Polluter Pays Principle

The polluter pays principle is one of the central guiding principles of the OSPAR Convention and requires that the costs of pollution prevention, control and reduction measures must be borne by the polluter.

The polluter pays principle is mainly implemented by means of command-and-control approaches but can also be applied via market-based mechanisms, e.g. for the development and introduction of environmentally sound technologies and products.

Recognised by the ministerial North Sea Conferences in 1984, the polluter pays principle was included in the 1992 OSPAR Convention. Internationally the polluter pays principle was introduced in the 1970s by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and reaffirmed globally in the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.