Water, Governance, and Crime Issues by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030447984
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

2.the environmental status of the marine waters concerned, as defined in Directive, 2008/56/EC, in so far as particular aspects of the environmental status of the marine environment are not already addressed through Directive, 2000/60/EC’ (Article 2(1)(b)).

The WFD, discussed above, thus plays an important role in the implementation of the Environmental Liability Directive. The Environmental Liability Directive establishes different kinds of liability for different kinds of damage. For non-dangerous activities, other than those listed in Annex III, liability is fault-based. For dangerous activities, listed in Annex III, it establishes strict liability. In relation to water pollution, dangerous activities include the ‘discharge or injection of pollutants into surface water or groundwater which require a permit, authorisation or registration in pursuance of Directive, 2000/60/EC’ (Annex III (5)). A causal link between the activity carried out, and the damage is always required and has proved to be one of the major challenges for the effective operation of the Directive. Importantly the Environmental Liability Directive does not establish tortious claims between individuals but rather requires the competent authority to ensure its implementation. However, any affected natural and legal persons and environmental NGOs have the right to request competent authority to take remedial action (Article 12). While not an instrument of criminal law, the provisions of the Environmental Liability Directive can help prevent environmental crime by making perpetrators liable for the consequences of their action and clean-up measures (Fisher et al., 2013).

Overall, the above discussion demonstrates that significant steps have been taken to address water pollution through criminal law at EU level and the combination of multiple directives which carry criminal offences bears significant promises for the better enforcement of environmental protection legislation. However, the extent to which criminalisation of environmental protection infringements leads to better results for the environment and those affected by violations largely depends on the functioning of the internal legal order of each Member State and the willingness and resources of prosecutors and courts to enforce the relevant legislation in practice.

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