COMBATTING WASTE CRIME

Multidisciplinary and intelligence-led approach to fighting environmental crime
A multidisciplinary approach and close cross-agency cooperation is needed to tackle environmental crime efficiently. It is important to clearly understand the division of mandates of the agencies involved to avoid overlaps and maximise the use of available expertise.

Multidisciplinary teams investigating and prosecuting cases of environmental crime are already present in some Member States. It allows for easier access to different types of expertise or specialised personnel from environmental agencies.

As recognized in other types of crime with links to organised crime, there should be an intelligence-led approach to fight serious and organised environmental crime as well. To implement such approach, it is necessary at national level to commit to systematically collecting relevant information - which requires the close multidisciplinary cooperation of all agencies involved, such as customs or health authorities.

Confiscation of criminal proceeds
The motivations to commit environmental crimes are, in most cases, the same: to make money and/or reduce costs. The risk of detection and penalties are still relatively low while the profit margin is high.

To reduce the ‘attractiveness’ of committing these types of crimes, measures to confiscate proceeds need to be implemented on a more systematic basis. A stronger focus on money laundering aspects could be considered during the investigation and prosecution of illegal waste shipments to enhance the efficiency of the fight against environmental crime.

Conclusions of the Eurojust Report
The report of Eurojust in 2014 came to the following overall conclusions:

• Environmental crime, in particular when it contains cross-border elements, needs to be treated as serious crime.
• Due to the high profits generated, the relatively low risk of detection, and rather lenient penalties it is also often linked to organized crime, in particular illegal trafficking or dumping of waste.
• These crimes pose great risks to the environment and the wellbeing of human beings and undermine, in their organised forms, the rule of law and sustainable development.
• As in other serious and organised crime areas, the profits generated are significant and serve as the main motive for committing such offences. Therefore, asset tracing, freezing and confiscation should be applied on a more general and systematic basis.
• The complex legislative framework and its implementation require specialist knowledge, both through the involvement of independent experts and through expertise within law enforcement and prosecutorial personnel.
• The involvement of a broad range of national authorities, e.g. from customs officers to veterinary experts - demonstrates that a multidisciplinary approach and organised and systematic inter-agency collaboration and coordination are essential at national, European and at international level.
• The applicable penalties for environmental offences differ significantly between the Member States. Their deterrent effect is insufficient and therefore not 'effective, proportionate and dissuasive'.
• As legislation is not harmonized in this area, in particular in terms of penalties, Member States often struggle to use coercive investigative techniques similar to those in other serious crime areas.
• The sharing of best practice and of expertise is essential in environmental cross-border cases and intelligence gathering should become automatic in this field. Europol’s expertise could be ‘explored’ within this framework at EU level.
• The added value of Eurojust’s assistance needs to be better known among practitioners working in this field of law. Coordination of investigations and prosecutions should be carried out on a more regular basis through the early involvement of the agency and more systematic use could be made of JITs, coordination meetings and coordination centres in cross-border environmental cases.