We had two years, and we will probably make it by the skin of our teeth. Italy is finally on the verge of transposing the European directive on the criminal protection of the environment, which updates and strengthens the rules against eco-crimes, adopted by the European Parliament on 27 February 2024: member states had 24 months to comply, and the deadline is now very close. The race against the clock is not quite over yet, because the legislative decree ratifying the European directive has only been approved "in preliminary examination" — but the hard part is done.

AODV231 @aodv231

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Lo scorso 20 gennaio, il Consiglio dei Ministri ha approvato, in esame preliminare, il Decreto Legislativo di attuazione della #DirettivaEuropea n. 1203 del 2024 sulla tutela penale dell'#ambiente.
#AODV231
aodv231.it/novita/diretti…

♥ 1 22 gen 2026 · Apri su X →

The European text that Italy must mirror also introduces updates on the sanctions side for infringements such as illegal timber trade, unlawful draining or exploitation of water resources, and violations of regulations on the use of hazardous chemical substances: areas that are often at the centre of transnational trafficking and that directly contribute to biodiversity loss and the worsening of the climate crisis.

What the European directive provides for

Among the advances introduced by the directive is the inclusion of so-called "qualified offences" — the most serious ones, comparable in their systemic effects to cases of ecocide: a significant step because it acknowledges, at least on a legal level, that not all environmental damage is equivalent and that certain conduct produces irreversible consequences for ecosystems.

On the national implementation front, the decree also strengthens the administrative liability of companies, expanding the catalogue of relevant environmental offences currently set out in a 2001 decree. Liability for offences will fall not only on natural persons, but also on companies, entities and associations — even those lacking legal personality — in whose interest or to whose benefit the offences were committed, with penalties adjusted to European principles of effectiveness and proportionality. Another key element is the introduction of the principle of support and assistance for whistleblowers who report environmental crimes that are often difficult to detect from the outside within the context of criminal proceedings.

The anti-mafia authorities will also be involved

The directive also requires member states to organise specialised training courses for law enforcement and public prosecutors, to develop national strategies to combat environmental crime, and to promote public awareness campaigns. Moving in this direction is also the Italian provision establishing the National Strategy to Combat Environmental Crime, which must be adopted by 2027 and updated periodically.

IlSole24ORE ✓ @sole24ore

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Tutela penale dell'ambiente, nuovi reati e sanzioni ntplusdiritto.ilsole24ore.com/art/tutela-pen…

21 gen 2026 · Apri su X →

On the practical enforcement side, the Italian decree establishes a National Coordination System to Combat Environmental Crime, which will involve the Prosecutor General of the Court of Cassation, the Prosecutors General at the Courts of Appeal, and the National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor, with the aim of improving information sharing and making investigations into complex criminal phenomena — often spread across multiple territories — more effective and timely. The last-minute step taken is therefore significant, but the real effectiveness of the new rules will depend on how they are applied and on what the actual level of penalties turns out to be: a factor that can only be verified over the coming month.

Penalties: the still-unresolved issue

It remains to be seen, however, whether the shortcomings highlighted by the European directive regarding sanctions for large companies will persist. The directive establishes that fines may reach 3 or 5 per cent of annual worldwide turnover, or — alternatively — fixed amounts of between 24 and 40 million euros. A maximum ceiling that leaves member states wide latitude. Legambiente, for instance, while welcoming the government's commitment to meeting the directive's transposition deadlines, argues that the draft decree contains significant gaps. In particular, certain European provisions requiring harsher criminal penalties for offences such as trafficking in protected species, illegal exploitation of water resources, and the commercialisation of products linked to deforestation have not been transposed. These are risks that, if not corrected in Parliament, could undermine the overall effectiveness of criminal environmental protection. The concern — flagged at the time by several environmental organisations — is that for multinationals these figures may prove insufficiently deterrent and be regarded as an acceptable cost relative to the profits derived from illegal activities. In the absence of penalties genuinely proportionate to the economic capacity of large corporations, the temptation to simply "budget for" violations of environmental rules remains high.