Towards a liability regime for damages to transboundary waters by industrial accidents: A new protocol in the UNECE region

If anything positive can result from human-caused disasters, it is that they often lead to reform. The cyanide spill at Baia Mare, Romania from the Aurul SA gold mining operation in January 2000 resulted not only in environmental damage of continental significance (100 tons of cyanide released into waterways), and in victims who have not been compensated to this day, but also in the potential closing of a long-standing gap in international environmental law. Creating liability regimes for transboundary environmental harm has never been a straightforward or uncontentious undertaking, but after Baia Mare shed new light on the liability gap under international law a new political will to close it led to swift action. The Protocol on Civil Liability and Compensation for Damage Caused by the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents on Transboundary Waters (the Civil Liability Protocol) was signed by 22 states on 21 May 2003 at the Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference in Kiev, Ukraine. This Protocol was unique in that it was drawn up under two separate parent conventions - the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Waters and International Lakes (the Watercourses Convention), and the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (the Accidents Convention). While not perfect, the Protocol is a targeted and timely instrument that will help victims in similar circumstances to those who suffered as a result of Baia Mare find compensation more easily in the future. It should also help to prevent similar accidents by providing incentives to insurers and other financial guarantors to monitor the safety performance of their clients.