11. Confronting Historical Pollution in Germany: The Predominant Role of Administrative Law and Its Focus on Getting Results

The challenges of historical pollution and clean-up, generally known under the term Altlasten, have been systematically addressed in Germany since the 1980s. German administrative law has always contained one of the furthest-reaching regulations of liability imaginable, providing the owner as a possible, non-subsidiarily liable addressee for clean-up orders in the interest of effectiveness. Although environmental criminal law has a strong tradition in Germany, its role with regard to historical pollution is very limited. The consequences of contaminated sites for the health of neighbours largely go beyond the possibilities of private law, but are mitigated by Germany’s system of social security. The typical characteristics of pollution—previously unknown effects, cumulation—have motivated new risk-based solutions both in private and administrative law to shift the responsibility back onto the polluter. Criminal law has reacted by establishing offences that punish abstract dangers instead of damages.