Specific Principles
Rectification of damage at source
Working alongside the prevention principle and the PPP, the rectification at source principle ensures damage or pollution is dealt with where it occurs. In perfect scenario, its application helps to prevent pollution which is not transferred elsewhere to get out of sight. Therefore, it is consistent with the principles of self-sufficiency and proximity applied in the waste management policies and set at the international level for the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal (see the 1989 Basel Convention, to which the EU is a signatory).
In Case C-2/90 Commission v Belgium, the CJEU held that the principle that environmental damage should as a matter of priority be remedied at source entails that it is for each region, municipality or other local authority to take appropriate steps to ensure that its own waste is collected, treated and disposed of; it must accordingly be disposed of as dose as possible to the place where it is produced, in order to limit as far as possible the transport of waste.
In wider sense, the principle serves as an overriding guide to policy, opposite to end-of-pipe approach. For instance, encouraging the development of environmentally friendly technologies and products to reduce pollution at the earliest stage. Instead of the general environmental situation, the principle emphasises proximity to the source, to effectively fight accumulation of the negative externalities. It is reflected inter alia in requirements on using the best available techniques (under the Industrial Emissions Directive).
In Case C-364/03 Commission v Greece, the CJEU held that the obligation of the Member States to adopt the measures necessary to reduce the emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen is not dependent on the general environmental situation of the region in which the industrial plant in question is located inasmuch as it is undisputed that these substances have harmful effects on human health and on biological resources and ecosystems.