EU Council votes to criminalize “cases comparable to ecocide”

Cases comparable to ecocide will be criminal in the EU. Member states have 24 months to implement the directive “Protection of the environment through criminal law”.
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  • The European Council has formally adopted a new environmental crime directive, which includes provision to criminalise cases ‘comparable to ecocide’.

  • This is the latest and final vote on the new Directive and follows approval by the European Parliament in February and a landmark political agreement between the European Council, Commission and Parliament in November 2023.

  • This vote marks the conclusion of the Directive’s legislative journey, which gained significant momentum in March 2023 when the European Parliament announced its support for the inclusion of ecocide legislation.

  • Member states will now have a 24 month period, via the so-called ‘transposition’ process, in which to align national legislation with the newly adopted directive.

Information courtesy of Stop Ecocide International.

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Ecocide Law Alliance is a foundation with the purpose to work for the introduction of the crime of ecocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

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