МУЛТИДИСЦИПЛИНАРНИ ПРИСТУП У ПРЕВЕНЦИЈИ, ОТКРИВАЊУ, ИСТРАЗИ И ПРОЦЕСУИРАЊУ КРИВИЧНИХ ДЕЛА ПРОТИВ ЖИВОТНЕ СРЕДИНЕ КАО СТАНДАРД ДИРЕКТИВЕ 2024/1203
A Multidiscipl inary App roa ch to the Prevention, De tection, Investigation, and Prosecution of Criminal Offe nses Against the Environme nt as a Standard of Directive 2024/1203

Summary/Abstract: By adopting Directive (EU) 2024/1203 on the protection of the environment through criminal law, the European Union has established a new, uniform, and comprehensive standard in the field of environmental criminal law. This legal instrument replaces the earlier Directives 2008/99/EC and 2009/123/EC. One of its key novelties is the requirement for a multidisciplinary approach to the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of criminal offenses against the environment. Environmental crime has a complex, cross-border, and often transnational dimension. In addition to legal and criminal procedure instruments, it requires the integration of knowledge and resources from different disciplines: law, criminology, ecology, chemistry, biology, toxicology, economics, and information technology. The Directive expressly emphasizes the obligation of Member States to provide sufficient qualified staff and adequate financial, technical, and technological resources for combating environmental crime. In addition, the Directive highlights the importance of coordination and cooperation not only within a single state (between different institutions), but also at the level of the European Union. It underscores the role of Eurojust, Europol, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in providing technical and operational support. Such an approach implies that the fight against environmental crime cannot be reduced exclusively to criminal prosecution, but requires the integration of preventive measures, administrative sanctions, civil liability, and criminal-law instruments into a single comprehensive system. The multidisciplinary approach also includes the participation of the public and non-governmental organizations. Article 15 of the Directive provides procedural rights for persons and associations that protect the environment, thereby creating space for citizens and the civil sector to contribute to the protection of a public good. The Directive confirms the position that contemporary environmental crime cannot be successfully sanctioned without the integration of knowledge and cooperation among different disciplines and actors. The standard of multidisciplinarity is an essential element of the European system for the protection of the environment through criminal law and a model that, in the process of harmonization, will also have a strong influence on candidate countries for EU membership.

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