Page 73 - AEI Insights 2020 - Vol. 6, Issue 1

Bajrektarevic, 2020b

generally have a significant impact on the people in their locales, region or the country
as a whole”
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• European Union has three sorts of approaches to address the issue:
o Civil law criminalizing participation in a criminal association
o Common law based on conspiracy to commit crime
o Scandinavian approach, based on criminal law content and rejects the “criminal
organization” element
• Illegal disposal of hazardous waste is the only one of the most wildly recognized forms
of environmental crimes
• UN Minamata Convention: is the link with the EU policy on mercury, banning all
exports of mercury and preventing the uses of mercury where it may enter the
environment. The Convention signed and to be ratified by all Member States and the
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EU
• European Parliament: adopted a resolution on a joint action to prevent and combat
mafia type organized crimes, and urged the creation of a European wide approach on
combatting illegal waste trafficking, including related organized crime groups
7

Trafficking and illegal dumping of hazardous waste

• illegal not only refers to dumping of waste but also to its transportation, or management
of landfills in violation of international or domestic legal provisions
• in addition to being a serious threat it causes social and economic instability
• it is coupled with low risk of prosecution – and the lack of harsh sentences made it a
business opportunity for criminal networks
• involvement of organized crime organizations working in a well-organized network,
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which enables disposing or dumping hazardous waste illegally
• to cut costs and maximize profit, a growing number of legal enterprises participate in
trafficking or illegally dumping their waste through facilitators – because gaming the
system costs less than obeying the rules
• rising production of hazardous waste (especially electrical and electronic waste) it is a
transboundary movement
• major producing and importing countries are affected by the global threat – even though
all exports, illegal trade and dumping of hazardous waste are banned
• countries have different approach to hazardous waste for example China and India
accept it in order to recycle and recover raw materials; African countries on the other
hand are looking material (second hand) usable after repair
• illicit waste trafficking is a significant threat for destination countries because of the
untreated hazardous waste dumping or manual disassembling with no regard to health
and safety issues
• illegal waste management is an increasing threat for producing countries as well
because of its link with

5 “Organized Crime and Terrorism.” Film Piracy, Organized Crime, and Terrorism, by Gregory F. Treverton et al., RAND Corporation, 2009,
pp. 11–26. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mg742mpa.8. ; (accessed on 28.10.2019)
6 The UN Environment: Minamata Convention on Mercury (2013);
http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Convention/History/INC5/tabid/3439/language/en-US/Default.aspx (accessed on
11.09.2019)
7 European Parliament (2013): European Parliament resolution of 23 October 2013 on organized crime, corruption and money
laundering: recommendations on action and initiatives to be taken (final report) (2013/2107(INI));
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A7-2013-
0307+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN (accessed on 19.07.2019)
8 EUROPOL (2013) : Threat Assessment 2013 Environmental Crime in the EU, https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-
documents/threat-assessment-2013-environmental-crime-in-eu (accessed on 22.08.2019)

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