Waste Crime Prosecution Guidance

Environmental crimes cause significant damage to the environment. At the same time they provide for very high profits for perpetrators and relatively low risks of detection. Very often, environmental crimes have a cross border aspect. Environmental crime is a serious and growing problem that needs to be tackled at European and global level.

In order to support prosecution of waste crime and increase the knowledge of prosecutors responsible for dealing with cases of waste crime, the WasteForce project is pleased to announce the launch of the Waste Crime Prosecution Guidance.

This Guidance is intended to provide guidance and practical information for authorities involved in the prosecution of cases of illegal traffic in hazardous or other waste. Whilst the scope of the illegal transboundary trade in waste is a focus of the Guidance, it is also intended to provide guidance in the prosecution of waste crime in general.

The document does not aim to duplicate other existing materials unnecessarily. It is however designed to be a stand-alone document. It links with existing materials and future on-line training materials and references are made to other materials that will provide assistance to the prosecution of waste crime and other environmental crimes. In particular, the Basel Convention Secretariat “Instruction manual on the prosecution of illegal traffic of hazardous wastes or other wastes” which provides an understanding of the practice of prosecuting cases of illegal traffic in hazardous waste or other waste within the scope of the Basel Convention.

The WasteForce team also consulted the European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE) in drafting this document and gained valuable comments and input from their end.

Providing more guidance for prosecuting environmental crime is also one of the key actions as defined by the European Commission as part of their Environmental Compliance Assurance work. A good practice guidance document on strategies for combating environmental crimes and other related breaches, with a particular focus on waste and wildlife offences has been released in April 2020.