Full Description
The drive for harmonisation of environmental criminal standards at both the international and European level emerges from the increasing recognition of the scale and seriousness of environmental crime, the need to strengthen mechanisms of police and judicial interstate cooperation to combat cross-border crime, and the objective to ensure fair competition in a global economy and an integrated EU common market. The harmonisation of environmental criminal law requires a competent institutional framework able to convey the need for criminalisation of environmental harm while not overriding national aspirations to sovereignty in criminal matters. The book Environmental Criminal Liability and Enforcement in European and International Law assesses legal, theoretical and practical questions of harmonisation of national environmental criminal law and the mechanisms for cooperation by sovereign states under European and International Law, with a particular emphasis on legislative developments in the European Union, the Council of Europe and other international institutions, assessing the case for an extension of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over international environmental crimes.
Contents
Excerpt of Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1 Introduction
1.1 Overview of the Book and Subject Matter
1.2 Overview of International and European Developments
1.3 The Structure of the Book
2 The Role of the Criminal Law for the Protection of the Environment
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Defining 'Environmental Crime'
2.3 Rationales for the Criminalisation of Environmental Offences
2.4 Alternatives to Criminal Liability
2.5 Conclusions
3 The Internationalisation of Environmental Criminal Law: Rationales, Basis and Prospects
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Rationales for the Internationalisation of Environmental Criminal Law
3.3 The Rationales for Regionalisation of Environmental Criminal Law
3.4 The Basis for Environmental Criminal Liability under International Law
3.5 Conceptualising the Crime of 'Ecocide'
3.6 The Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over International Environmental Crime
3.7 Criminalisation and Enforcement under Multilateral Environmental Agreements
3.8 Improving Inter-agency Cooperation Against Environmental Crime
3.9 Conclusions
4 The Degrees of Harmonisation of Environmental Criminal Law
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Notion of Legal Harmonisation
4.3 The Degrees of Interstate Harmonisation of Criminal Law
4.4 Approximation or Cooperation? The Principle of Mutual Recognition in eu Criminal Law
4.5 The Format of the Legal Instrument Harmonising Environmental Criminal Law: The Choice between Directives and Regulations
4.6 Direct and Indirect Effect of Environmental Crime Legislation
4.7 Approaches to Legislative Harmonisation
4.8 Conclusions
5 The Competence to Harmonise Environmental Criminal Law in the European Union
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Competence of the European Union in the Environmental Law Field
5.3 The Choice of Legal Basis for Harmonisation of EU Environmental Law
5.4 The Creation of an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice in the EU
5.5 The Harmonisation of Environmental Criminal Law at the Supranational Level - Pre-Lisbon Developments
5.6 The Lisbon Treaty and the Future of EU Environmental Criminal Law
5.7 Legal Principles Limiting the Future Harmonisation of Environmental Criminal Law in the EU
5.8 Conclusions
6 The Harmonisation of Substantive Environmental Criminal Law and Penalties
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Criminal Offences
6.3 Complicity
6.4 General Structure of the Criminal Offences
6.5 The Range of Offences in the European Environmental Crime Legislation
6.6 The Harmonisation of Corporate Criminal Liability Rules
6.7 Rules on Prosecution and Jurisdiction
6.8 The Harmonisation of Criminal Penalties
6.9 Conclusions
7 Could the Harmonisation of Environmental Criminal Law Improve the Enforcement of Environmental Law?
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The Methodology Applied in the Chapter
7.3 Criminal v. Administrative and Civil Law
7.4 Assessing the Effectiveness of Law Enforcement Mechanisms and Sanctions
7.5 General Structural Aspects of Enforcement: The Powers to Investigate, Prosecute and Adjudicate
7.6 Procedural Aspects
7.7 Conclusions on Comparative Analysis of Enforcement Mechanisms
7.8 Assessing the need for Harmonisation of Environmental Criminal Law
7.9 Conclusions
8 Concluding Remarks
Bibliography
Index
