A new EU directive which provides a comprehensive list of environmental offences, addressing the most serious breaches of environmental obligations has come into force today (Monday, May 20).

Environmental crime is a "growing concern" and causes "significant damage" to the environment, citizens' health and the economy within the EU and worldwide, the European Commission said.

Environmental crimes are infringements of relevant legal obligations, such as wildlife crimes and deterioration of habitats, illegal shipment or dumping of waste, pollution crimes and illegal trading in hazardous substances. 

Under the new law, EU member states will have to ensure that breaches of environmental obligations constitute criminal offences in their national law. New offence categories introduced in the new directive include:

Unlawful ship recycling;
Unlawful water abstraction;
Serious breaches of EU chemicals and mercury legislation;
Serious breaches related to dealing with fluorinated greenhouse gases;
Placing on the market and export of relevant commodities and products in breach of the EU Anti-Deforestation Regulation; and
Serious breaches of legislation on invasive alien species.

Member states will also be obliged to establish qualified offences, subject to more severe penalties where one of the offences defined in the law leads to serious widespread and substantial damage or destruction of the environment. 

"It will also give law enforcement authorities and the judiciary the tools to act effectively against environmental crimes across the union," EU Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius said.

Environmental crimes, which often have a cross-border nature, are "highly attractive" for organised crime groups. They are the 4th largest organised crime activity worldwide and lead to an annual loss of between €80 billion and €230 billion, the commission said.

The new Environmental Crime Directive was adopted on April 11, 2024, and supports the protection of the environment through criminal law and replaces the 2008 Environmental Crime Directive.

The directive establishes minimum rules with regards to the definition of criminal offences and penalties in order to protect the environment more effectively, as well as measures to prevent and combat environmental crime.

The directive establishes a graduated system of minimum-maximum imprisonment penalties and, for legal persons, introduces fines of between €24 million and €40 million and the total annual worldwide turnover of the legal person concerned.

The new directive, for example, states that member states shall ensure that the following conduct constitutes a criminal offence where it is unlawful and intentional:

The discharge, emission or introduction of a quantity of materials or substances, energy or ionising radiation, into air, soil or water which causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;
The abstraction of surface water or groundwater within the meaning of Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, where such conduct causes or is likely to cause substantial damage to the ecological status or ecological potential of surface water bodies or to the quantitative status of groundwater bodies;
Any conduct which causes the deterioration of a habitat within a protected site, or the disturbance of animal species listed in Annex II, point (a), to Directive 92/43/EEC within a protected site, within the meaning of Article 6(2) of that directive, where such deterioration or disturbance is significant.

The directive also states that member states shall ensure that criminal offences relating to conduct listed above, among others listed in the directive, constitute qualified criminal offences if such conduct causes:

The destruction of, or widespread and substantial damage which is either irreversible or long-lasting to, an ecosystem of considerable size or environmental value or a habitat within a protected site, or;
Widespread and substantial damage which is either irreversible or long-lasting to the quality of air, soil or water.