Malta given two months to introduce criminal penalties against environmental offences

Updated 4:24pm with government statement.

Directive 2008/99/EC on criminal law measures to protect the environment should have been introduced in national law by 26 December 2010. However, 10 countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania,Malta, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia) have so far failed to do so.

The ‘reasoned opinions’ are the second stage in the three-step infringement process.

The government said in a statement that it was in the process of transposing the provisions of the directive by means of amendments to the Criminal Code. “These amendments have been drafted and will be debated in Parliament in the near future.”

Directive 2008/99/EC on protecting the environment through criminal law aims to ensure that criminal law measures are available in all member states to react to serious breaches of EU rules on environmental protection. The Directive includes a list of breaches which have to be considered a criminal offence in all member states, such as the illegal shipment of waste or the trade in endangered species.

Member states must ensure that the criminal offences are punishable with “effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties.” Failure to implement the directive makes it impossible to have common minimum criminal law rules for serious breaches of EU legislation on the protection of the environment, the European Commission said.