Towards the concept of responsibility in the sphere of environmental safety

Abstract

Legal responsibility in the field of environmental safety can be considered one of the main instruments of the legal mechanism of influence on participants in environmental legal relations, aimed at their forced or voluntary compliance with the requirements of the legislation on the rational use of natural resources, environmental protection and prevention of environmental risks. Despite the importance of the analyzed issue, there are no unified approaches to interpreting the concept of "legal responsibility in the field of environmental safety" in the scientific literature.

The purpose of the article is to clarify the concept of "legal responsibility in the field of environmental safety".

Based on the conducted research, the following conclusions were obtained. First, the definition of legal liability for environmental offenses as a type of legal liability, a set of legal remedies established by law, which are applied by the state, local government bodies or, in cases provided for by law, enterprises and organizations for committing an environmental offense, that is, violation of environmental protection requirements and environmental safety of the population, conditions and regime of use of natural resources, causing harm to the environment, and is ensured by state coercion measures aimed at compensating for the caused environmental damage.

In turn, the concept of "responsibility in the field of ensuring environmental safety" is proposed to be defined as a complex legal institution and a key instrument of the state mechanism, which constitutes a system of means of influence (sanctions) and legal measures established by law. norms aimed at ensuring voluntary or compulsory compliance by subjects with requirements for environmental protection, rational use of natural resources and prevention of environmental risks in order to realize everyone's right to an environment that is safe for life and health.

Secondly, the following key features of responsibility in the field of ensuring environmental security are highlighted: 1) it performs regulatory, preventive, punitive and restorative functions, being a means of achieving sustainable environmental development of the state; 2) it is an integral part of the system of environmental law and at the same time an important element of ensuring the national security of Ukraine, since environmental security is its integral component; 3) occurs in the event of an environmental offense, which is characterized by an environmental hazard for ecosystems and a focus on a negative change in the state of the environment; 4) is implemented through a legal relationship (relationship) between the state represented by authorized bodies and the offender regarding the application of appropriate measures of influence; 5) provides for the application of a complex of sanctions - administrative, criminal, civil and disciplinary - aimed not only at punishment, mandatory compensation for the caused environmental damage, but also at preventing the commission of relevant offenses in the future, and at forming environmentally conscious behavior of subjects; 6) is considered as one of the directions of the state's environmental policy, where the function of "protection" is broader than responsibility itself, but the latter is its key element.