Legal prerequisites for the application of the precautionary principle in environmental protection and human health care

Atsargumo principas yra palyginti naujas ir dar besivystantis teisės principas. Pradėtas taikyti siauroje - aplinkos apsaugos teisės srityje, šis principas imamas taikyti kaskart vis plačiau, apimant vartotojų teisių apsaugos, visuomenės sveikatos ir kt. sritis, kuriose mokslinis netikrumas dėl galimo priežasties ir pasekmės sąryšio, galbūt kilsiančių pasekmių masto, jų reikšmingumo ar (ne)grįžtamumo yra gana dažnas reiškinys. Straipsnyje taikant lyginamąjį istorinį, lyginamąjį, dokumentų analizės, sintezės bei apibendrinimo metodus, remiantis tarptautinės ir Europos Sąjungos teisės normomis bei jurisprudencija, nagrinėjamos atsargumo principo taikymo aplinkos ir žmogaus sveikatos apsaugos srityje teisinės prielaidos. Jas apibendrinant straipsnyje daroma išvada, kad esamame atsargumo principo raidos etape jo panaudojimo reguliuojant biomedicinos sritį galimybes galėtų išplėsti nacionalinių teisės aktų pokyčiai.The precautionary principle is used to promote environmental protection by excluding scientific uncertainty as a justification for delaying an action in the face of potentially serious risks to the environment, human or animal health. The precautionary principle is included in various international and national soft law and hard law instruments, including the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the 1990 and 1992 Global Climate Change Conferences, and in the February 2000 Biosafety Protocol of the Cartagena Convention. The Maastricht Treaty on the European Union of 1992 has turned the precautionary principle into one of the pillars of the EU environmental law. Furthermore, the Court of First Instance appeared to adopt a more categorical stance in the Artegodan case, holding that the precautionary principle constituted .a general principle of Community law requiring the competent authorities to take appropriate measures. So, today, after a short period of development, the precautionary principle is used by the European Community to achieve a high level of protection, among others in environment and human, animal or plant health and is accepted as a risk management tool in several fields. The aim of this article is to analyze the legal prerequisites for the application of the precautionary principle in public health and environmental law. In order to achieve this aim, the article discusses the status of the precautionary principle in international law and analyzes the statements of the European Community, which perceives the precautionary principle as a principle of international customary law. The article pays attention to the fact that the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the Court of First Instance have already had occasion to develop case law in this area. It is also highlighted how Community case law has managed to extend the scope of application of the precautionary principle to all policies involving scientific uncertainty and introduced useful clarifications on the application of the principle in the domain of public health. The perception of precautionary principle in a field of public health by the Court of the First Instance and the Court of Justice is also analyzed. In summarizing the findings of the article the need for the implementation of the precautionary principle in the national law is emphasized