Protecting the environment through criminal law: European Commission launches public consultation to evaluate EU rules

The European Commission launched today a public consultation to evaluate if the Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law has achieved its objectives. The Directive requires EU Member States to treat certain activities that damage the environment as criminal offences, for instance trading endangered species, destroying protected habitats, producing, manufacturing or handling nuclear materials or any other radioactive substances, and excessive water, air or soil pollution. The public consultation is available online in all EU languages. It will run for 12 weeks from today onwards, and will end on 2 January. Moreover, the consultation will assess the results from all Member States for the time the Directive has been applicable, from 2011 to 2018.