The objective side of the criminally punishable violation of legislation on plant protection

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the elements of the objective side of the composition of a criminal misdemeanor, provided for in Art. 247 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Violation of legislation on plant protection”. The foreign experience of criminal protection of flora is partially highlighted. It has been established that within the framework of several criminal law prohibitions, in which damage to objects of plant life appears as one of the alternative consequences of encroachment on various spheres (elements) of the environment, the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany embodies a different from Art. 247 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine approach toward an end-to-end regime for the protection of plant life, which is a manifestation of law-making authenticity. It has been established that a similar approach was reflected in the project of the new Criminal Code of Ukraine. The content of the blanket disposition of Art. 247 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is detailed; acts of regulatory legislation are listed, on which the law enforcement officer must rely when incriminating this criminal law prohibition; actions that can be regarded as a corresponding socially dangerous action – violation of the legislation on plant protection are specified. Based on the results of the analysis of the text of the criminal law and the limited practice of the corresponding law enforcement, both the justification of the construction of the disposition of the researched prohibition according to the blanket type, and the generally practical problem absence of its proper specification in the way of referring to a number of acts of regulatory legislation have been proven. Considerations regarding the content of severe consequences as an element of the objective side of the composition of the analyzed criminal offense against the environment have been expressed. The expediency of the existing legislative approach has been pointed out, according to which the delimitation of the composition of the criminal offense provided for in Art. 247 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, from the composition of related administrative offenses has been carried out on the grounds of socially dangerous consequences. It has been established that Art. 247 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine remains among the “dead” prohibitions, the reasons for which must be clarified by criminological science. The opinion has been expressed that the problem of the inevitability of the criminal law response to the most dangerous violations of the legislation on plant protection lies not in the legislative, but in the law-enforcement sphere.