Council of the EU adopts final position on revised Environmental Crime Directive

Article summary

The Council of the EU has adopted its final position on a new Environmental Crime Directive. The Directive establishes EU-wide rules on the definition of criminal offences and penalties and will only apply to offences committed within the EU. The new Directive replaces the current Environmental Crime Directive (Directive 2008/99/EC) which dates back to 2008. It increases the number of conducts that constitute a criminal offence from nine to 20 and introduces a ‘qualified offence’ clause when an offence is committed intentionally and causes the destruction of or irreversible or long-lasting damage to the environment. The Directive also improves the prosecution of environmental crime offences with new emprisonment sentences and fines. Member States have two years from the entry into force of the Directive to adapt their national rules.