https://www.boe.es/doue/2021/118/Z00001-00049.pdf
COMMISSION COMMUNICATION Guidelines providing a common understanding of the term «environmental damage» as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage (2021/C 118/01)
- The professional activities listed in Annex III are defined with reference to other Union environmental legislation instruments, many of which have been codified, amended, or replaced since the adoption of the Directive. However, the professional activities in question continue to fall within the scope of the Directive. The document on a common understanding provided information on how the relevant legislation has evolved. The professional activities listed in Annex III include, among other things, the operation of numerous industrial activities, including large-scale or high-risk industrial facilities such as chemical factories; waste management activities; certain pollutant discharges into water; water abstraction and impoundment; the manufacture, use, storage, processing, bottling, release into the environment, and on-site transport of certain substances, preparations, and products, as well as road, rail, waterway, maritime, or air transport of dangerous goods.
- The following activities listed in Annex III of the Directive on environmental liability are those most likely to be relevant in relation to damage to marine waters: (…) – Maritime transport activities listed in Annex III, paragraph 8, in relation to the minimum conditions required for vessels bound for or departing from Community seaports carrying dangerous or pollutant goods, as defined in Council Directive 93/75/EEC(171). Maritime transport may involve the carriage of large quantities of goods in containers, and the loss of containers at sea may constitute a harmful event.
- As for how pollution occurs, the reference to «the introduction […] into soil or subsoil» points to a wide variety of possibilities, including the following: — Pollution may occur due to substances present in situ. This can happen when a mining or extraction operation brings heavy metals found below the surface to the soil surface and deposits them without taking safety measures. — Pollution may be due to a specific accident or incident, for example, linked to on-site transport of hazardous substances by pipelines or road transport of dangerous or polluting goods(188). — Pollution may be due to a known or unknown continuous cause (for example, a broken pipe experiencing continuous loss of hazardous substances).