State Immunity from Civil Jurisdiction in Transboundary Environmental Litigations

Abstract

The paper offers a de lege lata and de lege ferenda analysis of State immunity from civil jurisdiction in cases related to environmental transboundary damage, including climate change litigations. De lege lata, the analysis focuses on the customary exceptions to State immunity, namely the restrictive doctrine and the forum tort exception. De lege ferenda, the contribution firstly discusses the recent domestic case law lifting jurisdictional immunity for acts jure imperii which amount to serious violations of human rights and/or humanitarian law. Secondly, it seeks to open the discussion on a possible reform of the forum tort exception on the model of the European discipline of private international law in matters of tort, in order to ensure better protection of the individual right to an effective remedy.