20 Amendments of Cristina MAESTRE related to 2021/0422(COD)
Amendment 52 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) The Union continues to be concerned with the rise in environmental criminal offences and their effects, which undermine the effectiveness of Union environmental legislation. These offences are moreover increasingly extending beyond the borders of the Member States in which the offences are committed. Such offences pose a threat to the environment and therefore call for an appropriate and effective response. A better cross-border cooperation between Member States and competent authorities, such as Europol and Eurojust, should be established in order to fight environmental crime.
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) The effective investigation, prosecution and adjudication of environmental criminal offences should be improved. The list of environmental criminal offences which were set out in Directive 2008/99/EC should be revised and additional categories of offences based on the most serious breaches of Union environmental law should be added. This is for example the case of illegal logging which is an activity of serious concern that leads to environmental damage, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem degradation, desertification and soil erosion leading to natural disasters, such as landslides, which has led to the destruction or damage of several Natura 2000 sites and primary and old-growth forests and can result in the extinction of protected species and specific habitats for different plant and animal species because those engaged in illegal activities tend to disregard laws that protect valuable forest resources. Provisions on sanctions should be strengthened in order to enhance their deterrent effect as well as the enforcement chain in charge of detecting, investigating, prosecuting and adjudicating environmental criminal offences.
Amendment 69 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5 a (new)
Recital 5 a (new)
Amendment 91 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11 a (new)
Recital 11 a (new)
(11 a) The "One Health" approach recognizes the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment and is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems. It recognizes that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely interlinked and inter- dependent.
Amendment 95 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12 a (new)
Recital 12 a (new)
(12 a) Forests are an essential ally in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss. They function as carbon sinks, and help to reduce the impacts of climate change, for example by cooling down cities, protecting them from heavy flooding, and reducing drought impact. Especially with regards to offences that create a spiral of severe environmental damages falling within the scope of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, presenting irreversible danger to the balance of whole ecosystems, such as illegal logging, committing forest fires and destruction of wildlife habitats or other offences against forests, should be taken into account as possible aggravating circumstances.
Amendment 100 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) Sanctions for the offences should be effective, dissuasive and proportionate. To this end, minimum levels for the maximum term of imprisonment should be set for natural persons. Accessory sanctions are often seen as being more effective than financial sanctions especially for legal persons. Additional sanctions or measures should be therefore available in criminal proceedings and applicable to the same extent in all the Member States. These should include the obligation to reinstate the environment, exclusion from access to public funding, including tender procedures, grants and concessions and withdrawal of permits and authorisations. This is without prejudice to the discretion of judges or courts in criminal proceedings to impose appropriate sanctions in the individual cases.
Amendment 124 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) Environmental criminal offences harm nature and society. By reporting breaches of Union environmental law, peopleindividuals, environmental defenders, associations and NGOs perform a service of public interest and play a key role in identifying, exposing and preventing such breaches, and thus safeguarding the welfare of society. Individuals in contact with an organisation in the context of their work-related activities are often the first to know about threats or harm to the public interest and the environment. Persons who report irregularities are known as whistleblowers. Potential whistleblowers are often discouraged from reporting their concerns or suspicions for fear of retaliation. Such persons should benefit from balanced and effective whistleblowers protection set out under Directive (EU) 2019/1937of the European Parliament and of the Council25 . _________________ 25 Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (OJ L 305/17).
Amendment 140 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 30
Recital 30
(30) To ensure an effective, integrated and coherent enforcement system that includes administrative, civil and criminal law measures, Member States should organise internal cooperation and communication between all actors along the administrative and criminal enforcement chains and between punitive and remedial sanctioning actors. Following the applicable rules, Member States should also cooperate through EU agencies, in particular Eurojust and Europol, as well as with EU bodies, including the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), in their respective areas of competence. The mandate of EPPO should be extended to also cover serious environmental crimes with a cross-border dimension. In order to do so, EPPO needs adequate resources and funding. In addition, cooperation with third-countries is essential.
Amendment 145 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 31
Recital 31
(31) To ensure a coherent approach to combating environmental offences, Member States should adopt, publish and periodically review a national strategy on combating environmental crime, establishing objectives, priorities and corresponding measures and resources needed. The collected data from Member States should be made public.
Amendment 150 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 32
Recital 32
(32) To effectively tackle the criminal offences referred to in this Directive, it is necessary that competent authorities in thewith the establishment of specialised coordination bodies in every Member States collect accurate, consistent and comparable data on the scale of and trends in environmental offences and the efforts to combat them and their results. These data should be used for preparing statistics to serve the operational and strategic planning of enforcement activities as well as for providing information to citizens. Member States should collect and report to the Commission relevant statistical data on environmental offences. The Commission should develop a series of tools and processes to facilitate reporting by Member States, including standard formats for the different types of reported data to ensure their relevance, objectivity, and allow comparative analysis between Member States. The Commission should regularly assess and publish the results based on the data transmitted by the Member States.
Amendment 171 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5 a (new)
(5 a) "polluter pays principle" means that polluters should bear the costs of their pollution or environmental damage, including the cost of measures taken to prevent, control and remedy pollution, as well as the costs the polluters impose on society.
Amendment 172 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5 b (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5 b (new)
(5 b) "One Health Approach" means an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems. It recognizes that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment including ecosystems are closely interlinked and inter-dependent.
Amendment 216 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point r a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point r a (new)
Amendment 218 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point r b (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point r b (new)
(r b) the environmental damage to forests, such as committing forests fires intentionally or illegal logging.
Amendment 229 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 4 – introductory part
Article 3 – paragraph 4 – introductory part
4. Member States shall ensure that their national legislation specifies that the following elements shall be taken into account when assessing whether the activity is likely to cause damage to the quality of air, the quality of soil or the quality of water, ecosystems, habitats or to animals or plants for the purposes of the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of offences referred to in paragraph 1, points (a) to (e), (i), (j), (k) and (p):
Amendment 236 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 5 – point d a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 5 – point d a (new)
(d a) the polluter pays principle.
Amendment 327 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Where an offence referred to in Articles 3 and 4 falls within the jurisdiction of more than one Member State, these Member States shall cooperate to determine which Member State shall conduct criminal proceedings. The matter shall, where appropriate and in accordance with Article 12 of Council Framework Decision 2009/948/JHA59 , be referred to Eurojust. , as well as Europol. _________________ 59 Council Framework Decision 2009/948/JHA of 30 November 2009 on prevention and settlement of conflicts of exercise of jurisdiction in criminal proceedings (OJ L 328, 15.12.2009, p. 42).
Amendment 330 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Article 13 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that protection granted under Directive (EU) 2019/1937, is applicable not only to persons reporting criminal offences but also to civil society organisations referred to in Articles 3 and 4 of this Directive.
Amendment 332 #
2. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that persons and civil society associations reporting offences referred to in Articles 3 and 4 of this Directive and providing evidence or otherwise cooperating with the investigation, prosecution or adjudication of such offences are provided the necessary support and assistance in the context of criminal proceedings.
Amendment 364 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 21 – paragraph 3
Article 21 – paragraph 3
3. Member States shall ensure that the statistical data as well as a consolidated review of their statistics isare regularly published.