The party whose activities have caused damage carries the responsibility for the environmental damage.

The party causing damage must fully compensate for the environmental damage, including costs caused by prevention of environmental damage and restoring the contaminated environment.

A statutory EIL policy ensures compensation to the injured party when

• Collecting the compensation in full from the party who caused the damage or from said party's EIL policy is not possible
• The party who caused the damage is uninsured or unknown
• The damage cannot be compensated by virtue of the Act on the Oil Pollution Compensation Fund
• The damage was caused by activities that took place 1 January 1999 or later

The Act on Compensation for Environmental Damage does not apply to damage for which compensation is governed by other legislation, excluding the Product Liability Act, for example. Therefore, damage compensated by virtue of the Motor Liability Insurance Act, for instance, is not compensated as environmental damage.

Compensation will only be paid if there is a probable causal connection between the damage and the activity governed by the legislation.