The paper deals with the polluter pays principle purposes. This principle appeared more than four decades ago, through a Recommendation of the Council of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and had its scope expanded, which has led to confusion in the doctrine about its true meaning. The principle appeared as a formula to attribute to the polluter the costs incurred by the State in the adoption of measures to prevent environmental degradation, avoiding that such costs be imputed to every collectivity. The subsequent use of the principle to repair the costs of environmental damage, led the doctrine to reduce its a principle of environmental responsibility. This position means a serious mistake, which is not compatible with the constitutional regulation of the principle allowed by the 1988 Federal Constitution. At the end of the study, carried out with the German doctrine, the prevention of environmental degradation will be emphasized. The reparatory purpose is merely secondary, without, however, a punitive nature. This is a bibliographical research work, carried out by the deductive method.
