Committee of experts on the protection of the environment through Criminal Law (PC-ENV)

Since 1977, the Council of Europe has recognised the “contribution of criminal law to the protection of the environment” and is now elaborating a new global Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law.

Environmental crime negatively impacts economies, health and safety and undermines efforts undertaken by States to protect the environment and promote the rule of law. It contributes to the degradation of natural resources and the disruption of the climate. Environmental crime has evolved taking on a global and systemic dimension, inciting action by the Council of Europe.

On 23 November 2022, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Terms of Reference for a new Committee of Experts on the Protection of the Environment though Criminal Law (PC-ENV). The PC-ENV has, therefore, been set up and entrusted, under the authority of the Committee of Ministers and the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC), to elaborate a new Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law.

The new Council of Europe Convention will lay down a general basis of pan-European environmental criminal law, providing a common global framework in line with the transnational nature of the environmental challenge that needs to be met.

Composition

The Committee brings together:

representatives of the 46 member States, designated by their respective governments, and who have recognised expertise in the environmental domain, criminal law and the challenges States are now facing regarding environmental crime;
representatives of the observer States: Canada, Holy See, Japan, Mexico, United States of America;
representatives of other Council of Europe bodies and sectors, in particular the Parliamentary Assembly, the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) and intergovernmental committees dealing with issues pertaining to the protection of the environment;
representatives of other relevant international and supranational organisations working in this field such as the European Union, the United Nations, INTERPOL, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF);
representatives of civil society.

Meetings

4th Meeting: 4-7 June 2024

Draft agenda

3rd Meeting: 27-29 February 2024

2nd Meeting: 16-18 October 2023

1st Meeting: 3-4 April 2023

Background

The existing Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Environment through Criminal Law (ETS No. 172, 1998) remains unimplemented and consequently lacks the ability to address the current challenges.

In June 2022, the Steering Committee of the Council of Europe for overseeing and coordinating activities in the field of crime prevention and crime control – the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) – decided that drafting a new Convention was feasible and appropriate, following a Feasibility Study by its Working Group of Experts on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law (CDPC-EC).

The CDPC-EC Working Group, had the aim of considering the possible way forward, by assessing whether the elaboration of a new Convention to replace the existing 1998 Convention was feasible and appropriate or not.