EU executive wants to punish "green crimes"

BRUSSELS, Feb 8 (Reuters) The European Commission wants to punish the most serious crimes against the environment with five to ten year minimum jail terms and fines of up to 1.5 million euros a draft proposal obtained by Reuters shows.

The EU executive is to seek EU-wide minimum sentences for nine offences ranging from dumping toxic waste to unsafe transport of hazardous materials, harming protected species and unlawful trade in ozone-depleting substances.

The heaviest sentence -- at least five to ten years of jail -- would apply to ''green crimes'' committed intentionally that killed or seriously injured people. Other offences would be punished by at least one to three years in prison.

The Commission, which says ''green crimes'' are on the rise and increasingly cause cross-border damage, is due to adopt the proposal later this week.

Member states and the European Parliament must approve the draft directive -- which touches on the sensitive issue of the European Union's powers over criminal law -- for it to take effect, overriding national laws.

The unprecedented move would be the first time EU-wide minimum sentences were applied to environmental crimes. The European Union already sets such standards for terrorism and drug trafficking.

Companies could be fined at least 750,000 to 1.5 million euros when a senior executive is responsible for an environmental offence that kills or seriously injures someone.

Firms would also be forced to clean up and directors could be removed from their jobs.

''In order to achieve effective protection of the environment, there is a particular need for more dissuasive sanctions for environmentally harmful activities,'' the draft proposal said.

It said measures taken by the bloc's 27 states individually are insufficient and vary too much, allowing companies to shop around for the most lenient legislation in the borderless bloc.

The Commission's proposal touches on the controversial issue of the division of powers between the bloc's states and its executive over criminal law, prompting some angry reactions.

''The European Commission is using the environmental agenda as an excuse to massively increase its powers at the expense of national parliaments. This is a very slippery slope,'' British Conservative EU lawmaker Syed Kamall said.

The Commission and EU states have long been fighting over their respective powers regarding environmental criminal law.

The EU executive successfully sued member states after they adopted in 2003 their own draft EU law on the issue.

The bloc's top court annulled the EU states' decision in 2005, saying protection of the environment was part of the Commission's remit.

REUTERS SRS BST0445