How the Eu Handles Uncertain Risks: Understanding the Role of the Precautionary Principle

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has adopted the precautionary principle (PP) as a legal principle for dealing with uncertain risks; that is situations in which the relationship between activities and their potential hazard cannot be established. While the PP's application has been defined by the European Commission and EU case law, political considerations ultimately determine whether and how it is invoked. This article reviews the literature on the PP's application in EU policy making by addressing three research questions: When do EU policy makers invoke the PP? How are EU precautionary policies made? Is the making of EU precautionary policies different from the making of regulatory policies addressing certain risks? While the conceptual literature provides some insights regarding all three questions, the empirical literature is particularly instructive regarding the first two questions. Future studies have the task of merging the two literatures in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of EU precautionary policy making.

Proportionate and disproportionate policy responses to climate change: core concepts and empirical applications

“…In such situations, individuals tend to base their decisions on emotions and simplifying heuristics rather than 'rational' cost-benefit analysis. As a result individuals tend to demand excessively precautionary or preventive actions (Tosun, 2013), which policy-makers are all too willing to deliver if it secures them an electoral advantage. Maor (2012) complements this line reasoning by introducing the idea of over-confidence by policy-makers as another explanatory factor.…”

“…Public demand is associated with policy-makers' wish to prioritize policy effectiveness over policy costs and the importance they attach to the emotional component of a policy decision. With regard to the latter, Sunstein (2005) has argued that fear is the main driver of policy over-reactions, which are facilitated by the use of policy-making principles such as precaution (Tosun, 2013).…”

The dose makes the poison: have “field realistic” rates of exposure of bees to neonicotinoid insecticides been overestimated in laboratory studies?

“…If neonicotinoid seed dressings on bee-visited crops are harming bees or the environment, then prohibiting their use is clearly of value. The moratorium has been 611 justified using the Precautionary Principle (Tosun, 2013), but if done unnecessarily it could make matters worse. Faced with the need to control pests, farmers will use other control measures, including insecticide sprays, which could harm bees (Carreck and Ratnieks, 2013).…”

Avaliação e gestão dos riscos não comprovados: estudo de casos da aplicação do princípio da precaução em Portugal

“…Tosun refere ainda a necessidade de explicitar e comunicar com mais clareza a fundamentação das decisões (Tosun, 2013), que deverão incluir as várias fontes de incerteza, a apresentação unilateral de provas, as áreas identificadas como de falta de conhecimento e informações sobre os métodos da análise utilizados. Formas de envolvimento e de participação pública que permitam a definição de níveis de risco aceitáveis socialmente e a legitimação social das medidas de precaução são igualmente importantes (Etienne, 2009;Oliveira et al, 2016) 9 .…”