Naujienos

*Stronger EU role urged in green enforcement

The EU should introduce minimum penalties for certain breaches of environmental law by companies, European Commission advisors say in a survey of administrative, or non-criminal, sanctions that national authorities apply to law-breakers.

Agreeing EU-wide minimum non-criminal sanctions for some serious types of infringement "could contribute to improving the efficiency of...enforcement systems in place in the member states," consultants Milieu and Huglo Lepage say.

Member states have always robustly repelled attempts by the European Commission to harmonise national legal systems. The consultants admit this "principle of national autonomy" will make it "difficult" to propose EU measures.

Nevertheless, the low level of compliance with EU environment laws in member states has become a major preoccupation of both the Commission and the European parliament's environment committee. And in a new five-year strategy unveiled last week the Commission pledged to get tougher on enforcement (ED 27/01/05).

One possible sanction might be the "immediate suspension of activities" for any EU firm found to be operating without a permit. Another might be minimum financial penalties for some types of transgression. A precedent for this exists in fines to be levied on firms failing to hold enough emission permits under the EU's new climate trading scheme, the report's authors say.

Other recommendations include creating an EU register of firms that infringe certain EU laws, with a "name-and-shame" section for persistent offenders. The consultants also propose "sanction incentives", such as daily penalties, to accelerate compliance.

Advantages of administrative sanctions are that they are often faster to impose, less costly, more certain and more immediately applicable than criminal proceedings involving judges, the report says. But they can also lead to bargaining between authorities and companies that can undermine their environmental effectiveness, it concludes.

The report is the latest in a series for the Commission's environment directorate profiling the sanctions used by member states to enforce green laws. Earlier reports focused on criminal sanctions (ED 31/10/03).