The present study aims to examine and comment the recent case law of the EU Court of Justice in the field of environmental liability. Although it has been 13 years since the adoption of the Environmental Liability Directive (Directive 2004/35/EC), many questions relative to its application remain unclear and require further elucidation, as evidenced by the recent judgment of the Court of June 1, 2017 in case C 529/15.

The main topics covered by this paper are: 1. the application ratione temporis of Directive 2004/35; 2. the interpretation of the concept of ‘environmental damage’ pursuant to Article 2(1) of Directive 2004/35; 3. the conditions for incurring environmental liability; 4. the effectiveness of the Directive 2004/35 in terms of remediation of environmental damages, and 5. access to justice under Directive 2004/35.

KEY WORDS: Environmental liability - Directive 2004/35 - Temporal application - Concept of ‘environmental damage’ - Conditions for incurring environmental liability – Access to justice under Directive 2004/35 - Effectiveness of the Directive 2004/35.