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COMMISSION NOTICE Guidelines providing a common understanding of the term ‘environmental damage’ as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage · European Union

| 19. | The manifestation of adverse effects may be sudden and accidental – as where an explosion in a chemical factory results in a fire, destruction of buildings and pollution of land and water through release of toxic substances or fire-fighting substances into water. Or it may be immediate – as where a protected woodland habitat is lost through a rapid logging operation. Or it may be gradual – as where a leak from a ruptured pipe leads to cumulative harm in the receiving environment that is detected only after some time. It is also possible that adverse effects from the same damaging occurrence may manifest themselves in both ways – as where a sudden and accidental release of a large quantity of toxic substances into a river results in an immediate fish-kill before causing a slower and more gradual deterioration of the structures of a protected aquatic habitat or of the habitat of a protected species.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.