Environmental crime: Lithuanian criminal policy in the context of European regulation
ENThe European Union (hereinafter – the EU) has recently taken global leadership to ensure a safe environment. This can be seen in the European Green Deal, adopted by the European Commission in 2020. The European Green Deal “aims to protect, conserve and enhance the EU’s natural capital, and protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts” (European Commission 2019). The “European Green Deal priorities include protecting our biodiversity and ecosystems, reducing air, water and soil pollution moving towards a circular economy improving waste management ensuring the sustainability of our blue economy and fisheries sectors” (European Commission 2022). To implement the European goals provided by the European Green Deal, “the Commission will also promote action by the EU, its Member States and the international community to step up efforts against environmental crime” (European Commission 2019). According to the European Commission, “in 2016, the UN and Interpol estimated the global economic loss related to environmental crimes at $91-259 billion, rising by 5 % - 7 % annually. Illegal trade in wildlife products alone accounts for $7-23 billion. This makes environmental crime the fourth largest criminal activity in the world after drug smuggling, counterfeiting and human trafficking. In the EU, annual revenues from illicit non-hazardous waste trafficking are estimated to range between €1.3 billion and €10.3 billion, and for hazardous waste trafficking between €1.5 billion and €1.8 billion” (European Commission 2020). The fight against environmental crime started long before the European Green Deal, primarily commencing with the adoption of Directive 2008/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on the protection of the environment through criminal law (hereinafter – the Directive).After the evaluation of the Directive, the European Commission stated that “over the past 10 years the number of environmental crime cases successfully investigated and sentenced remained very low. Moreover, the sanction levels imposed were too low to be dissuasive and cross-border cooperation did not take place in a systematic manner” (European Commission 2021a). There is “a real need to strengthen the protection of the environment through criminal law” (European Commission 2021b), so the European Commission has delivered a proposal to revise the Directive (European Commission 2021a). [Extract, p. 257-258]
