On Monday 13 December, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the largest network of European environmental NGOs, set out its expectations for the revision of the EU directive (2008/99/EC) on the protection of the environment through criminal law, which the European Commission is due to propose on Tuesday.
EEB welcomes this impending initiative to address the limited effectiveness of this legislation in preventing and deterring many of the most lucrative environmental crimes such as wildlife trade, waste dumping, illegal hunting and fishing, illegal logging and mining (see EUROPE 12653/8).
To strengthen the EU Directive and to ensure that it delivers on its promises, EEB recommends that the Commission:
- establish a strong liability regime and enforcement that ensures that environmental crime does not pay;
- strengthen the EU minimum guidelines on sanctions;
- strengthen the criminal liability of companies;
- broaden the scope of the Directive and recognise an independent definition of environmental crime;
- recognise the crime of “ecocide” as defined by an independent expert panel for the use at the International Criminal Court;
- cover diffuse pollution and illegal extraction of groundwater;
- enable European wide collection of crime statistics. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)