Finland has launched a debate on the future of European environmental criminal law as part of its EU Council Presidency. In a draft report dated 12 September, of which EUROPE has had a copy, it identifies the views of the Member States on this issue and concludes that a thorough assessment should be made of the need to establish new minimum rules.
Its initiative follows on from the Romanian Presidency's report on the future of EU substantive criminal law (see EUROPE 12244/9), which focused on the implementation of existing legislation, but identified the need to establish additional minimum rules for the definition of certain criminal offences, including environmental crime. The Finnish Presidency has therefore decided to initiate a discussion between the Member States and to seek the opinions of experts on this issue.
From the Member States' replies to a questionnaire, it appears that the areas where criminal activity is more frequent or considered most serious are illegal trafficking of waste, trafficking of wildlife, maritime pollution and forest fires. The severity of the offence may depend on factors such as the seriousness of harmful effects on the environment or health or whether it was committed by an organised criminal group, the Presidency points out.
When asked about successful measures to combat environmental damage, Member States mentioned in particular: - an integrated approach, involving all actors in the law enforcement cycle; - awareness campaigns and guidelines for authorities and private entities; - the involvement of the private sector in the prevention and fight against waste-related crime.
The Presidency also asked Member States whether they considered it necessary to establish additional minimum rules on criminal sanctions in the field of environmental crime.
Caution should be exercised here. The report concludes that, if additional rules were necessary, they should be limited to serious infringements only, in order to allow Member States the possibility of maintaining effective systems of non-criminal sanctions, for example administrative sanctions, for less serious infringements.
In this case, there should also be a "sufficient mutual understanding" of what constitutes a serious environmental crime and effective cross-border cooperation, the Presidency points out.
The report, which is due to be adopted by December, will feed into the Commission's reflections, which is currently carrying out a full evaluation of the Directive on environmental crime. A broad public consultation, as well as targeted consultations with experts and practitioners, will be conducted. The results of the assessment are expected to be available in spring 2020. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)