In search of ecocide under EU law. The international context and EU law perspectives

Abstract

For some years now, the search for an ecocide has been promoted internationally. The Rome Statute is the formal context where environmental crimes might be inserted, although the Statute itself supports an explicit ICC competence for environmental crimes specifically related to war scenarios. In the European region, both the ECHR and the EU have developed a practice aimed at strengthening the fight against criminal acts with severe environmental impact. However, the competence of the EU with regard to both cooperation on criminal law and environmental standards is still shared with that of the Member States: this explains to a large extent the current Directive 2008/99 on environmental crimes, where sanctions for this type of crimes are still defined in broad terms. The paper submits that alternatively an autonomous legal source on Ecocide might be adopted under art. 83 TFEU.