Entry into force of the Environmental Crime Directive
Locations
Environmental crime is a growing concern in the EU's increasingly strict green agenda. It causes significant damage to the environment, citizens' health and the economy within the EU and worldwide. Environmental crime is the fourth largest organised crime activity worldwide, demonstrates an annual growth rate of 5-7% and causes annual losses of €80-230 billion.[1]
The new Environmental Crime Directive (the 'Directive') was adopted on 11 April 2024 and entered into force on 20 May 2024, supporting the protection of the environment through criminal law and replacing the 2008 Environmental Crime Directive. As a consequence of its adoption, the number of offences under EU criminal law has increased from 9 to 20.[2]
Offences
The Directive requires several new forms of conduct to be established as criminal offences in the national legal order of Member States. Compared to the 2008 Directive, several new offence categories have been introduced, such as:
- Unlawful recycling of ships, i.e., otherwise than by the use of a designated recycling facility.[3]
- Unlawful water extraction, where such conduct causes or is likely to cause substantial damage to the ecological status or ecological potential of surface water bodies or to the quantitative status of groundwater bodies.
- Serious breaches of EU chemicals and mercury legislation, where such conduct causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury, to any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants.[4]
- Placing on the market and export of relevant commodities (cattle, cocoa, oil, palm, rubber, soya, wood) and derived products in breach of the EU Anti-Deforestation Regulation. Such commodities and products may not be made available unless:
- They are deforestation-free;
- They have been produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production; and
- They are covered by a due diligence statement.[5]
The European Commission has the power to regularly review and amend the criminal offences set out in the Directive, allowing it to more easily respond to developments in the sphere of environmental crime and to continue to strengthen the new crimes where shortcomings are identified following implementation in the Member States.
Qualified offences
A 'qualified offence' is one which results in wide-scale environmental damage that is either irreversible or long-lasting. Member States must establish, as qualified offences, cases where particularly serious damage to, and destruction of, the environment is caused by committing one of the offences listed in the Directive. These qualified offences shall be subject to more severe penalties for natural and legal persons than the ones for the other offences.
The preamble indicates that qualified offences may consist of “conduct comparable to 'ecocide'”. Although it is unclear which offences Ireland will choose to elevate to qualified offences, there are currently some Member States exploring the introduction of a criminal offence of ‘ecocide’, following on from France's establishment of this offence in 2021.[6]
Penalties
Environmental crimes causing the death of a person are punishable by at maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years. Qualified offences may be punished by at maximum term of imprisonment of at least 8 years, and other offences having a lower maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years, with the lowest carrying a maximum term of imprisonment of 3 years. This language imposes a minimum standard that permits Member States to afford higher sentences than what is set out in the Directive.
For businesses, the fines will reach 3% or 5% of their annual worldwide turnover or alternatively €24 or €40 million, depending on the offence. See the table at the end of this blog for more information.
Moreover, Member States shall ensure that inciting, and aiding and abetting the commission of a criminal offence in the Directive is punishable as a criminal offence.
Member States will have to ensure that natural and legal persons may be subject to further sanctions, such as:
- An obligation for the offender to reinstate the environment or compensate for the damage.
- Exclusion from access to public funding.
- Withdrawal of permits or authorisations.
Indicators to help interpret the offences
As compared to the previous situation in which various terms were open to interpretation, the Directive aims to clarify what is meant by 'substantial damage', and when conduct is 'likely' to cause damage, and whether a quantity is 'negligible' or 'non-negligible'.
'Substantial damage'
Member States shall ensure that, in assessing whether the damage or likely damage is substantial, one or more of the following elements is taken into account, where relevant:
- The baseline condition of the affected environment;
- Whether the damage is long-lasting, medium-term or short-term;
- The extent of the damage; and
- The reversibility of the damage.
Conduct 'likely' to cause damage
Member States shall ensure that, in assessing whether conduct is likely to cause damage to the quality of air or soil, or the quality or status of water, or to an ecosystem, animals or plants, one or more of the following elements is taken into account, where relevant:
- The conduct relates to an activity which is considered to be risky or dangerous for the environment or human health, and requires an authorisation which was not obtained or complied with;
- The extent to which a regulatory threshold, value or another mandatory parameter set out in:
- Union law which contributes to pursuit of one of the objectives of the Union’s policy on the environment as set out in Article 191(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (the 'TFEU'); or
- National law intended to implement same,
or an authorisation issued for the relevant activity is exceeded; and
- whether the material or substance is classified as dangerous, hazardous or otherwise listed as harmful to the environment or human health.
Whether a quantity is 'negligible' or 'non-negligible'
Member States shall ensure that, in assessing whether a quantity is negligible or non-negligible, one or more of the following elements is taken into account, where relevant:
- The number of items concerned;
- The extent to which a regulatory threshold, value or another mandatory parameter set out in set out in:
- Union law which contributes to pursuit of one of the objectives of the Union’s policy on the environment as set out in Article 191(1) TFEU; or
- National law intended to implement same,
- The conservation status of the fauna or flora species concerned; and
- The cost of restoration of the environment, where it is feasible to assess that cost.
Enforcement
There are notable directions, set out in the recitals to the Directive, which help Member States in understanding what is necessary with regard to the implementation of their enforcement obligations thereunder:
- To ensure successful enforcement of environmental criminal law, Member States should make available to competent authorities effective investigative tools for environmental criminal offences such as those available under their national law for combatting organised crime or other serious criminal offences, if and to the extent that the use of those tools is appropriate and proportionate to the nature and gravity of the criminal offences as provided for in national law.
- Persons who report environmental criminal offences, as well as persons who cooperate with regard to the enforcement of such offences, should be provided with the necessary support and assistance in the context of criminal proceedings, so that they are not disadvantaged as a result of their cooperation but supported and assisted.
- Since the environment cannot represent itself as a victim in criminal proceedings, for the purpose of effective enforcement, members of the public concerned should have the possibility of acting on behalf of the environment as a public good, in accordance with national law and subject to the relevant procedural rules.
- Lack of resources and enforcement powers for national authorities which detect, investigate, prosecute or adjudicate environmental criminal offences creates obstacles for the effective prevention and sentencing of those offences. In particular, the shortage of resources is capable of preventing authorities from taking any action or limiting their enforcement actions, allowing offenders to escape liability or to receive a sentence that does not correspond to the gravity of the criminal offence. Therefore, minimum criteria concerning resources and enforcement powers should be established.
- The effective functioning of the enforcement chain depends on a range of specialist skills. In particular, to maximise the professionalism and effectiveness of the enforcement chain, Member States should consider assigning specialised investigation units, prosecutors and judges to deal with environmental criminal cases. General criminal courts could provide for specialised chambers of judges.
- To ensure an effective, integrated and coherent enforcement system that includes administrative, civil and criminal law measures, Member States should organise internal cooperation and communication between all their competent authorities involved in administrative and criminal enforcement, including all authorities exercising preventive, penal and remedial functions.
- To effectively tackle the environmental criminal offences defined in the Directive, it is necessary that competent authorities in the Member States collect accurate, consistent and comparable statistical data on those offences. Member States should, therefore, ensure that an adequate system is in place for the recording, production and transmission of existing statistical data on the offences defined in this Directive. Those statistical data should be used by Member States to serve the strategic and operational planning of enforcement activities, to analyse the scale of, and trends in, environmental criminal offences, as well as for providing information to citizens. Member States should transmit to the European Commission relevant statistical data on environmental crime proceedings, extracted from data that already exist at a centralised or decentralised level within the whole Member State. The European Commission should regularly assess and publish in a report the results of its assessment based on the statistical data transmitted by the Member States.
Procedural rights in environmental crime offences
This Directive does not require Member States to introduce new procedural rights for the members of the public concerned. However, when such procedural rights for members of the public concerned exist in a Member State in equivalent situations concerning criminal offences other than those provided for pursuant to this Directive, such as the right to participate in proceedings as a civil party, such procedural rights should also be granted to the members of the public concerned in proceedings concerning the environmental criminal offences defined in this Directive.
Next steps
Member States will have 2 years from the entry into force of the directive to transpose the Directive.
It will be interesting to see how the effectiveness of the Directive plays out in the various Member States, including in Ireland, and how long the European Commission will wait before exercising its powers to review and amend the criminal offences set out therein.
At the EU level, several MEPs have proposed to extend the mandate of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (the 'EPPO') to include environmental crime. As a result of new legislation, they urged prosecutors and judges to be trained accordingly.[7] The Parliament considered the EPPO to be "best placed to exercise its competences on the most serious environmental crimes with a cross-border dimension" and invited the European Commission to assess the possibility of such an extension. This is especially necessary since environmental crimes are estimated to be the fourth largest type of criminal activity in the world. However, as the EPPO's mandate is restricted to crimes affecting the EU's financial interests, any extension of its competences to other criminal areas listed in Article 83(1) TFEU (such an environmental crime) would need the European Council's unanimous decision and the revision of the EPPO Regulation.[8] It will be interesting to see whether this restricts the prospect of the offences under the Directive ever being investigated and prosecuted at the EU level.
Offences under the Directive
|
Offence |
Natural person |
Businesses |
Is an attempt a criminal offence? |
|
Article 3(2)(a) The discharge, emission or introduction of a quantity of materials or substances, energy or ionising radiation, into air, soil or water which causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years if crime causes the death of any person.
Punishable by a reduced maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years if crime causes the death of any person where conduct is unlawful and carried out with at least serious negligence.
Otherwise punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(b) The placing on the market, in breach of a prohibition or another requirement aimed at protecting the environment, of a product the use of which on a larger scale, namely the use of the product by several users, regardless of their number, results in the discharge, emission or introduction of a quantity of materials or substances, energy or ionising radiation into air, soil or water and causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years if crime causes the death of any person.
Punishable by a reduced maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years if crime causes the death of any person where conduct is unlawful and carried out with at least serious negligence.
Otherwise punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(c) The manufacture, placing or making available on the market, export or use of substances, whether on their own, in mixtures or in articles, including their incorporation into articles, where such conduct causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person, substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants and:
(i) is restricted pursuant to Title VIII of and Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH); (ii) is not in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006; (iii) is not in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market; (iv) is not in compliance with Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products; (v) is not in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures; or vi) is prohibited pursuant to Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years if crime causes the death of any person.
Punishable by a reduced maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years if crime causes the death of any person where conduct is unlawful and carried out with at least serious negligence.
Otherwise punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(d) the manufacture, use, storage, import or export of mercury, mercury compounds, mixtures of mercury, and mercury-added products where such conduct is not in compliance with the requirements set out in Regulation (EU) 2017/852 on mercury and causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person, substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years if crime causes the death of any person.
Punishable by a reduced maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years if crime causes the death of any person where conduct is unlawful and carried out with at least serious negligence.
Otherwise punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(e) The execution of projects within the meaning of Article 1(2)(a), as referred to in Article 4(1) and (2), of Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, where such conduct is carried out without a development consent and causes or is likely to cause substantial damage to the quality of air or soil, or the quality or status of water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
|
|
Article 3(2)(f) The collection, transport or treatment of waste, the supervision of such operations and the after-care of disposal sites, including action taken as a dealer or a broker, where such conduct: (i) concerns hazardous waste as defined in Article 3(2) of Directive 2008/98/EC on waste and it concerns a non-negligible quantity of such waste; or (ii) concerns waste other than that referred to in point (i) and causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years if crime causes the death of any person.
Punishable by a reduced maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years if crime causes the death of any person where conduct is unlawful and carried out with at least serious negligence.
Otherwise punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(g) The shipment of waste, within the meaning of Article 2, point (26), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 on shipments of waste, where such conduct concerns a non-negligible quantity, whether executed in a single shipment or in several shipments which appear to be linked. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(h) The recycling of ships falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013, where such conduct is not in compliance with the requirements referred to in Article 6(2), point (a), of that Regulation. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
|
|
Article 3(2)(i) The ship-source discharge of polluting substances falling within the scope of Article 3 of Directive 2005/35/EC into any area referred to in Article 3(1) of that Directive, except where such ship-source discharge satisfies the conditions for exceptions set out in Article 5 of that Directive, which causes or is likely to cause deterioration in the quality of water or damage to the marine environment. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(j) The operation or closure of an installation in which a dangerous activity is carried out or in which dangerous substances or mixtures are stored or used, where such conduct and such dangerous activity, substance or mixture fall within the scope of Directive 2012/18/EU on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances or of Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control), and such conduct causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years if crime causes the death of any person.
Punishable by a reduced maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years if crime causes the death of any person where conduct is unlawful and carried out with at least serious negligence.
Otherwise punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(k) The construction, operation and dismantling of an installation, where such conduct and such an installation fall within the scope of Directive 2013/30/EU on safety of offshore oil and gas operations, and such conduct causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years if crime causes the death of any person.
Punishable by a reduced maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years if crime causes the death of any person where conduct is unlawful and carried out with at least serious negligence.
Otherwise punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(l) The manufacture, production, processing, handling, use, holding, storage, transport, import, export or disposal of radioactive material or radioactive substances, where such conduct and such a material or substances fall within the scope of Council Directives 2013/59/Euratom laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation, 2014/87/Euratom amending Directive 2009/71/Euratom establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations or 2013/51/Euratom laying down requirements for the protection of the health of the general public with regard to radioactive substances in water intended for human consumption, and such conduct causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury, to any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years if crime causes the death of any person.
Punishable by a reduced maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years if crime causes the death of any person where conduct is unlawful and carried out with at least serious negligence.
Otherwise punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
(i) 5 % of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €40,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(m) The abstraction of surface water or groundwater within the meaning of Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, where such conduct causes or is likely to cause substantial damage to the ecological status or ecological potential of surface water bodies or to the quantitative status of groundwater bodies. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 3 years. |
(i) 3% of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €24,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(n) The killing, destruction, taking of, possession, sale or offering for sale of a specimen or specimens of a species of wild fauna or flora listed in Annex IV, or in Annex V where species in that Annex are subject to the same measures as those adopted for species in Annex IV, to Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora and of a specimen or specimens of the species referred to in Article 1 of Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds, except where such conduct concerns a negligible quantity of such specimens. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 3 years. |
(i) 3% of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €24,000,000. |
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Article 3(2)(o) The trade of a specimen or specimens, or parts or derivatives thereof, of a species of wild fauna or flora, listed in Annexes A and B to Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein, and import of a specimen or specimens, or parts or derivatives thereof, of such species listed in Annex C to that Regulation, except where such conduct concerns a negligible quantity of such specimens. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 3 years. |
(i) 3% of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €24,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(p) The placing or making available on the Union market or the export from the Union market of relevant commodities or relevant products, in breach of the prohibition set out in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, except where such conduct concerns a negligible quantity. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
|
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(q) Any conduct which causes the deterioration of a habitat within a protected site, or the disturbance of animal species listed in Annex II, point (a), to Directive 92/43/EEC within a protected site, within the meaning of Article 6(2) of that Directive, where such deterioration or disturbance is significant. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 3 years. |
(i) 3% of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €24,000,000. |
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Article 3(2)(r) The bringing into the territory of the Union, placing on the market, keeping, breeding, transporting, using, exchanging, permitting to reproduce, growing or cultivating, releasing into the environment, or the spreading of invasive alien species of Union concern, where such conduct breaches:
|
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years if crime causes the death of any person.
Otherwise punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 3 years. |
(i) 3% of the total worldwide turnover of the legal person, either in the business year preceding that in which the offence was committed, or in the business year preceding that of the decision to impose the fine, or (ii) an amount corresponding to €24,000,000. |
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(s) The production, placing on the market, import, export, use, or release of ozone depleting substances, whether alone or as mixtures, as referred to in Article 2, point (a), of Regulation (EU) 2024/590 on substances that deplete the ozone layer, or the production, placing on the market, import, export or use of products and equipment, and parts thereof, containing ozone-depleting substances or whose functioning relies upon those substances as referred to in Article 2(b) of that Regulation. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
|
Yes. |
|
Article 3(2)(t) The production, placing on the market, import, export, use, or release of fluorinated greenhouse gases, whether alone or as mixtures, as referred to in Article 2, point (a), of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 on fluorinated greenhouse gases, or the production, placing on the market, import, export or use of products and equipment, and parts thereof, containing fluorinated greenhouse gases or whose functioning relies upon those gases as referred to in Article 2, point (b), of that Regulation, or the putting into operation of such products and equipment. |
Punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. |
|
Yes. |
<https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2023/751409/EPRS_BRI(2023)751409_EN.pdf> accessed 22 May 2024, page 11.
[1] European Commission, 'Environmental Crime Directive' (Europa) <https://environment.ec.europa.eu/law-and-governance/compliance-assurance/environmental-crime-directive_en#legislation> accessed 22 May 2024.
[2] Environmental crime: Council clears new EU law with tougher sanctions and extended list of offences - Consilium (europa.eu) Council of the European Union, ' Environmental crime: Council clears new EU law with tougher sanctions and extended list of offences' (Europa, 26 March 2024) <https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/03/26/environmental-crime-council-clears-new-eu-law-with-tougher-sanctions-and-extended-list-of-offences/> accessed 22 May 2024.
[3] Regulation No 1257/2013 on ship recycling and amending Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 and Directive 2009/16/EC [2013] OJ L330/1, Article 6(2).
[4] Directive 2012/18/EU on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, amending and subsequently repealing Council Directive 96/82/EC [2012] OJ L197/1.
Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) [2010] OJ L334/17.
Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation, and repealing Directives 89/618/Euratom, 90/641/Euratom, 96/29/Euratom, 97/43/Euratom and 2003/122/Euratom [2013] OJ L13/1.
Council Directive 2014/87/Euratom amending Directive 2009/71/Euratom establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations [2014] OJ L219/42.
Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom laying down requirements for the protection of the health of the general public with regard to radioactive substances in water intended for human consumption [2013] OJ L296/12.
[5] Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on the making available on the Union market and the export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 [2023] OJ L150/206, Article 3.
[6] World Economic Forum, 'What is ecocide and which countries recognize it in law?' (WEForum, 30 August 2021) < https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/ecocide-environmental-harm-international-crime/> accessed on 22 May 2024.
[7] European Parliament, 'European Parliament resolution of 20 May 2021 on the liability of companies for environmental damage' (2020/2027(INI)) (Brussels, 20 May 2021).
[8] European Parliament, 'Proposal for a directive on the violation of Union restrictive measures' (Europa, July 2023)
Written by: Jonathan Moore and Adam Winston