Duty of care
Duty of care means that your company must not cause damage to the environment or prevent or limit it as much as possible.
On this page:
- How does the duty of care work
- To which does the duty of care apply
- Duty of care and an environmental permit
- Supervision and enforcement
How does the duty of care work
The duty of care works like this: for most business activities, there are general binding rules. But for activities where there are no general binding rules, but can cause damage to the environment, the duty of care applies. The duty of care can then prevent damage to the environment, even if there are no general binding rules for an activity. This is stated in Article 1.4 of the IAB BES.
To which does the duty of care apply
The duty of care applies to:
- The state and maintenance of a company
- Economical use of energy and raw materials
- Efficient handling of waste water and waste
- Risks to the environment and unusual occurrences
- Movement of persons and goods to and from a company
- Contamination of soil, air, ground water and surface water
- Nuisance due to dust, noise, vibration, odor and light
- Nuisance due to the use of lighting
Duty of care and environmental permit
The environmental permit contains the rules that apply to the company. Here too, the duty of care can apply. It means that the company must not cause damage to the environment, even if rules are not included in the permit.
Supervision and enforcement
The competent authority may directly enforce the duty of care. It is important that the competent authority first verifies whether the company knows or could have known that the activity could cause damage to the environment.