduct environmental impact assessment and the respect for intergenerational equity in the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project Case in 1997? Why and how has it circumvented these concepts/principles then, most of which later emerged in its subsequent jurisprudence – that is the central question of this article. It reviews the international legal status of these concepts before the judgment was adopted in 1997, the arguments of the parties in the written and oral pleadings referring (or not) to these concepts and the “afterlife” of the three concepts/principles, showing that in the 25 years after the judgment environmental impact assessment became a firmly established international legal obligation, the precautionary principle exerts stronger influence but is still somewhat debated as to its precise content, especially outside the EU and intergenerational equity (fairness to future generations) has remained a guiding principle upon which no direct claim may be based, but that may change soon in light of the climate litigation reviewed. The hardly visible undercurrent of the text suggests that had these concepts/principles been adopted by the international community by 1997, the ICJ could have reached a different conclusion. But time was not ripe for that in 1997.
KW - Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros judgment
KW - ICJ
KW - intergenerational equity
KW - international environmental law
KW - precautionary principle
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85159909640&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5553/HYIEL/266627012022010001002
DO - 10.5553/HYIEL/266627012022010001002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85159909640
SN - 2666-2701
VL - 10
SP - 13
EP - 49
JO - Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law
JF - Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law
IS - 1
ER -