The Second AIDP World Conference - Bucharest, 18-20 May 2016

• Pages: 2-4

2 THE SECOND AIDP WORLD CONFERENCE – BUCHAREST, 18-20 MAY 2016

SCIENTIFIC LIFE

THE SECOND AIDP WORLD CONFERENCE –

BUCHAREST, 18-20 MAY 2016

Between May 18-20, 2016, Bucharest (Romania) has hosted the Second World

Conference of the International Association of Criminal Law (IACL), having as

main topic “The Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law”. Held in

collaboration with the Institute for Legal Research of the Romanian Academy (ICJ),

the Ecological University of Bucharest, and the Romanian Association of Penal

Sciences, the World Conference offered the possibility of a global debate on an

issue of maximum importance and actuality.

Environmental criminality is becoming more and more important, both at a

national and international level, and has already reached a fourth position

amongst international illicit activities, after drug trafficking, counterfeiting, and

human trafficking. Its object constitutes of the human beings and their living

environment, and/or the environment itself, as a general support for all life.

Stating and asserting an adequate and efficient criminal law response imply a

significant creative effort, and also the integration of the particularities of the new

field, in the context of criminal law.

Criminal protection of the environment finds itself in the midst a gradual

effort, where criminal law stands as a final solution, adequate, proportional to the

present interests, to the gravity of the damage or the guilt of the offenders; and

such a reasoning involves a double conjoint movement: on the one hand, of

adapting and harmonizing internal legal systems, and on the other hand, of

internationalizing criminal protection of the environment, both resulting in

criminal environmental law.

By taking into account, amongst its priority scientific concerns, environmental

protection by means of criminal law, the IACL continues its tradition, reacts to the

new social major challenges, i.e. the environmental and ecological imperative, thus

consolidating the future status of criminal law.

With the participation of renowned specialists, representing the major legal

schools and systems of the world, the reunion proposes the following thematic

areas: The situation of the environment and challenges of the legal system to

provide protection (Prof. Tudorel Toader, “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iaşi,

Romania); Limitations and challenges of the criminal justice system in addressing

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The Second AIDP World Conference – Bucharest, 18-20 May 2016 3

environmental crime (Prof. Michel Faure, Maastricht University, The Netherlands);

International environmental norms and standards: compliance and enforcement

(Prof. Gert Vermeulen, University of Gent, Belgium); Environmental crime in the

EU: Is there a need for further harmonisation or for new enforcement tools? (Prof.

Mircea Duţu, Legal Research Institute of the Romanian Academy); Can Laudato Si’

(Pope Francis’s Environmental Encyclical) inspire regulations to protect our

Common Home? (Roberto Manuel Carles, the Latin-American Association of

Criminal Law and Criminology, Argentina); The interaction of various

enforcement regimes in the fight against environmental crime (EU, USA, South

American, and Asian enforcement perspectives); The role and liability of states and

corporations for environmental crimes – the perspective of international law (Prof.

Ilias Plakokefalos, Utrecht University, The Netherlands); Environmental Crimes

and the International Criminal Court (Prof. Zlata Djurdevic, University of Zagreb,

Croatia); The protection of bio-diversity; Prosecuting environmental crime;

Procedural safeguards and the interaction between administrative and penal

enforcement; Particular problems in international cooperation for the prosecution

of environmental crimes (Prof. John Vervaele, University of Utrecht, The

Netherlands), the role of NGOs etc.

The Conference was opened by high representatives of the field of criminal

prosecution and government officials, precisely Mr. Augustin Lazăr, General

Prosecutor of Romania, and Mrs. Erik Stanciu, State Secretary in the Ministry of

Environment. Prosecutor General Lazăr pointed out the importance of specialized

prosecutors in the field of environment, and also of specialized prosecution offices,

uniting both lawyers and other experts – scientist, criminologist e.a. - in the fields

relevant to prosecuting environmental crime.

In the final report, the Honorary President Jose Luis de la Cuesta has

formulated the following recommendations, to be taken into account in the process

of further uniformisation of the environmental criminal regulations, at least from

an European perspective: reforming the system created by the Directive

99/2008/CE, by consolidating the harmonization level according to art. 83 par. (1)

of the TFEU, regulating the possibility of establishing minimal norms on defining

crimes in fields of special gravity; extending the competences of the EU in the field

of criminal law, by adding environmental crime to the list of crime as provided by

art. 83 par. (1) as expression of a consolidated competence; consolidating the

harmonization by means of EU mechanisms of insuring the transposition in the

national legal systems of the member states of the 99/2008/CE directive;

harmonizing the provisions of the Directive with the other regulations incident in

the field.; correlation and simplification of the EU regulations in matters of

environmental protection through criminal law; connecting the EU harmonization

initiatives to the international agenda-concerns regarding the drafting of a

Suppression convention on serious environmental crimes and/or a specific certain

conventions on eco-crimes or ecocide.

4 THE SECOND AIDP WORLD CONFERENCE – BUCHAREST, 18-20 MAY 2016

At an international level, Professor de la Cuesta has proposed that “it is

recommended for states to include in their criminal policy of environmental

protection the international cooperation dimension, involving in their strategies

civil society (specialized NGO’s, reliable business actors) and including rights of

suspects and victims in the international judicial cooperation mechanisms”.

Furthermore, it is recommended to states and to the international community to

elaborate a “Suppression Treaty” about serious violations to ecosystems and

criminal justice, in order to assure the punishment of the most serious aggressions

to the environment that should be considered international crimes.