Environmental Offences Research Articles

Государственная экологическая экспертиза проектовтехнической документации на новые технику, технологию и вещества: пробелы в нормах действующего законодательства

The period between 19th—20th centuries was rich in innovations in the field of environmental protection, including the tightening of requirements for the implementation of projects that can have a negative impact on the environment. These requirements, imposed at the legislative level and aimed at the realization of citizens’ rights to a favorable environment, reliable information about it and on compensation for damage caused to health and property by an environmental offense, according to Art. 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, often have an ambiguous interpretation, which leads to the emergence of controversial situations in the implementation of the functions of control and supervisory bodies. One of these bottlenecks of Russian environmental legislation is federal law no. 174-FZ “On Environmental Expertise” of October 23, 1995 regarding the inclusion in Art. 11 objects of state environmental expertise of draft technical documentation for new equipment, technology, the use of which can have an impact on the environment. As practice shows, the norms of environmental legislation do not disclose the terms “new technology” and “new technology”, which leads to the emergence of judicial precedents in the passage of state environmental expertise related to the ambiguous interpretation of these concepts. The aim of this study is to make an attempt to assess the impact of gaps in environmental legislation on environmental law actors and suggest ways to resolve them.

Preventive measures to ensure the sea fishing regime

Marine areas that contain living resources are subject to international protection; their species, one of which is the maritime economic zone, have a special legal status: they can be marine - fishing and territorial areas of general
 purpose. The legislation of Ukraine actualizes the problem of environmental protection, creation of conditions of inviolability of law enforcement activity of a set of norms of various branches of law.
 The general causes and conditions of environmental crime are in the system of contradictions that arise from the interaction of man, society and nature. Their essence is that society, being part of the biosphere, resists the ecosystem due to limited opportunities for nature.
 The growth of environmental crime is facilitated by the shortcomings of current legislation and its protection by relevant government agencies, the lack of mechanisms for its effective implementation.
 Within the zones of general definition, the laws of Ukraine apply to all offenses. Such a zone is recognized as the territory of the respective state and the laws apply to persons who have committed the relevant offenses. In this case, there may be peculiarities in the application of laws that contain a blanket disposition. An example is environmental offenses, the responsibility for which is based on other regulations. In the conditions of such zones, the corresponding normative acts have specifics which distinguish their application in the territory of other states.
 Within the exclusive (marine) economic zone, coastal states have the right to carry out exploration, development, management of natural resources, to exercise jurisdiction over the conservation of the marine environment, to conduct marine research

Green innovation and environmental misconduct

PurposeThe aim of this study is to discuss the idea that the legal cost of environmental violations, along with reputational concerns, may persuade firms to generate more green patents.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the relationship between firms generating green patents and environmental violations. The authors show the green innovation trend over the past two decades and explore the potential motivations behind it. In addition, the authors investigate the impact of regulatory actions, such as governmental finds, on green innovation.FindingsThe authors find that firms that commit environmental violations switch to producing green patents in the long-run. The authors also document that market reaction following environmental offenses is negative for firms with a high ratio of green patents in their portfolio.Originality/valueThis study explores innovation. The authors investigate the literature and trends of green innovation over the past 20 years. The authors also find that green innovation is growing at a relatively slow rate. Overall, this study highlights the importance of green innovation and firms’ response to corporate wrongdoing.

Interconnections between International and National Criminal Law Relevant to Energy Security

Interconnections between International and National Criminal Law Relevant to Energy Security

Forensic science and environmental offences: Litter, DNA analysis and surveillance

Items of litter such as chewing gum, cigarette butts, and dog droppings are each small but collectively have considerable negative environmental impacts. Accordingly, governments at all levels have used media campaigns to raise awareness of the environmental issues associated with litter in efforts to prevent its proliferation. In a similar vein, artists have developed thought-provoking works about waste and litter, including some about the potential to identify litter culprits through DNA analysis. In a case of life imitating art, recent advances in DNA analysis techniques make possible a range of ways in which DNA taken from litter could be used, including for purposes of social regulation. This article discusses examples of the use of litter as a source of DNA for analysis and the resulting genetic surveillance. In doing so, it raises questions about proportionality and justifications for such uses of DNA analysis techniques in regard to regulation and enforcement objectives, with particular concerns about permissions, privacy and the public interest.

Judicial protection of environmental rights in the Russian Federation: constitutional and legal basis

The article deals with the problems of determining the nature of environmental rights and the procedure for their protection. The article presents an analysis of the constitutional provisions and norms of the current Russian legislation in the environmental sphere. It is noted that environmental offenses related to the failure of public authorities to fulfil their constitutional and legal obligations in the environmental field should be considered by courts of general jurisdiction according to the rules of administrative proceedings. The idea of creating a system of specialized environmental courts, expressed in science, has been criticized. It is proposed to involve an expert in the case of difficulties in the consideration of cases of environmental violations.

Avrupa Birliği Çevre Ceza Hukuku

Over the past decades, environmental offences have increasingly extended beyond the borders of the Member States. It has been observed that the existing systems of penalties have not been sufficient, and the availability of criminal penalties was required, to achieve complete compliance with the laws for the protection of the environment. As a result, the European environmental criminal law has gone through a remarkable development over the past decades at both EU and Member State levels. This paper suggests that, although the Directive 2008/99/EC, which is the main legal instrument of the EU environmental criminal law, was an important step forward in the protection of environment through criminal law, it may be criticised for its administrative dependence and lack of autonomous or independent approach both in terms of offences and their sanctions.

Administrative Liability for Environmental Offences: A Comparative Study

The article addresses the basic concepts of administrative liability for environmental crimes based on international experience and practice through the investigative method of sociological analysis. Administrative sanctions that have a positive effect on the existing legislation of countries and those that have a positive effect only in certain regions were identified. It is argued that there are administrative and legal norms that do not have much influence and effectiveness in addressing environmental problems based on the structural and comparative research methods of the system. The issue of the consciousness of man and society in violation of environmental law is emphasized as a kind of administrative responsibility due to logical-semantic and formal-logical research methods. The key elements of the effectiveness of administrative responsibility in the field of environmental crimes are highlighted. It is concluded that the analysis of the implementation of environmental policy and its relationship with the practice of administrative responsibility for environmental crimes through the use of a dialectical research method ensures maximum efficiency in the identification of the topics of this study.

Cell Wall Biology of Vibrio cholerae.

Most bacteria are protected from environmental offenses by a cell wall consisting of strong yet elastic peptidoglycan. The cell wall is essential for preserving bacterial morphology and viability, and thus the enzymes involved in the production and turnover of peptidoglycan have become preferred targets for many of our most successful antibiotics. In the past decades, Vibrio cholerae, the gram-negative pathogen causing the diarrheal disease cholera, has become a major model for understanding cell wall genetics, biochemistry, and physiology. More than 100 articles have shed light on novel cell wall genetic determinants, regulatory links, and adaptive mechanisms. Here we provide the first comprehensive review of V. cholerae's cell wall biology and genetics. Special emphasis is placed on the similarities and differences with Escherichia coli, the paradigm for understanding cell wall metabolism and chemical structure in gram-negative bacteria.

Regulation of nature management with the application of fiscal methods

The purpose of the article is to develop and apply the concepts and mechanism of fiscalization to the processes of managing the collection of payments from business entities to the budget for environmental offenses. The research methodology - application of the resource approach to the defini- tion of concepts, abstract-logical, system-structural and comparative analysis, ranking. The scientific novelty. The mechanism of fiscal management of nature users for their environmental pollution is revealed; the peculiarities of the calculation of the ecological tax, the distribution of the amounts of the current tax between the state and local budgets are indicated; applied innovations are substantiated taking into account the factor of ownership of natural resources. Conclusions. The need for environmental fiscalization is due to the environmental situation in the country, the fiscal system, energy and industrial security, pricing policy, business activity, the country’s international obligations and other factors. Key words: management, fiscal, in the use of nature, property, people, waste, pollution, rates, natural objects.

Preliminary insights on green criminology in Malaysia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of environmental offences committed in Malaysia charged under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (EQA1974).Design/methodology/approachThis study used secondary data of the environmental court cases report by the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia from 2008 until 2016 to examine the nature of environmental offences based on the Treadmill of Production (ToP) approach.FindingsIn comparison with the GDP growth (Department of Statistic Malaysia, 2016), the findings support ToP argument that as far as the treadmill accelerates, the more would be the environmental crime committed. However, all offences charged were weighted more on the ecological additions rather than ecological withdrawn. The trend analysis showed a decreasing trend for all types of offences committed, reflecting that Malaysia's regulatory authorities are committed to fighting against environmental crime perpetrators. Therefore, all parties must be made to internalise the values of conducting business sustainably.Originality/valueThis paper is the first that examines the environmental offences committed in Malaysia using the ToP approach to analyse the nature of the crime committed in Malaysia associated with the growing literature of Green Criminology.

Opening a Path towards Sustainable Corporate Behaviour: Public Participation in Criminal Environmental Proceedings

Establishing criminal liability for environmental offences remains daunting, particularly with regard to the ‘no plaintiff—no judge’ element as a result of which the public seems to be ultimately deprived of the possibility to participate in criminal environmental proceedings. While there is arguably a lack of specific instruments at the European Union (EU) level which would prescribe such legal obligation on the part of the State, there has been a shift in understanding the role of the public and its participation in criminal liability cases, namely under the auspices of the so-called effective investigation and the concept of rights of victims in general. Using the example of the Czech Republic as a point of reference, this article aims to assess the relevant legal developments at both EU and Czech levels to illustrate why the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), essentially acting as public agents, should be granted an active role in environmental criminal proceedings. After examining the applicable legal framework and case law development, the article concludes that effective investigation indeed stands as a valid legal basis for human rights protection which incorporates an entitlement to public participation. Despite that, this pro-active shift is far from being applied in practice, implying that the legislation remains silent where it should be the loudest, and causing unsustainable behaviour of companies.

The Use of New Technologies in Counteracting Violations of Environmental Legislation

The authors describe the experience of using information and other new technologies in the daily work of state law enforcement, nature protection agencies and other bodies involved in nature protection activities, including automated information systems, technical means of recording information, computer geoinformation systems that make it possible to monitor the condition of nature and nature-anthropogenic objects as part of control-supervision and other activities; they also make it possible to reveal, record and assess the consequences of violations of environmental legislation. The paper presents information on how procuratorial authorities, internal affair’s bodies and customs authorities use information technologies to solve the problems of identifying timber materials as they are transported on the territory of Russia and taken abroad, of controlling the legal origin of timber materials in customs reporting procedures and, in general, how these technologies are used to reduce the latency level of environmental offences. The authors claim that, in order to improve the nature protection law enforcement activities, it is necessary to use information technologies to organize a single accounting and analysis system for administrative offences in the environmental sphere, while taking into account the multi-subject nature of the bodies of administrative jurisdiction in this sphere and the existing difficulties in differentiating between environmental administrative offences and crimes. The authors discuss examples of using biotechnological and bioinformation methods to reveal the violations of environmental legislation and to repair the damage inflicted on the environment. They draw attention to the legislative embodiment of the duty, since 2019, for subjects of industrial environmental control to use new technologies in the form of distance monitoring over objects having a considerable negative impact on the environment. The authors also note a positive influence that the use of new technologies in Russia has on the activation of public environmental control thanks to, among other things, a federal information system of public control in the sphere of environmental protection. They suggest that there is a considerable anti-criminogenic potential in creating, at the regional level, internet-based information resources of environmental character to promote the cooperation between subjects of nature protection activities and improve the level of environmental culture of the Russian people.

Topical issues violation of legislation on illegal deforestation

The article presents an analysis of the legislation on illegal logging and the current state and trends of illegal logging. The problematicaspects of the normative regulation of the legislation on illegal logging are identified, and possible ways of their solution areproposed. It has been established that an increase in the threat to the environmental security of Ukraine to the level of global civilizationalchallenges leads to the need to consider the further existence and development of modern society in the context of the ability tosubordinate its life activity to the properties and requirements of the environment, an environmental imperative.It has been proved that the model of environmental offense differs significantly from the model of economic offense. An environmentaloffense envisages by its main elements the influence (activity) of the subject on the environment, which causes harm to theenvironment.Environmental offense covers the forensic investigation of two models: lawful behavior (obtaining the necessary permits, payingthe necessary taxes, duties, fees, etc.) in connection with deforestation; illegal (actual) behavior during logging. It has been determinedthat the complexity of the investigation of this category of crimes lies in the fact that illegal felling of forest stands, first of all, takesplace in hard-to-reach forest areas or at facilities with limited access.In addition, the effectiveness of the pre-trial investigation depends, first of all, on the promptness of establishing the place of thecommission of a criminal offense, the timeliness of its examination with the participation of specialists, with the use of fixation by technicalmeans. It is believed that illegal logging is the primary link in illegal forestry activities.It was found that currently in Ukraine there are not enough methodological developments in bringing persons to criminal responsibilityfor illegal felling of forests, conducting a pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings of this category. The introduction ofthese changes will help reduce the number of illegal logging, provide an effective mechanism for forest protection and transparent saleof timber

Regulation of fish resources rational using on the territory of the NNP “BUG GARD”

Today on the territory of Ukraine there are 40 national nature parks which include the NNP “Bug Gard”. One of the main tasks of the NNP is to preserve the valuable natural objects and to develop the scientific recommendations for protecting the environment and using the natural resources efficiently. Modern poaching, with its mass, technical armament, impunity and constant rapid growth, poses a serious threat to the national security of Ukraine. Significant damage to fishing and fish farming on the territory of the NNP “Bug Gard” is caused by the actions of poachers. During the functioning of the NNP “Bug Gard” the State Protection Service constantly conducts inspections and patrols the territory of the park to identify and to stop violations of the environmental legislation. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the fish protection measures carrying out in the Bug National Nature Park by the State Protection Service has been assessed. Annually the State Protection Service of the NNP “Bug Gard” conducts on average of 120 activities to identify environmental offenses, practices the explanatory talks, on average, 600 conversations per year, which are aimed at clarifying the environmental legislation in the field of fauna and flora protection, as well as it constantly informs the public through the media about the individual cases of poaching in order to further preventing the environmental offenses. Annually, an average of 1.000 leaflets with the fire safety rules on the territory of the NNP and with the environmental issues were produced and distributed among the population and the visitors of the park. It is established that, according to the analysis, the State Protection Service of the NNP “Bug Gard” carries out the effective measures in the field of fish resources conserving and rational using in the area of its responsibility, carries out a widespread waste water pollution control in the water bodies, creates the conditions for normal fish reproduction and keeps a track of environmental and fishing offenses, which not only preserves the flora and fauna, but also compensates the damage caused by the actions of poachers and other violators.

Punishing environmental offenders: criminal environmental sentencing in Louisiana, 2004-2014

ABSTRACT Despite growing interest in environmental/green crimes, little remains known about these offenses and how environmental offenders are punished in criminal cases. Much of what is known about the punishment of environmental offenders comes from studies that are now more than 25 years old. Further, many studies rely on aggregated US EPA data, which provides information about these cases nationally, but does not address potential variability in the punishment of environmental criminals in any particular state. To address these issues, this study examines state-level criminal punishments for environmental offenders in Louisiana for the years 2004–2014. The discussion also draws attention to estimating the potential frequency of environmental crimes and punishments in Louisiana. The results support contentions that environmental punishment are rare, that penalties in a handful of cases significantly skew the results, and that when extreme punishments are omitted, criminal punishments for environmental offenses are lenient in comparison to the potentially damaging consequences of those offenses.

Contemporary trends in the judicial practice of compensation for damage in commissioning environmental crimes

The prerequisites for the research were a comprehensive analysis of the state of environmental safety in the Russian Federation indicative of negative trends in this area including the compensation for harm caused as a result of committing environmental crimes. The article presents the results of the analysis of the criminal case files related to compensation for harm caused as a result of committing environmental crimes. The research authors noted such a feature of environmental crimes that when they are committed, the damage is caused to objects that have both environmental and economic value. Often, at the same time, environmental damage is caused to a certain extent by economic (property) damage (harm) which significantly complicates the resolution in practice of the issue related to compensation for harm caused as a result of committing environmental crimes. The core problem identified by the authors is that environmental harm from the point of view of its complex manifestation cannot be detected immediately, but after a rather long time; there are cases when it can be completely irreparable. The authors made an attempt to summarise the law enforcement practices of Russian courts related to compensation for harm caused as a result of committing environmental crimes, both at the stage of preliminary investigation and judicial proceedings, consider the types of harm to be compensated and the recovery procedure, identify problems arising during compensation for various types of harm. Based on the research results, measures aimed at improving the mechanism of legal regulation of compensation for harm caused as a result of violation of environmental safety rules were proposed; the need for legislative consolidation of the criteria for determining the amount of compensation for harm by the courts, as well as the need for specialisation of courts considering cases related to environmental offences.

Prevention and prevention of environmental offenses

Prevention and prevention of environmental offenses

История развития отечественного законодательства об уголовной ответственности за экологические преступления

We consider the negative impact of society on the environment, which adversely affects humanity itself. We emphasize the peculiarities of environmental crimes development in Russian law. We point out that the first legislative norms containing responsibility for environmental offenses date back to the middle of the 17th century, when the direct reflection of norms aimed at protecting nature from criminal encroachments begins. We note that the Extensive Edition of Rus’ Justice reflected responsibility for the theft of a number of animals, which in a sense can be attributed to environmental encroachments. It is emphasized that if responsibility for such acts was reflected in the Cathedral Code of 1649, then in the Military Article of 1715 it was absent. We note that in the first codified criminal law, adopted in 1845, under the name “Code on penal and correctional punishments”, acts encroaching on the environment were reflected, which was subsequently consolidated and developed in criminal laws as pre-revolutionary Russia (Criminal Code 1903), and adopted after the October Revolution of 1917, especially in the Criminal Code of the RSFSR in 1960.

Features of civil liability for environmental offenses

The paper considers the question of the peculiarities of the regulation of civil liability for environmental offenses. A significant step forward in strengthening the importance of the institution of legal liability for environmental offenses in Ukraine was enshrined in the Concept of National Environmental Policy until 2020, the principle of “environmental responsibility, which requires liability for any violations of environmental legislation”. This principle, according to the above concept, is included in the list of fundamental principles on which the national environmental policy in Ukraine should be based. The purpose of the study is to define the concept of legal liability for environmental offenses, to establish its features, types and relationships with other concepts, to clarify the content of environmental offenses and ways to prevent its commission. Legal liability for environmental offenses is an important legal institution to ensure law and order in the field of ecology, environmental safety, protection of human rights and freedoms, which has both general features of legal liability, developed by theory, and specific features due to the subject of regulation. Liability for environmental offenses arises only due to the existence of such an environmental offense, which is characterized by a number of features and a special composition, which includes such mandatory elements as object, subject, objective and subjective side. The absence of these elements excludes grounds for liability. At the level of the application of liability to offenders, the state must address the issue of preventing the commission of these offenses. The causes and conditions of committing specific crimes or administrative offenses must be established and ways to reduce their number must be established. Civil liability is an important means of restoring violated rights and compensation for damage caused by the offense. Thus, environmental liability is a new independent type of legal liability, which has not yet been enshrined in law, but has already received the support of many legal scholars and is currently a promising area for the development of the institution of liability.