March 16, 2007—The European Commission proposed in February a directive that would require member states to treat serious offenses against the environment as criminal acts, and to ensure that they are effectively sanctioned. It also sets minimum sanctions for environmental crimes across the member states.
The EC says that offenses such as the illegal emission of hazardous substances into the air, water or soil, the illegal shipment of waste, or the illegal trade in endangered species can have devastating effects on human health and the environment, and undermine the efficiency of EU environment legislation.
Therefore, the EC proposes that in serious cases criminal sanctions such as prison sentences should be applied, since they are more effective than, for example, administrative sanctions. The proposed directive would keep criminals from profiting from the existing discrepancies in member states’ criminal law systems, no longer allowing “safe-havens” of environmental crime.
For more information on the directive, visit the EC’s Environmental Crime Web site.
