Shouldn’t the ‘Polluter-Pays Principle’ rule?

Community policy states that ‘that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay’. According to the ‘polluter-pays’ principle, the costs generated by environmental impacts have to be borne ‘by the entities responsible for the environmental impact caused at each stage of the product’s life’. Problems arise although, in allocating responsibility among different actors. Production includes plenty of out-sourcing and transportation increasingly becomes part of the production pattern. The quest to allocate responsibility becomes philosophical (What came first, the hen or the egg? Who is responsible for the missions the carrier or the consignee?). Still, it is important to understand that all actors share responsibility, therefore a solution seeks the collaboration of all.