Research On Legal Issues Of Rural Environmental Liability Insurance In China

Sustainable development in rural areas must pay attention to the problems of rural environmental pollution and the protection of peasants’ rights and interests. For farmers, who are in a weak position at present stage in our country, due to the constraints of the traditional channels for relief, they can not obtain timely or due compensation in environmental pollution incidents, and their rights can not be guaranteed. In the conditions of China’s rural environmental pollution problems are growing, by introducing the insurance mechanism, the rural pollution damages can be a method of social relief which is becoming more and more important to provide funds to support the rural environmental protection in China. The establishment and perfection of environmental insurance system in rural areas has an important role in protecting peasants’ legitimate rights and interests, preventing the environmental pollution in rural areas, safeguard social stability and sustainable economic development in rural areas.To effectively address the relief to rural pollution damages, on the basis of drawing on the environmental liability insurance experience of the relevant nations, this study has a research on theory and practice with law as the main perspective and with the support of other disciplines such as economics, management studies. In this study, the theoretical basis of the rural environment liability insurance is sorted out firstly. The theory of equality of the right to life and the right to development and the principle of socialization of environmental tort liability and insurability theory can be used as the legal theory; the economic externality theory and the theory of market failure are the economies’. Based on the dual perspective of law and economics, this study has a more systematic analysis of the problem of liability insurance on the rural environment which can provide a theoretical basis for the study of the building of China’s rural environmental liability insurance system.Second, examine the relevant nations’ legal system of rural environmental liability insurance. By investigating the rural development status of environmental liability insurance of the developed countries such as the United States, European Union, Germany and so on and India, Brazil and other developing countries, has a deep analysis on the legal systems of rural environment liability insurance in different countries. This can provide a certain experience and reference for the building of China’s rural environmental liability insurance system and also can draw the following conclusions: perfecting environmental laws, setting stringent environmental responsibility, the implementation of the mandatory insurance system, the establishment of environmental relief fund, improving the damage claims and relief mechanisms and seeking effective links with other environmental management tools.Again, by considerations on present situation of rural environmental liability insurance, reveals the problems facing and explores its roots. The establishment of rural environmental liability insurance system can face the following problems:unclear liability for pollution damage, mainly supporting the legal system be unperfected, the high cost of insurance companies, operating at greater risk, as well as the rural industrial enterprises power lack of insurance coverage. Root causes of the problems of environmental liability insurance in rural areas are mainly in the lack of rural environmental liability insurance policies and financial support, the failure of environmental management functions of township government, the development of rural insurance market immature and lack of legal consciousness of environmental protection and insurance.Finally, in the countermeasures of the legal issues of rural environmental liability insurance, first clear and definite the building principles of rural environmental liability insurance system, including the interests coordination and balance principle and government support combined with the market-oriented operation principle; second has a reasonable design on such concrete content of rural environmental liability insurance system as mode of the insurance coverage, the insurer, bearing insurance range and the limits of liability and so on; once again perfect the supporting legal system of rural environmental liability insurance, mainly including:environmental risk information disclosure system, environment risk supervision system, environmental pollution damage compensation system and the system of accountability; last, by improving the environmental risk assessment mechanisms, perfecting financial compensation and policy incentives, and establishing environmental tort damages fund, we can improve the safeguards for the legal system of rural environmental liability insurance.This paper hopes to provide the reference of legislation and law enforcement to the relevant government departments and ensure that the rural environmental liability insurance system can be established and have a healthy and sustained development.