Operational support to environmental crimes cases

Since 2016, environmental crime has been the fourth-largest criminal activity globally, growing at a rate of between 5% and 7% per year[1]. It endangers entire ecosystems, while posing a serious threat to human health, and is one of the most profitable forms of illegal trade in the world.

Despite this, the number of investigations at nation¬al and European level remains low when compared to investigations into other crime areas.

This is reflected in Eurojust’s casework, which slightly decreased compared to the previous year, with the Agency handling 55 cases in 2022. It should be noted, however, that the Agency routinely deals with various cases not directly registered as environmental cases, which nevertheless have a major impact on the environment.

During 2022, the Agency continued to provide legal, operational and logistical support to ongoing and new environmental cases brought to the Agency. This included facilitating six JITs and seven coordination meetings, involving concerned national authorities from EU Member States and third countries.

Eurojust supports action against use of illegal emission devices in South Korean cars

Crime: Illegal emission devices are placed in more than 210 000 diesel cars produced by 2 South Korean companies. The devices are responsible for interfering with or disabling exhaust gas cleaning mechanisms, causing the vehicles to emit significantly more nitrogen oxides while in operation than legally permitted. Customers buying the vehicles are deceived as they are not informed that the vehicles fail to meet the emissions requirements.

Action: In an action day coordinated by Eurojust on 28 June 2022, business premises in eight properties across Germany and Luxembourg are searched. The searches are carried out by approximately 180 investigators in Germany, and 14 investigators in Luxembourg.

Result: Various pieces of evidence, including communication data, software and planning documents are seized.

Eurojust's Role: Eurojust enables the cooperation of the national authorities involved during the action day.

The lack of environmental crime investigations at national and European level

Part of the reason why there is a lack of environmental crime investigations is because environmental crimes are frequently con¬sidered secondary to crimes such as fraud and money laundering, and are therefore rarely prioritised by national authorities. Moreover, administrative, law enforcement and judicial authorities often lack the capacity and resources to effectively detect, investigate and prose¬cute environmental crimes, which are often complex, multidisciplinary and cross-border in nature. Finally, the existence of different investigative and legislative approaches to dealing with environmental crime across countries also poses legal and operational challenges.

Eurojust is fully equipped to deal with these challenges, and encourages national authorities to engage more actively in cross-border environmental investigations and prosecutions and to refer such cases to the Agency.

The Council also encourages further cooperation with Eurojust. In 2019, the Council published the Final report of the eighth round of mutual evaluations on environmental crime. One of the report’s key recommendations is for Member States to participate actively in the work carried out at EU and international levels to enhance cooperation in tackling environmental crime, including through Eurojust. While cases referred to the Agency did increase following this recommendation both in 2020 and 2021, in 2022 they slightly decreased. The Agency looks forward to working with national authorities more extensively in this area in the future.

Environmental cases use Eurojust services the most

Compared to all crime areas addressed by the Agency, the highest percentage of coordination meetings and coordination centres facilitated by Eurojust during the last eight years have been dedicated to environmental crime cases.

The number of new JITs sup¬ported by Eurojust during 2014–2022 in the envi¬ronmental crime area is also comparatively very high, demonstrating national authorities’ need and reliance on Eurojust’s assistance in combatting this complex international crime.

Considering the involvement of trafficking routes across the European Union and beyond, the high level of illegal profits, the low risk of detection and the involvement of organised and other crimes, JITs are a particularly efficient tool in the environmental crime area.

Eurojust’s crucial role in fighting environmental crime is illustrated by the extensive use of all its judicial tools for past and current environmental crime cases. More information about these tools and Eurojust’s expertise in the environmental crime area can be found in Eurojust’s Environmental Crime Factsheet.

Eurojust’s contribution to EMPACT Operational Actions in the environmental crime priority area

During 2022, Eurojust continued to support four environmental operational actions under EMPACT. These actions cover:

• transnational investigations into waste trafficking and ‘follow-the-money’ approach to dismantle the involved OCGs;
• tackling criminal finance, money laundering and asset recovery related to wildlife and timber trafficking;
• support to multidisciplinary training activities related to environmental crime organised by CEPOL; and
• strengthening law enforcement and judicial cooperation between the European Union and Asia.

Proposal for the new Environmental Crime Directive

The legislative procedure for the proposal for the new Environmental Crime Directive was ongoing throughout 2022. The Commission’s proposal for the new Directive was discussed during an MEPs visit to Eurojust in September 2022. The MEP delegation learned about the Agency’s work in the environmental crime area and discussed what the new Directive will mean for its future casework. In December 2022, the Council reached an agreement on its negotiating mandate.

Eurojust welcomes the proposal, which reflects the recommendations stemming from the Agency’s casework, and contains a number of provisions that are highly relevant to its work. The new Directive is expected to strengthen the whole environmental enforcement chain, including cross-border judicial cooperation.

The proposal aims to improve the investigation and prosecution of environmental criminal offences by defining environmental crime more precisely, and adding new types of environmental criminal offences. It also provides minimum standards for effective, dissuasive and proportionate sanctions and introduces specific sanction types and levels for environmental criminal offences for natural and legal persons. The draft Directive obliges Member States to publish statistics on environmental crime-related proceedings. Moreover, the proposal promotes the use of harmonised investigative tools and obliges cooperation through Eurojust, Europol and OLAF.

European Commission adopts revised EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking

Wildlife trafficking has become one of the most profitable criminal activities worldwide, with devastating effects on biodiversity. In 2022, the European Commission revised its Action Plan to further prevent wildlife trafficking by addressing its root causes. Moreover, the Plan aims to strengthen the legal and policy framework, enforce regulations, and reinforce the global partnership of source, consumer and transit countries against wildlife trafficking.

Eurojust was invited to comment on the draft revised EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking, which was adopted by the European Commission in November 2022. The Agency is referred to in the framework of several actions aimed to strengthen cross-border cooperation and to enhance specialised knowledge of all actors, including prosecutors and the judiciary. Member States are encouraged to systematically request Eurojust’s operational and judicial support on cases related to serious and organised wildlife crime.

EU and US intensify cooperation in the fight against environmental crime

The European Union and the United States published a joint statement following the EU-US Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Ministerial Meeting, in which they committed to further strengthen cooperation against environmental crime. They committed to developing cooperation tools and mechanisms to exchange information and best practices, also via Eurojust where possible.

They further committed to identifying potential joint operational activities and investigations in the areas of marine and maritime pollution, such as ship source pollution, protecting marine biodiversity, and offences involving the transboundary shipment of waste. National authorities of Member States are encouraged to consider initiation of criminal investigations in these areas and, where relevant, establish cross-border exchange of information and cooperation with US authorities and use Eurojust’s assistance to facilitate the cooperation.

During a dedicated liaison meeting hosted by Eurojust in September 2022, EU and US officials devised a process to set environmental crime priorities for operational action, criminal intelligence sharing, and developing cooperation tools and mechanisms to exchange information and best practices.

The United States Department of Justice, the Directorates General for Justice and Environment of the European Commission, the European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE), and Europol all participated in the meeting. These established contacts will play a key role in enabling strategic and operational cooperation to combat environmental crime. Eurojust and ENPE will provide organisational, operational and logistical support to this cooperation.

Eurojust’s awareness-raising and networking activities on environmental crime

During 2022, Eurojust made significant efforts to raise awareness on how to successfully investigate and prosecute environmental crimes through networking activities for prosecutors and the judiciary. The Agency supported trainings organised by CEPOL and the EJTN, and EU-funded projects such as Successful Wildlife Crime Prosecution in Europe. Eurojust also participated in the EU Crime Prevention Network wildlife crime awareness campaign.

In March 2022, Eurojust and the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union held a symposium on environmental crime, bringing together high-level experts in environmental law. The objective of the symposium was to trace the evolution of the fight against environmental crime within the EU, as well as to consider future prospects in this area. The new French judicial organisation to advance prosecution for damage to the environment was also presented.

In a dedicated conference in Tunisia in June 2022, judicial practitioners from EU Member States and the South Partner Countries shared good practices for the more effective application of environmental law. The main aim of the event was to explore the development of a network of magistrates specialised in environmental law on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea. The conference was organised by the EuroMed Justice Programme in close coordination with Algeria and the French and Tunisian Ministries of Justice, under the French Presidency to the EU Council.

Finally, in September 2022, Eurojust hosted the annual general meeting and the 10th anniversary event of the ENPE. This was an important networking event, to which representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice also participated. During the meeting, three case studies were presented covering topics including sustainable biodiesel fraud, marine pollution and illegal pesticides. The case study presenters shared lessons learned and best practices based on their experiences of working on these cases.

[1] The Rise of Environmental Crime (2016), Interpol and United Nations Environment Programme