It took eight years of negotiation but the European Parliament has reached an agreement concerning criminal punishments for those who commit deliberate or negligent damage to the environment. The agreement is unsettling for British conservatives who believe the measure is an "intrusion" into national criminal law.

Supporters believe the measures are necessary to prevent offenders from taking advantage of "scattered and disparate criminal law provisions".

To appease those against the agreement, criminal penalties can only be enforced when there is severe damage done, death or serious injury. Penalties can also only be enforced in areas where the EU has competence, which leaves national legislation alone in areas abroad.

According to the measure, punishable crimes include:

• Unlawful discharge or emission of substances into the air, soil or water in a way likely to cause "death or serious injury to any person" or "substantial damage" to the environment;
• the shipment of waste;
• the killing, destruction, possession and trading of specimens of protected fauna or flora species, except when it concerns negligible quantities with little or no impact on the specimen's conservation status;
• any conduct which causes the significant deterioration of habitats within protected sites, and;
• The production, importation, exportation, placing on the market or use of ozone-depleting substances.

The level of punishment is left up to the members of the state as long as they are aware that the penalty is 'effective, proportionate, and dissuasive".

MEP's have adopted a report due to the lack of action on cutting pollution from shipping which has resulted in a new maritime strategy proposal. On the 21st of May, MEP's urged the Commission to take charge against illegal dumping of toxic waste on the shores of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The report asks the EU to set up regulations for ships to be thoroughly checked for cleanliness before taking off to developing countries to avoid the disposal of toxic waste.

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