Право / 7.Экологическое, земельное и аграрное право
Shershun S.
Ph.D. in Law
Research Associate of the Department
of Agrarian issues, Land and Environmental Law
Institute of State and Law named after V. Koretskyi of
NAS of Ukraine
Environmental
crimes and administrative violations in the field OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
There are new challenges to international
security not only in the energy, financial, food, and economic spheres, but
also in environmental against
the background of threats and enhance the growth of instability in the world. In the National Security Strategy of Ukraine, in the wording of Decree of the President №389/2012 of 8 June
2012, noted that the state of national security in the field of ecology is
deteriorating due to the presence of dangerous environmental and man-made
threats and challenges, such as: excessive human impact on the territory
of Ukraine and technological overloading; formation of large amounts of waste
and consumption, insufficiently effective level of reuse, recycling and
disposal; depreciation of fixed assets (extrahazardous objects, utility
infrastructure of settlements and sewage companies); insufficient natural
resource management, radioactive, chemical and biological pollution, a problem
of transboundary pollution, etc.
According to Art. 68 Law of
Ukraine "On Environmental Protection" the responsibility for
violation of legislation on environmental protection entails prescribed by this
Law and other laws of Ukraine disciplinary, administrative, civil and criminal
penalties.
Determination of composition of
environmental violations and crimes, prosecution procedure of administrative
and criminal liability for th commission are set by the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences and the Criminal Code
of Ukraine. Criminal liability is set for the most socially dangerous acts in
the field of nature and environmental protection envisaged by the Criminal Code
of Ukraine, – environmental crimes. Penalty,
deprivation of the right to engage in certain activities or occupy certain
positions, remedial work, arrest, restriction of freedom, imprisonment for a
fixed term, etc. are applied in the form of sanctions for environmental
offenses.
Administrative liability is set for guilty wrongful acts
that violate the environmental legal system provided for by administrative law.
Administrative offenses established by the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences
(Sec. 7 "Administrative violations in the field of environmental
protection, natural resources, protection of historical and cultural» (p. 52 – 92-1), as well as some acts of environmental
legislation (law "On Environmental Protection", "On Wildlife"
Land Code of Ukraine and others.).
A large part of the administrative guilt is a violation
of rational use and protection of natural resources, including the
inappropriate use, as well as violations of state ownership of natural
resources – illegal operations with natural objects, unauthorized use, etc. This
includes deterioration, damage and destruction of natural objects.
Administrative responsibility is applied by specially
authorized bodies of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine: specially empowered executive
authority in the field of environmental protection within its competence under
the laws of Ukraine. Warnings, fines, confiscation of tools of the offense, the
deprivation of special rights are measures of administrative penalties.
In general, issue of correlation between crime and "non-criminal" has many aspects,
one of which is the ratio of environmental
crimes and offenses. This correlation is a
consequence of the fact that environmental security is protected by legal means
of unequal sectoral nature. Various aspects and facets of social and legal
benefits simultaneously and jointly are protected by civil and criminal law.
Comprehensive legal protection of environmental security is one of the most
effective legal means to counter crimes and administrative offenses in this
area. Criminal law and administrative law rules are included in a comprehensive
interdepartmental cooperation in the field of environmental safety should be
expressed in law so as to be able to work together and in parallel, thus
providing comprehensive defense of appropriate relations type. If several of
such norms operate simultaneously in conjunction with one another, meaning of dispositions should be close to a similar
value. Thus the similarity should be complete, identical: disposition of the
same rules should not duplicate, copy or replicate the relevant provisions of
other industry sector. Otherwise they would be impossible to distinguish. The
necessary compatibility in requirements of criminal law and administrative law
bans is achieved by specifying in legislation bases of distinguishing of
related compositions of environmental violations.
In this case, the right solution for the ratio of the
criminal and administrative responsibility is closely linked to the quality of
the environmental legislation. The modern doctrine still indicates a high
enough level adopted or updated laws and other legal acts regulating ecological
relations (declarative rules, imperfect work on terminology, inconsistency of
environmental legislation with criminal and administrative and legal
legislation etc).
Therefore we think that the possible answers of criminal
law to new environmental criminal challenges should be a clarification in the current legislation of the object of criminal law and
administrative law protection of nature, coordination of requirements of
various industrial branches with the requirements of environmental protection,
optimization measures of criminal and administrative liability for
environmental violations, identify gaps, contradictions and excessive
regulation in the field of comprehensive legal protection of the environment.
List of references:
1. Закон
України «Про охорону навколишнього природного середовища» № 1264–XII від 25 червня 1991 р. – [Електронний ресурс]. – Режим доступу: http://zakon.rada.gov.uа/
2. Кримінальний
кодекс України № 2341–ІII від 5 квітня 2001 р. – [Електронний ресурс]. – Режим доступу: http://zakon4.rada.gov.uа/
Кодекс України про адміністративні правопорушення № 1264–XII від 25
червня 1991 р. – [Електронний ресурс]. – Режим доступу: http://zakon2.rada.gov.uа/
3. Указ Президента України «Про
Стратегію національної безпеки України» № 389/2012 від 8 червня 2012 р. – [Електронний ресурс]. – Режим доступу: http://zakon2.rada.gov.uа/