Evaluation on Environmental Crime Directive

Key points

• The objectives of the Environmental Crime Directive (ECD) are to contribute to a more effective protection of the environment and full application of the existing Union environmental legislation through criminal law, to ensure a level playing field in the Member States by approximating the criminal offenses, and to ensure deterrent sanctions and overall effective sanctioning systems in all Member States.
• This information report assesses the results over the Environmental Crime Directive's whole lifetime from 2011 to 2018 and with respect to five Member States. The information report covers the criteria of effectiveness, relevance and the added value of involving civil society.
• Taking note of the data collected, the EESC considers that the prevailing suggestion is to improve the implementation of the existing Directive, starting with a comparative analysis of the implementation of the Directive in all Member States, even if there are also good reasons to update it.