The Case for a Procedural Version of the Precautionary Principle Erring on the Side of Environmental Preservation

The Precautionary Principle, widely adopted at national and international level, has been harshly criticized by both academic scholars and policy makers. A key argument is that the Principle, if interpreted with balance, should amount to nothing but the application of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to risk policy. By contrast, this paper shows that the Principle is meaningful outside the paradigm of CBA and that most critiques are valid only if an extreme version of the Principle is endorsed. Hence, a mild interpretation of the Principle, which includes both procedural and substantive norms, is proposed. Most notably, when the complex relationship between law, economics and science is properly assessed, the Precautionary Principle appears to be a crucial guideline for decisions over serious and uncertain risks