Page 78 - AEI Insights 2020 - Vol. 6, Issue 1

AEI Insights, Vol 6, Issue 1, 2020

o Under Article 83(2) TFEU the introduction of minimum rules on the definition
of criminal offences and sanctions is possible if they are essential for ensuring
the effectiveness of a harmonized EU policy or its enforcement
• Directive 2014/95/EU that introduces mandatory disclosure requirements related to,
among others, the environment for companies with at least 500 employees
• Timber Regulation (Regulation 2010/955/EU)– to alleviate potential damage in the
third countries which are source countries
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• UN Minamata Convention: banning all exports of mercury and preventing the uses of
mercury where it may enter the environment. It was signed and to be ratified by all
Member States and the EU
19

Supporting legal definitions
Organized Crime Convention (Palermo Convention)

− only indirectly refers to organized environmental crime as one of those serious crimes that
could be covered by the convention
− the convention provides a legal framework for sanction serious crimes as well as the legal
tools to criminalize as offences those activities related to environmental crime. It enables
to investigate and to bring to justice those criminals involved in different roles in criminal
groups and criminal organizations
− States can cooperate on a wide range of offences related to transnational organized crime:

• “Serious crime: conduct constituting an offence punishable by a maximum deprivation
of liberty of at least four years or a more serious penalty” enables the CoP to identify
new forms and dimensions of transnational organized crime, with a view to facilitating
a more uniform approach at the use of the Convention for the purposes of international
cooperation.
• The Convention does not define organized crime but envisages a working and open
definition of serious crime in Article 2.b just using as a reference the minimum penalty
of 4 years imprisonment
• (b) “Serious crime” shall mean conduct constituting an offence punishable by a
maximum deprivation of liberty of at least four years or a more serious penalty
• When determining the scope of application of the Convention, Article 3 b) specifies
that serious crime is also “where the offence is transnational in nature and involves an
organized criminal group
• Criminal Groups and Criminal Organizations: Article 2.a of the Organized Crime
Convention defines organized criminal group but not criminal organizations.
“Organized criminal group” shall mean a structured group of three or more persons,
existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or
more serious crimes or offences established in accordance with this Convention, in
order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit”. – it does
not incorporate the modus operandi criteria – such as use of violence, hierarchy and
adaptation to the environment
• These definitions are open and focused on:

18 Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32010R0995 (accessed on 31.09.2019)
19 Minamata Convention On Mercury (2017):
http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Portals/11/documents/Booklets/COP1%20version/Minamata-Convention-booklet-eng-
full.pdf (accessed on 20.10.2019)

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