European Commission

 

I. Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law

COM (2001)139

The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Directive that for the first time would introduce legal sanctions for breaches of environmental law at an EU level. The proposal addresses the most serious breaches of Community environmental law and covers three aspects intended to ensure effective legal sanctions:

  1. Member States themselves will decide the criminal penalties for breaches of environmental rules, under their own systems of criminal law;

  2. the Commission's proposal only concerns intentional damage to the environment or damage caused by serious negligence (this means not all pollution would be considered a criminal offence);

  3. the Directive will cover offences which are already expressly prohibited by existing EU environmental law.

Information note (pdf ~100K)

Press release

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  Full text of the proposal

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(pdf ~58K)

Amended proposal for a 
DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 
on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law

Full text of the amended proposal

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(pdf ~140K)

Follow the progress of this proposal on the Prelex database.

Council Framework Decision 2003/80/JHA of 27 January 2003 on the protection of the environment through criminal law

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(pdf ~110K)

II. Studies and Conferences

 

 

 

 

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