BREADCRUMB
Investigation, prosecutions and adjudication of waste crime
Challenges and Good practices in prosecuting waste crimesa - Best practice and possible solutions
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Multidisciplinary and intelligence-led approach to fighting environmental crime
A multidisciplinary approach and close cross-agency cooperation is needed to tackle environmental crime efficiently. It is important to clearly understand the division of mandates of the agencies involved to avoid overlaps and maximise the use of available expertise.
Multidisciplinary teams investigating and prosecuting cases of environmental crime are already present in some Member States. It allows for easier access to different types of expertise or specialised personnel from environmental agencies.
As recognized in other types of crime with links to organised crime, there should be an intelligence-led approach to fight serious and organised environmental crime as well. To implement such approach, it is necessary at national level to commit to systematically collecting relevant information - which requires the close multidisciplinary cooperation of all agencies involved, such as customs or health authorities.
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Harmonised definitions, standardised interpretation and thorough implementation
The current legal diversity in this area, without a Union-wide definition of waste trafficking or uniform sanctions in the field, may lead to "forum-shopping" by criminals. This can de facto prevent a harmonised approach to environmental crime across the EU.
Therefore, the fight against waste trafficking would greatly benefit from harmonised definitions, a common interpretation of the various specific EU texts and the introduction of comparable levels of penalties throughout the Union. This requires at the outset a clear recognition of the seriousness of these types of crime at national level.
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Confiscation of criminal proceeds
The motivations to commit environmental crimes are, in most cases, the same: to make money and/or reduce costs. The risk of detection and penalties are still relatively low while the profit margin is high.
To reduce the ‘attractiveness’ of committing these types of crimes, measures to confiscate proceeds need to be implemented on a more systematic basis. A stronger focus on money laundering aspects could be considered during the investigation and prosecution of illegal waste shipments to enhance the efficiency of the fight against environmental crime.
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