AUTHORS: Michael Nicholson

IEEP UK has published a new report assessing the significance and consequence of EU/UK divergence with regard to environmental crime. Please insert your details below to access the report.

Environmental crime can be an emotive topic. From dead fish and pollution in rivers, to chemical spills, to destruction of habitats and the trade in species and wild flora; the most serious environmental crimes often elicit a strong response from the public. Environmental crime, particularly in the field of waste and wildlife crime, is often tied up with organised crime too. However, applying criminal sanctions in environmental crime cases is usually expensive and time consuming, and it is reserved for the most serious environmental crimes.

In many EU member states criminal prosecutions are few in number with a preference for administrative penalties. To change this, the European Commission has brought in a new Environmental Crime Directive to require the use of criminal sanctions in certain cases, and to level up and harmonise sanctions already in place. This new Directive is a significant upgrade on the previous 2008 Environmental Crime Directive and has several potentially very significant innovations for the UK to consider putting into practice in future.

IEEP UK’s report explores and assesses the consequence of the new Directive and discusses whether this new post-Brexit divergence in law between the EU and UK would have had a significant effect upon the way authorities in the UK detect, investigate and prosecute environmental crime had the UK still been a member in the European Union.

Photograph by Anne Nygård on Unsplash