Representatives of Member States approved the Czech Presidency of the EU Council’s latest compromise on the Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law on 30 November. Justice ministers will be asked to formally adopt the text at their meeting to be held on 9 December in Brussels.
The Directive provides for the standardisation of criminal law in the 27 Member States to punish environmental offences that are to the detriment of human health and the environment.
The French Presidency of the EU Council had pushed through a partial approach on the text, focusing on the definition of criminal offences, but leaving to one side the resulting minimum penalties and fines (see EUROPE 12968/11).
The EU27 finally agreed on the level of sanctions for legal persons who commit an infringement in the sense of the directive: it is possible for the amount of the fine to be linked to the company's worldwide turnover (see EUROPE 13030/3).
In the European Parliament, MEPs only plan to adopt their position on the text around February or March, according to rapporteur Antonius Manders (EPP, Dutch) (see EUROPE 13073/15). (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)