The North-Sea Conference, Bremen, 1984

“Damage to the environment can be irreversible or remediable only at considerable expense and over long periods and that, therefore, coastal states and the EEC must not wait for proof of harmful effects before taking action”.

The North-Sea Conference, Londen, 1987

“Accepting that, in order to protect the North Sea from possibly damaging effects of the most dangerous substances, a precautionary approach is necessary which may require action to control inputs of such substances even before a causal link has been established by absolutely clear scientific evidence”.
 
“(...) This principle applies especially where there is reason to assume that certain damage or harmful effects on the living resources of the sea are likely to be caused by such substances [substances that are persistent, toxic and liable to bioaccumulate at source], even where there is no conclusive evidence to prove a causal link between emissions and effects”.

Bron: Ministerial Declaration VII of the Second International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea, supra note 34. See Annex I.E.; http://www.intfish.net/docs/1987/nsc/nsc2

The North-Sea Conference, The Hague, 1990

“The participants will continue to apply the precautionary principle, that is to take action to avoid potentially damaging impacts of substances that are persistent, toxic and liable to bioaccumulate even when there is no scientific evidence to prove that a causal link between emissions and effects”.

Bron: Final Declaration of the Third International Conference on Protection of the North Sea, Mar. 7-8, 1990. 1 YB Int’l Envt’l Law 658, 662-73 (1990).