Deep Dive: Environmental Polluters Can Face Fines, Prison, Under New EU Law

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A new EU directive, called one of the world’s “most ambitious” efforts to punish environmental crimes, allows polluters – individuals and companies – to be charged under criminal law and establishes that the maximum term of imprisonment should not be less than 10 years for serious environmental crimes.

After several years of legislative procedure and debates, the EU published the Directive On The Protection of the Environment Through Criminal Law and Replacing Directives 2008/99/EC and 2009/123/EC in April 2024. The directive establishes EU-wide rules on environmental offenses, which can be punishable by fines and imprisonment, exclusion from access to public funding, and withdrawal of permits and authorizations, among other sanctions.