Ethics Newsline®

BRUSSELS
The European Parliament last week gave its nod to a controversial measure that would require companies to pay for the clean up of environmental contamination that they cause.

Companies say the proposed law makes the cost of doing business too uncertain, arguing that firms should be exempted when performing work that has been licensed or previously thought to be safe.

“Companies are very eager to be careful, but the problem is that there’s always a risk,” Erik Berggren of the Union of Industrial and Employer’s Confederations of Europe told the BBC. “All kinds of activities — construction work, transport, dry cleaning — can pose a risk.”

Last week, the EU Parliament refused to grant those exemptions, sending the measure to EU member states for individual introduction and ratification by 2007.