BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Commission today called for breaches of European Union environmental laws in seven key policy areas to be classified as criminal rather than administrative offenses throughout the bloc.
The change would open the way to much tougher sanctions against offenders by giving police and judicial authorities responsibility for enforcement, rather than pollution control authorities.
"Sanctions currently established by the Member States are not always sufficient to achieve full compliance with [EU] law," environment commissioner Margot Wallstrom and justice commissioner Antonio Vitorino say in a legislative proposal adopted Tuesday.
"There are still many cases of severe non-observance ... which are not subject to sufficiently dissuasive and effective penalties," they said. In many cases authorities are limited to imposing fines.
To remedy this, the Commission wants the 15 European Union member states to agree that individuals or firms breaching any of over 50 existing EU laws by "intention or serious negligence" be subject to investigation by criminal authorities.
If found guilty, they should suffer "effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions," the Commission says. These punishments should be determined by member states rather than at the European Union level, but should include possible imprisonment for individuals breaking the laws.
Vitorino said a key aim of the proposal was to "give responsibility for enforcing ... environmental regulations to different authorities, independent of those which grant ... authorizations to pollute."
This would create "an additional guarantee of impartiality" and give authorities greater scope for cross-border investigations of eco-crimes and the ability to impose stronger sanctions.
The seven deadly sins proposed by the Commission are any breaches of European Union laws committed while carrying out the following activities: discharging hydrocarbons, waste oils or sewage sludge into water; emitting "materials" into the environment or handling hazardous waste; discharging waste onto land or into water; damaging, killing or trading in protected wild species; significantly deteriorating a protected habitat; trading in ozone-depleting substances; and operating plants in which dangerous activities are carried out or where dangerous substances are stored or used.
A spokesman for Vitorino said that, if agreed by member nations, the law could act as a platform for individual countries to take even stronger measures, including extradition of eco-criminals from one country to any other in the bloc.
(Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily.)
For full text and graphics visit: ENS.
