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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:45 am
Time: 11:45 am
Results for hazardous wastes
5 results foundAuthor: Savona, Ernesto U. Title: Understudied Organized Crime Offending: A Discussion of the Canadian Situation in the International Context Summary: This report provides an analysis of selected possible understudied organized crime activities in the Canadian context, contributing to the knowledge on both of the nature and the scope of organized crime. The analysis involved an extensive review of the existing state of organized crime literature in the international context. The analysis was based on available literature, official reports and informed speculations. Details: Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, 2011. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 12, 2012 at: http://transcrime.cs.unitn.it/tc/fso/pubblicazioni/AP/Understudied_Organized_Crime_Offending_A_Discussion_of_the_Canadian_Situation_in_the_International_Context-English.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://transcrime.cs.unitn.it/tc/fso/pubblicazioni/AP/Understudied_Organized_Crime_Offending_A_Discussion_of_the_Canadian_Situation_in_the_International_Context-English.pdf Shelf Number: 123556 Keywords: Counterfeit GoodsCounterfeitingGamblingHazardous WastesOffenses Against the EnvironmentOrganized CrimeWildlife Crime |
Author: Huglo Lepage & Partners Title: Study on Environmental Crime in the 27 Member States Summary: On 27 January 2003, on the initiative of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Council of the European Union adopted the framework Decision. Based on Title VI of the Treaty on European Union, the framework decision constitutes, as is clear from the first three recitals in its preamble, the instrument by which the European Union intends to respond with concerted action to the disturbing increase in offences posing a threat to the environment. The framework decision lays down a number of environmental offences, in respect of which the Member States are required to prescribe criminal penalties. The framework decision distinguished environmental offences committed intentionally from negligent offences. The requested study does not explicitly mention this distinction. We understand that it should cover both intentional and negligent offences. With regard to the environmental offences, the framework decision stated in its articles 2 to 7 that : Member States shall adopt necessary measures to qualify these infringement as criminal offences; Member States shall ensure that, under national legislation, participating or instigating the offences is punishable The criminal penalties laid down in each Member State shall be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” and shall include, at least in serious cases, penalties involving deprivation of liberty which can give rise to extradition. Criminal penalties may be accompanied by other penalties or measures. Legal persons shall be liable as the result of an act or omission and the sanctions to which they are to be subject under national legislation shall include criminal and non-criminal fines and may include other sanctions. The other provisions of the framework decision were dealing with jurisdiction , extradition and prosecutions of persons who have committed environmental offences. In case C-176/03 the Commission, supported by the European Parliament, requested the Court to annul the framework decision in its entirety, claiming that article 2 to 7 of the act were falling within the Community’s competence. In its judgment given on 13 September 2005, the Court held that, although the Community legislature has no general competence in criminal matters, it is competent, under Article 175 EC, to require the Member States to prescribe penalties for infringements of Community environment-protection legislation if it takes the view that that is a necessary means of ensuring that the EC environmental legislation is effective. In other word the Court considered that the (partial) harmonisation of national criminal laws, in particular of the constituent elements of environmental offences and of the criminal penalties attached to these offences, is designed to support the EC environmental policy. It stems from the Judgment of the Court that the EC legislature can adopt a Directive based on article 175 EC if : The main purpose of this act is the protection of the environment; Member States national legislation differ as regards the constituent elements of various criminal offences committed to the detriment of the environment; The criminal penalties applicable to the various criminal offences differ greatly from one Member State to another and are not effective, proportionate and dissuasive • Aim and scope of the study The European Commission plans to submit to the European Parliament and the Council a proposal for a directive on environmental crime. In order to justify its proposal with regards to the above mentioned Court judgement, the Commission needs to demonstrate that a harmonisation of criminal laws of the Member States, in particular of the constituent elements of environmental offences and of the criminal penalties attached to these offences, is necessary to ensure the proper implementation of EC environmental legislation. Therefore, it is necessary for the Commission to be able to provide the Council and the Parliament with an overview of the current legislation in the Member states regarding criminal offences that differ from those covered in the Framework decision, in order to justify the harmonisation of these measures. A first step in a harmonisation effort is that the Commission should know how the non-respect of national rules implementing specific provisions of 4 Directives and 1 Regulation are sanctioned in the various member states today. The relevant environmental offences are: the unlawful discharge of hazardous substances into water; the unlawful dumping of waste; the illegal shipment of waste as defined in Article 2(35) of the Waste Shipment Regulations; the unlawful significant deterioration of a protected habitat; the unlawful trade in or use of ozone-depleting substances Three studies have already been carried out on this issue on behalf of the Commission in 2002 and 2003. However, theses studies did not cover the exact same offences and did not cover the now 27 Members States. Besides, the information contained in these previous studies had to be updated. The study covers the five listed offences and aims at conveying a clear overview of the national legislation in force and the levels of sanctions. Although the case law and the judicial practice may influence the effectiveness of penalties, this study covers only legislation and not case law or judicial practice. Details: Brussels: Huglo Lepage & Partners, 2007. 16p.; appendices Source: Internet Resource: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/crime/pdf/report_environmental_crime.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Europe URL: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/crime/pdf/report_environmental_crime.pdf Shelf Number: 123676 Keywords: Hazardous WastesIllegal WastesOffences Against the EnvironmentOzone DepletionWaste Management |
Author: Elliott, Lorraine Title: Transnational Environmental Crime: Applying Network Theory to an Investigation of Illegal Trade, Criminal Activity and Law Enforcement Reponses Summary: In his National Security Statement to Parliament in December 2009, the Australian Prime Minister observed that "transnational crime – [including] the illegal exploitation of resources – will remain a continuing challenge" (Office of the Prime Minister of Australia, 2009). According to Sandro Calvani, the Director of UNICRI – the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute – governments face multiple challenges in dealing with the illegal exploitation of resources. Those challenges include "scarce awareness and knowledge of the phenomenon, … insufficient regulation, … growing involvement of organized crime … high profits [and] … scarce international cooperation" (Calvani 2009, p. 14). While this illegal exploitation, captured in the concept of transnational environmental crime (TEC), has become a matter of growing concern for Australian and international security, environmental and criminological policy, the nature and extent of the associated illegal trade and criminal activity remains under-researched. Nor has there been a comprehensive and critically-informed analysis of the nature and extent of international cooperation on policy, compliance and enforcement in response to TEC. This research project therefore has three key objectives: to advance our understanding of the ways in which environmental commodities that are either sourced illegally or destined for illegal markets are traded; to draw on International Relations theories of networks to develop and apply conceptual tools that can aid in understanding the organizational structures of TEC networks and the political, social and economic assets that sustain illicit chains of custody; to examine and analyse existing transnational policy and operational law enforcement responses, particularly those that function through network arrangements, to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the ways in which governments and other actors are responding to the challenges of TEC. This short working paper provides an overview of the background to this research project, expands on these three key themes, canvasses the conceptual framework that informs the research, and introduces the methodologies that will guide our investigations. Details: Canberra, Australia: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Department of International Relations, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, The Australian National Library, 2011. 17p. Source: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Working Paper 1/2011: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 28, 2012 at http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ir/tec/publications/TEC_Working_Paper_1_2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ir/tec/publications/TEC_Working_Paper_1_2011.pdf Shelf Number: 123849 Keywords: Environmental CrimeEnvironmental LawHazardous WastesIllegal LoggingTransnational CrimeWildlife Smuggling |
Author: Elliott, Lorraine, ed. Title: Transnational Environmental Crime in the Asia-Pacific: A Workshop Report Summary: Transnational environmental crime (TEC) includes a range of activities: illegal logging and timber smuggling, wildlife smuggling, illegal fishing, the black market in Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS), the illegal movement of prohibited or regulated chemicals and hazardous and toxic wastes and, potentially, an illegal market in genetically modified organisms and illicitly obtained genetic material. Globally, the scale of transnational environmental crime has been estimated to be a black market similar in value to that of drugs or arms. The transnational dimension of this broad range of activities arises because the goods or commodities are sourced illegally and then smuggled across borders, or because they are traded in contravention of international conventions such as the Montreal Protocol (on substances that deplete the ozone layer) or CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) or the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes, or because the profits and/or perpetrators move across borders. Some commodities are laundered into the licit economy whereas others remain in the shadow illicit economy. The ‘chain of custody’ crimes associated with environmental smuggling range from small scale opportunistic activity through to systematic and large-scale organized crime that involves money laundering and corruption, parallel trading and the exchange of illegal environmental goods for other forms of illicit commodities. In the Asia Pacific, as the short papers in this workshop report attest, these are serious problems with consequences for environmental degradation and sustainable development, good governance, security, the legitimacy of legal institutions, national economies, markets, civil society and local communities. These are not, of course, simply problems ‘out there’ and we should not fall into the trap of reducing these to ‘developing country’ problems. Developed countries generate demand and provide markets for illegal environmental resources. The profits of illegal environmental goods are sometimes laundered through developed countries, facilitated by criminal groups and otherwise legitimate actors in those countries. Yet while other forms of transnational crime such as drugs smuggling, arms trafficking, people smuggling and terrorism have attracted considerable public and policy attention, TEC has been paid much less attention by academics and policy-makers alike even though it generates similar kinds of policy challenges. There is an extensive body of work within the environmental literature on individual types of illegality but little done on developing a more comprehensive global governance or international relations approach to this category of illegal transnational and global activity.2 The public Forum and round-table Workshop whose results are reported here were intended in part as a corrective to this. Rather than re-establishing the narratives about particular problems, the focus in the papers and in discussions was on policy responses. A number of important issues informed that discussion: • where should intervention be directed – prevention, interdiction, enforcement, punishment? • what do we need to manage these interventions – is this a matter of more resources and effective capacity? Or do we face broader problems of policy incoherence? • what lessons can we learn from existing policy responses in the region? Details: Canberra: Department of International Relations, RSPAS, The Australian National University, 2007. 87p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 25, 2012 at: http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ir/tec/publications/Transnational_environmental_crime_Asia_Pacific_workshop_report_TEC_Workshop_Report_2007.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Asia URL: http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ir/tec/publications/Transnational_environmental_crime_Asia_Pacific_workshop_report_TEC_Workshop_Report_2007.pdf Shelf Number: 126444 Keywords: Hazardous WastesIllegal FishingIllegal LoggingNatural ResourcesOffenses Against the Environment (Asia - Pacific RWildlife Smuggling |
Author: Banks, Debbie Title: Environmental Crime: A threat to our future Summary: Since its inception in 1984 the Environmental Investigation Agency has been exposing environmental crime around the globe and has sought greater political support for strong enforcement action against these crimes. Yet despite the fact that environmental crime poses a growing threat, it remains a low priority for the international enforcement community. This report shows the scale and impacts of environmental crime and calls for strong political will to tackle it as a matter of urgency. Environmental crimes can be broadly defined as illegal acts which directly harm the environment. They include: illegal trade in wildlife; smuggling of ozonedepleting substances (ODS); illicit trade in hazardous waste; illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing; and illegal logging and the associated trade in stolen timber. Perceived as ‘victimless’ and low on the priority list, such crimes often fail to prompt the required response from governments and the enforcement community. In reality, the impacts affect all of society. For example, illegal logging contributes to deforestation. It deprives forest communities of vital livelihoods, causes ecological problems like flooding, and is a major contributor to climate change – up to one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions stem from deforestation. Illicit trade in ODS like the refrigerant chemicals chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), contributes to a thinning ozone layer, which causes human health problems like skin cancer and cataracts. Environmental crime generates tens of billions of dollars in profits for criminal enterprises every year, and it is growing. In part, this is due to the proliferation of international and regional environmental agreements, leading to more controls on a range of commodities. It is also due to mutations in the operations of criminal syndicates, which have been diversifying their operations into new areas like counterfeiting and environmental crime. Environmental crimes by their very nature are trans-boundary and involve cross-border criminal syndicates. A tiger skin or an ivory tusk passes through many hands from the poaching site to the final buyer. A tree felled illegally can travel around the world from the forest via the factory to be sold on the market as a finished wood product. In the era of global free trade, the ease of communication and movement of goods and money facilitate the operations of groups involved in environmental crime. The development of statutory enforcement agencies has struggled to keep pace with such change, and issues such as jurisdiction restrict efforts to foster better cross-border cooperation against crimes like illegal logging. These factors lead to a situation where environmental crimes offer high profits and minimal risk. It is time for the international community to wake-up to the menace of environmental crime and show the necessary political will to tackle the criminal gangs plundering our planet for a quick profit. Details: London: Environmental Investigation Agency, 2008. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 9, 2013 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/NGO/EIA_Ecocrime_report_0908_final_draft_low.pdf Year: 2008 Country: International URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/NGO/EIA_Ecocrime_report_0908_final_draft_low.pdf Shelf Number: 128333 Keywords: Environmental CrimesHazardous WastesIllegal FishingIllegal LoggingOffenses Against the EnvironmentWildlife Crimes |