Environment crime – Image by Xtrodinary on Pixabay
(BRUSSELS) – New rules to protect the environment through criminal law, with a comprehensive list of environmental offences addressing most serious breaches of environmental obligations, came into force Friday.
The new rules, hailed by EC vice-president Vera Jourova as “a major leap forward to ensure appropriate accountability for environmental crimes,” will help fight against the most serious environmental offences, which can have devastating effects on both the environment and human health, through means of criminal law.
The Environmental Crime Directive will provide a comprehensive and up-to-date list of environmental offences addressing the most serious breaches of environmental obligations. Member States will have to ensure that these breaches constitute criminal offences in their national law.
The Directive introduces several new offence categories, such as unlawful ship recycling, unlawful water abstraction, serious breaches of EU chemicals and mercury legislation, serious breaches related to dealing with fluorinated greenhouse gases, and serious breaches of legislation on invasive alien species.
In addition, EU Member States will be obliged to establish qualified offences, subject to more severe penalties where one of the offences defined in the Directive leads to serious widespread and substantial damage or destruction of the environment.
The Directive also defines concrete types and levels of penalties for natural and legal persons, a huge step forward to ensure a deterrent effect across the EU.
The new rules further include provisions on strengthening the enforcement chain to combat environmental crime. Practitioners combating environmental offences shall have access to sufficient resources and appropriate training. The new Environmental Crime Directive will also ensure support and assistance to environmental defenders in criminal proceedings.
