By Anne-France White - 9th February 2007
Strict new penalties for international polluters have been tabled by the European commission.
The proposal, unveiled by EU environment and justice commissioners Stavros Dimas and Franco Frattini, aims to force all member states to apply the same criteria for green crime, and impose penalties such as hefty fines and prison sentences.
The move comes in response to concerns that offenders can take advantage of the widely varying rules in different EU countries.
Nine sets of criminal offences are listed in the proposal, including pollution with hazardous substances, illegal shipment of waste, illegal trade in endangered species, and the unlawful operation of a plant using hazardous substances.
In addition, company directors could be held criminally liable and their businesses could be forced to clean up pollution if negligence was proved – something Dimas says will create a “level playing field for companies”.
“Criminal punishment is absolutely necessary to discourage and detect green criminals,” Frattini said.
The rise of environmental crime was highlighted in late 2006 when a Dutch ship dumped illegal waste in the Ivory Coast, killing ten people and leaving thousands ill.
Dimas said the disaster “underlines once again how urgent it is to improve the way environmental legislation is enforced in order to avoid such incidents”.
“It is impossible to punish green crimes only at national level,” Frattini said, emphasising that 71 per cent of environmental offences have cross-border implications.
The commission says some member states do not punish environmental crime at all, leading to the existence of “safe havens” for offenders who can make use of freedom of movement within the EU.
But the proposal is likely to run into resistance from EU countries, as it is one of the first times the commission would have powers in the field of criminal law.
“I know the member states are very sensitive about questions of criminal law and consider that this belongs to the exclusive competence of the states… but I hope they will take a more positive position,” Dimas said.
The commission is basing its move on a landmark 2005 ruling by the European court of justice, which said the EU had the competence to adopt criminal law and decide what constitutes a crime and what the punishment should be.
Frattini insisted that he has been very “prudent” in using the rule – the commission has only used it once so far, to table common rules on counterfeiting in May 2006.
The proposal was welcomed by green MEPs, who described it as “long overdue”.
“Organised environmental crime is often cross-border in its nature and needs European wide action to tackle it,” said green co-chair Monica Frassoni.
“We have to also make sure that the legislation is unambiguous to ensure that criminals cannot hide behind the legal personality of companies to evade possible jail sentences,” she added.
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