- “Now a graduated system is set out depending on the gravity of the offences. And, uh, the granularity of the system of sanctions can be seen in the levels and types of sanctions that we have set out, uh, for the most serious offenses, particularly those that cause death or serious bodily injury. It can go up to ten years of imprisonment, which is a minimum. Member states can go beyond. This is a directive of minimum harmonisation, and then it goes down to five, three and other years of imprisonment levels. This is very significant in the sense that it brings a deterrent effect which the previous directive lacked. The second important element is that this directive introduces details about how legal persons can be held liable, and not all of our Member States have the principle of corporate criminal liability. Uh, in some of them societas delinquent non protest. So they cannot be held liable in a criminal way. Uh, but in such situations, those countries must enable other systems which are as effective as criminal enforcement are. So they have to find a way through administrative or other types of sanctions, uh, for criminal, for, uh, legal persons which are liable for criminal offenses. And there again, the general principle that sanctions sanctions must be effective, proportionate dissuasive will apply as well. Now fines can be imposed both on physical persons and on legal persons. Uh, but what is really interesting and innovative in that directive is that we introduced a system of calculation of fines, which was, uh, not there in any previous directive of criminal law.”
Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights) · Environmental crimes and justice · EU policy on criminal justice
- “Thank you for your trust. Um, well, I mean, prosecution clearly is, uh, a key part of the enforcement chain. Uh, and many speakers referred to the fact that, uh, indeed, criminal enforcement is, to a large extent missing, uh, today, uh, and this directive will help, uh, somehow raise the attention of prosecuting authorities, uh, in terms of, uh, priorities, uh, to be to be focused on environmental crimes, particularly when they are related to organized crime. Uh, as, uh, the minister from North Rhine-Westphalia emphasized, if you invest in the resources and if you set up specialized units, you will see the results. Uh, they will show in the showing the statistics. This is exactly what we're missing in other countries. Now, the EU is not alone in this. This is a worldwide phenomenon. And the UN has been toying with the idea of a UN convention against environmental crime for a long time. There are projects which are being discussed in UNODC. But for now, the most advanced, uh, mirroring uh, international treaty, uh, which uh, more or less replicates the substance of this directive is in the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe has adopted recently a convention, uh, in which again, we participated. Uh, Ingrid and the environment colleagues were there. Uh, and, uh, that convention more or less has the same list of, uh, serious offences against the environment, uh, and a range of sanctions and also preventive provisions, provisions on cooperation, jurisdiction, enforcement, training, etc., there as well.”
Environmental crimes and justice · EU policy on criminal justice · EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
- “Thank you very much. Good afternoon to all of you. And thank you for the explanations about the offences and the background of the directive. I was involved actually in the negotiations with the first directive, and this file has a very long and thorny history, particularly when it comes to its legal basis. And that's the explanation why the first directive did not contain any details on On sanctions levels of sanctions. We could not include such details about levels and types of sanctions in the first directive because of the ancillary legal basis. Now we could post-lisbon in the new directive, which is indeed very innovative and full of detail. In a way, it breaks new ground, largely thanks to my colleague Doctor Bright, who negotiated the agreement in the directive in the Council and with the European Parliament as well. And I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and your colleagues in the Parliament, for supporting the ambition of this text throughout the Trilogues. Now the ambition comes indeed in the offences. As Felix explained, we have 20 offences described quite in detail in the text, but we also have a lot of detail now about sanctions in the directive and a lot more. Um, the first requirement in any directive of substantive criminal law in the EU is to impose. That is a requirement for member states to impose effective dissuasive and proportionate sanctions. And that applies to natural and legal persons. And you see this principle and old principle in this directive as well. But in addition, we have a minimum harmonisation of uh, sanctions, uh, also for legal persons and for natural persons.”
EU policy on criminal justice
- “Uh, it had been there in other areas of EU law, such as competition law or data protection law. Uh, it wasn't there in substantive criminal law. Uh, and, uh, the fact is, now that member states have a choice of either using a percentage of the global turnover of the companies. Uh. Um. Benefits. Uh, so the, uh, chiffre d'affaires, uh, the business model, uh, um, that is used in the, in the business sector and that varies between 3 and 5% depending, again, on the gravity of the offence. Or for those, uh, countries that do not have this principle of using the global, uh, worldwide turnover of the company, they can go for fixed amounts. And those fixed amounts are either 24 or €40 million. Uh, so 40 million would correspond to the 5% of the turnover, and 24 million would correspond to the 3%, uh, level of fines. Now, besides those, we have also a principle that, uh, for qualified offences, uh, Felix already referred to a ecocide, uh, qualified offences. Uh. Would indeed qualify in that respect. They there needs to be a higher sentence as well. Penalties can be also non-criminal. Uh, in particular, uh, an obligation to reinstate the environment, which is to undo the damage, which to undo the damage which was caused to the environment. And there are plenty of other, uh, penalty types, uh, for example, banning a company from public procurement or, uh, prohibiting, uh, a company to exercise certain activities, economic activities.”
Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights) · Environmental crimes and justice · EU policy on criminal justice
- “Um, this is a very comprehensive system of sanctions. Uh, and, uh, we hope that member states will implement this system properly, uh, because it will bring indeed an added value in terms of deterrence and, uh, and, uh, enforcement. And yet we believe that the sanction system that we have here is proportionate to the gravity of the offences which are defined in the directive. Uh, and let me just remind you, indeed that, uh, figure that Felix mentioned, this is now considered as one of the most damaging, uh, criminal activities in the world, generating most of the proceeds besides organised crime, drug trafficking, etc.. Now, besides the penalties, we also have, uh, detailed provisions on cooperation, cross border and also within the country. Um, and these obligations essentially seek to ensure that our member states cooperate in cross-border investigations and prosecutions, that they involve the EU agencies and bodies that deal with such offences within their existing competences. Uh, and here we're looking at Europol, Eurojust and the European Public Prosecutor's Office. Uh, um, and we also have the same principle applicable within a national context. So national authorities, from customs to supervisory authorities, have to cooperate one with the other to ensure that there is a proper chain of enforcement throughout the administrative, criminal and judicial chain of enforcement. Um, besides that, uh, the directive innovates in the sense that it requires, uh, for the first time, um, a very comprehensive, uh, effort from member states to provide resources, train people, uh, set up specialized units, uh, uh, in, uh, the existing structures, police, prosecution and courts.”
Environmental crimes and justice · Anti-money laundering regulation · EU policy on criminal justice
- “And we have seen some good examples, including in Belgium, uh, whereby uh, specialized units or courts have been set up to deal with this new type of criminality, and indeed it requires a lot of expertise and therefore training is crucial. And last but not least, it requires member States to establish national strategies and they will have to submit in two years the first national strategy to the Union, in which they will explain to us how they plan to combat and prevent these offences. Again, Europol and Eurojust will play an important role. They coordinate already now a cross border offences which involve environmental damage. It's not very visible in the statistical data of Europol or of Eurojust, and we hope that the statistics will show a bit more enforcement activity in the member states and also in cross-border investigations in the future. And that is hopefully the plan, because it has been included now in the impact cycle. 2026 2029, which is derived from Europol's EU Socta report. The Council. The Justice Council and the Home Affairs Council agreed that this is a priority for the future. Now it's over to the national authorities to implement the directive. Indeed. The deadline is coming up soon. Uh, it only makes sense if this directive is enforced in practice, uh, and member states dedicate resources to it. That was the big problem of the previous directive. It was implemented on paper, but not in practice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”
Environmental crimes and justice · EU policy on criminal justice · EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
- “So we hope that this will amplify the impact of the directive beyond the 27 EU member states, including in Norway, but also in other countries. Uh, this was, by the way, an intention of the very first Council of Europe Convention on Environmental Crime, which unfortunately at the time had not been ratified by enough member states and therefore did not enter into force. Uh, the problem was, uh, the definition of autonomous offenses. This has now been fixed by reference to the unlawfulness of the offenses, which Felix explained this afternoon. Uh, so I'm very hopeful that many member states beyond the EU 27 will also implement the Council of Europe Convention, and this will have a an effect of multiplying the impact on the environment. Obviously, the environment needs to be protected in the EU and beyond the EU. I mean, one of the most frequently referred offenses is, is trafficking in, in uh, waste. Uh, obviously this involves countries outside the EU. It includes dangerous waste. Hospital waste. Nuclear waste. And it's very often in Africa or in other countries that this waste will end up. This is organised crime. And we need the help of not only the 27, not only the Council of Europe countries, but even countries beyond that, including in different continents. Thank you. I don't know whether Felix wanted to add something. Thank you.”
Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights) · Circular economy · Environmental crimes and justice