On November 16, 2023, an agreement was adopted at the level of the European Union regarding the strengthening of responsibility for harms caused to the environment at the international level. This preliminary agreement is regarding adoption of a new written EU law designed to improve investigation and prosecution of environmental offences. The new directive aims to establish basic rules on the definition of criminal offenses and sanctions in order to better protect the environment, replacing the previous Directive on environmental crimes 2008/99/EC, which has lost relevance in the course of development of the EU legislation in the area of environmental protection.
The proposed new directive defines environmental crime more precisely and adds new types of environmental criminal offences. It also harmonizes the level of penalties for individuals and, for the first time, for legal entities in all EU member states. The directive is expected to include provisions to address specific cases of ecosystem destruction, including habitat destruction and illegal logging.
As stated by representatives of Stop Ecocide International, the existing draft of the proposed Directive avoids including the word “ecocide” directly. However, they emphasize that the text of “environmental crime” is clearly taken into account in this document proposed by the European Parliament earlier this year. It has also been taken into account that there was a growing number of draft laws on the introduction of liability for actions that may cause or cause environmental disasters, which have already been proposed and are being adopted both in Europe and around the world.
This text was discussed among the European Council, the Commission and the Parliament, which are considering, among other things, the establishment of a “qualified offence” aimed at preventing and punishing the gravest harm to the environment, including “cases comparable to ecocide”.
Experts note that the text of the updated directive will be officially adopted in the coming months, but the most important political agreement has been reached.
Such changes at the level of the European Union testify to the ecocentric development of the EU law and, in particular, the movement of legal regulation in the direction of recognizing ecocide as a crime at the EU level.
EPL welcomes such decisions at the EU level and is looking forward to released at least draft text of the proposed directive.
