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Prison sentences for picking
wild flowers under EU green laws
UK
Daily Mail
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Video
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Dumping hazardous waste, polluting protected areas and collecting
wild flowers would all be punishable by jail and hefty fines under
new plans for EU-wide 'green crimes'.
The drive by Brussels to extend its lawmaking powers into criminal
areas was revealed by the leak of a draft directive listing a string
of offences.
Company directors could be disqualified and firms forced to clean
up if negligence is proved.
The nine offences detailed in the directive include the 'taking
or damaging' of wild flowers, damage to protected habitats and trading
in ozone-depleting substances.
Company directors would be made personally liable for pollution
and could face jail or antisocial behaviour orders.
Offences such as serious pollution or unlawful transport of nuclear
and hazardous substances would carry a jail sentence of two to five
years. If death or criminal gangs are involved, the prison sentence
would rise to 10 years.
Some EU states such as Britain already have criminal sanctions
for breaches of environmental laws, but campaigners have long called
for an Europe-wide approach, complaining that firms can move their
business from one country with high environmental standards to others
with weaker controls.
Fines for companies would range close to £1 million but firms
could also be forced to be wound up and excluded from EU aid systems.
The move follows a landmark European Court ruling in 2005 which
sidestepped the historic right of national parliaments to decide
what constitutes a crime and how it ought to be punished.
EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas also decided to act after
a European ship dumped toxic waste off the coast of Africa last
year, killing 10 people.
The directive says: "Experience has shown that the existing
systems of sanctions have not been sufficient to achieve complete
compliance with laws for the protection of the environment.
"Such compliance can and should be strengthened by the application
of criminal sanctions.
"Criminal sanctions are not in force in all member states
for all serious environmental offences, even though only criminal
penalties will have a sufficiently dissuasive effect."
Brian Hall of law firm Clifford Chance said today that the threat
of personal liability "concentrates the minds of people when
they see they could be taken away in chains".
John Sauven, acting executive director of Greenpeace, said: "If
this is going to ratchet up the standards and make them applicable
across Europe, then that would be very beneficial."
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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