Criminal offences

1. Member States shall ensure that conduct listed in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article, where it is intentional, and conduct referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article, where it is carried out with at least serious negligence, constitutes a criminal offence where that conduct is unlawful.

For the purpose of this Directive, conduct shall be unlawful where it breaches:

Union law which contributes to pursuit of one of the objectives of the Union’s policy on the environment as set out in Article 191(1) TFEU; or

a law, regulation or administrative provision of a Member State, or a decision taken by a competent authority of a Member State, which gives effect to the Union law referred to in point (a).

Such conduct shall be unlawful even where it is carried out under an authorisation issued by a competent authority of a Member State if such authorisation was obtained fraudulently or by corruption, extortion or coercion, or if such authorisation is in manifest breach of relevant substantive legal requirements.

2. Member States shall ensure that the following conduct constitutes a criminal offence where it is unlawful and intentional:

the discharge, emission or introduction of a quantity of materials or substances, energy or ionising radiation, into air, soil or water which causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;

the placing on the market, in breach of a prohibition or another requirement aimed at protecting the environment, of a product the use of which on a larger scale, namely the use of the product by several users, regardless of their number, results in the discharge, emission or introduction of a quantity of materials or substances, energy or ionising radiation into air, soil or water and causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;

the manufacture, placing or making available on the market, export or use of substances, whether on their own, in mixtures or in articles, including their incorporation into articles, where such conduct causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person, substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants and:

is restricted pursuant to Title VIII of and Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 18 ) ;

is prohibited pursuant to Title VII of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006;

is not in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 19 ) ;

is not in compliance with Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 20 ) ;

is not in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 21 ) ; or

is prohibited pursuant to Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 22 ) ;

the manufacture, use, storage, import or export of mercury, mercury compounds, mixtures of mercury, and mercury-added products where such conduct is not in compliance with the requirements set out in Regulation (EU) 2017/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 23 ) and causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person, substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;

the execution of projects within the meaning of Article 1(2)(a), as referred to in Article 4(1) and (2), of Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 24 ) , where such conduct is carried out without a development consent and causes or is likely to cause substantial damage to the quality of air or soil, or the quality or status of water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;

the collection, transport or treatment of waste, the supervision of such operations and the after-care of disposal sites, including action taken as a dealer or a broker, where such conduct:

concerns hazardous waste as defined in Article 3(2) of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 25 ) and it concerns a non-negligible quantity of such waste; or

concerns waste other than that referred to in point (i) and causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;

the shipment of waste, within the meaning of Article 2, point (26), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 26 ) , where such conduct concerns a non-negligible quantity, whether executed in a single shipment or in several shipments which appear to be linked;

the recycling of ships falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013, where such conduct is not in compliance with the requirements referred to in Article 6(2), point (a), of that Regulation;

the ship-source discharge of polluting substances falling within the scope of Article 3 of Directive 2005/35/EC into any area referred to in Article 3(1) of that Directive, except where such ship-source discharge satisfies the conditions for exceptions set out in Article 5 of that Directive, which causes or is likely to cause deterioration in the quality of water or damage to the marine environment;

the operation or closure of an installation in which a dangerous activity is carried out or in which dangerous substances or mixtures are stored or used, where such conduct and such dangerous activity, substance or mixture fall within the scope of Directive 2012/18/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 27 ) or of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 28 ) , and such conduct causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;

the construction, operation and dismantling of an installation, where such conduct and such an installation fall within the scope of Directive 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 29 ) , and such conduct causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;

the manufacture, production, processing, handling, use, holding, storage, transport, import, export or disposal of radioactive material or radioactive substances, where such conduct and such a material or substances fall within the scope of Council Directives 2013/59/Euratom ( 30 ) , 2014/87/Euratom ( 31 ) or 2013/51/Euratom ( 32 ) , and such conduct causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury, to any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;

the abstraction of surface water or groundwater within the meaning of Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 33 ) , where such conduct causes or is likely to cause substantial damage to the ecological status or ecological potential of surface water bodies or to the quantitative status of groundwater bodies;

the killing, destruction, taking of, possession, sale or offering for sale of a specimen or specimens of a species of wild fauna or flora listed in Annex IV, or in Annex V where species in that Annex are subject to the same measures as those adopted for species in Annex IV, to Council Directive 92/43/EEC ( 34 ) and of a specimen or specimens of the species referred to in Article 1 of Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 35 ) , except where such conduct concerns a negligible quantity of such specimens;

the trade of a specimen or specimens, or parts or derivatives thereof, of a species of wild fauna or flora, listed in Annexes A and B to Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 ( 36 ) , and import of a specimen or specimens, or parts or derivatives thereof, of such species listed in Annex C to that Regulation, except where such conduct concerns a negligible quantity of such specimens;

the placing or making available on the Union market or the export from the Union market of relevant commodities or relevant products, in breach of the prohibition set out in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, except where such conduct concerns a negligible quantity;

any conduct which causes the deterioration of a habitat within a protected site, or the disturbance of animal species listed in Annex II, point (a), to Directive 92/43/EEC within a protected site, within the meaning of Article 6(2) of that Directive, where such deterioration or disturbance is significant;

the bringing into the territory of the Union, placing on the market, keeping, breeding, transporting, using, exchanging, permitting to reproduce, growing or cultivating, releasing into the environment, or the spreading of invasive alien species of Union concern, where such conduct breaches:

restrictions set out in Article 7(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 37 ) and causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants; or

a condition of a permit issued under Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 or of an authorisation granted under Article 9 of that Regulation and causes or is likely to cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person or substantial damage to the quality of air, soil or water, or substantial damage to an ecosystem, animals or plants;

the production, placing on the market, import, export, use, or release of ozone depleting substances, whether alone or as mixtures, as referred to in Article 2, point (a), of Regulation (EU) 2024/590 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 38 ) , or the production, placing on the market, import, export or use of products and equipment, and parts thereof, containing ozone-depleting substances or whose functioning relies upon those substances as referred to in Article 2(b) of that Regulation;

the production, placing on the market, import, export, use, or release of fluorinated greenhouse gases, whether alone or as mixtures, as referred to in Article 2, point (a), of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 39 ) or the production, placing on the market, import, export or use of products and equipment, and parts thereof, containing fluorinated greenhouse gases or whose functioning relies upon those gases as referred to in Article 2, point (b), of that Regulation, or the putting into operation of such products and equipment.

3. Member States shall ensure that criminal offences relating to conduct listed in paragraph 2 constitute qualified criminal offences if such conduct causes:

the destruction of, or widespread and substantial damage which is either irreversible or long-lasting to, an ecosystem of considerable size or environmental value or a habitat within a protected site, or

widespread and substantial damage which is either irreversible or long-lasting to the quality of air, soil or water.

4. Member States shall ensure that the conduct listed in paragraph 2, points (a) to (d), points (f) and (g), points (i) to (q), point (r)(ii), and points (s) and (t), constitutes a criminal offence where that conduct is unlawful and carried out with at least serious negligence.

5. In addition to the criminal offences relating to conduct listed in paragraph 2, Member States may, in accordance with their national law, provide for additional criminal offences in order to protect the environment.

6. Member States shall ensure that, in assessing whether the damage or likely damage is substantial, as regards conduct listed in paragraph 2, points (a) to (e), point (f)(ii), points (j) to (m), and point (r), one or more of the following elements is taken into account, where relevant:

the baseline condition of the affected environment;

whether the damage is long-lasting, medium-term or short-term;

the extent of the damage;

the reversibility of the damage.

7. Member States shall ensure that, in assessing whether conduct listed in paragraph 2, points (a) to (e), point (f)(ii), points (i) to (m), and point (r), is likely to cause damage to the quality of air or soil, or the quality or status of water, or to an ecosystem, animals or plants, one or more of the following elements is taken into account, where relevant:

the conduct relates to an activity which is considered to be risky or dangerous for the environment or human health, and requires an authorisation which was not obtained or complied with;

the extent to which a regulatory threshold, value or another mandatory parameter set out in Union or national law referred to in paragraph 1, second subparagraph, points (a) and (b), or in an authorisation issued for the relevant activity is exceeded;

whether the material or substance is classified as dangerous, hazardous or otherwise listed as harmful to the environment or human health.

8. Member States shall ensure that in assessing whether a quantity is negligible or non-negligible for the purposes of paragraph 2, point (f)(i), and points (g), (n), (o) and (p), one or more of the following elements is taken into account, where relevant:

the number of items concerned;

the extent to which a regulatory threshold, value or another mandatory parameter set out in Union or national law referred to in paragraph 1, second subparagraph, points (a) and (b), is exceeded;

the conservation status of the fauna or flora species concerned;

the cost of restoration of the environment, where it is feasible to assess that cost.

DIRECTIVE (EU) 2024/1203 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 April 2024 on the protection of the environment through criminal law and replacing Directives 2008/99/EC and 2009/123/EC