The inter-institutional negotiations (trilogue) on the Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law were initiated on the evening of Thursday 4 May, by representatives of the European Parliament, the EU Council and the Commission.
At this first trilogue meeting, the various parties presented their positions on this proposal to improve EU rules on environmental protection through criminal law, including an inception impact assessment.
On 9 December 2022, the EU Council adopted its general approach. Member States have reached agreement on the level of penalties for natural and legal persons. For legal persons, for the most serious offences, a maximum fine of at least 5% of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person or, alternatively, of €40 million has been retained.
For all other infringements, a maximum fine of at least 3% of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person or, alternatively, €24 million is proposed.
The EU Council also changed the transposition period to 30 months, compared to 18 months in the Commission’s proposal.
In the European Parliament, the report, led by MEP Antonius Manders (EPP, Dutch) and adopted on 21 March, goes further than the proposal for a directive adopted by the European Commission in December 2021 (see EUROPE 12854/17), which responded to the observation made in 2020 that the current directive had shortcomings in the face of the growing number of environmental criminal offences.
Where these are committed by companies, MEPs called for fines of at least 10% of average worldwide turnover in the previous three financial years, rather than the 5% set by the Commission.
The next political trilogue will take place on 13 June.
In the meantime, several technical meetings will be organised. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)