Regional Workshop Environmental Crime/Environmental ... - RENA

History and main principles of Directive 2008/99/EC on the protection
of the environment through criminal law and Transposition in Austria
„RENA” training, 30 and 31 May 2011, Zagreb
The need for environmental crime prosecution to
support enforcement of environmental legislation I
Transposition of EU Directives into national legislation as such does not always
ensure their proper implementation in practice. In many EU Member States, there
are weaknesses in environmental law enforcement.
Some examples of weak points:
- Waste – the need in certain Member States to end illegal landfilling, to put in
place adequate networks of regulated waste facilities and to prevent illegal waste
shipments
- Industrial installations –significant numbers of industrial installations still have
EC permit and related requirements outstanding.
(EC Commission, COM(2008) 773 final)
The need for environmental crime prosecution to
support enforcement of environmental legislation II
Many of these weaknesses concern shortcomings inside the administration such
as
• lack of knowledge and awareness
• shortcomings in administrative capacities,
• weak national and regional enforcement policies and practices,
• under-investment and delayed investment in necessary pollution-abatement
infrastructure.
But for other problems it is rather businesses who have to be blamed: Many of
them want to escape obligations and are trying to find loopholes in the
enforcement system of administrations. In many cases these law violations
involve large financial interests and some of them can be classified as actions of
organized crime.
RENA Activity 1.2 RISP 1st Regional Workshop, 30-31 May 2011, Zagreb, Croatia
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