Legal perspectives on environmental crime: the transnational dimension of environmental crime

The transnational dimension of environmental crime – a highly profitable criminal market – has gained increasing attention, to the extent that a notion of ‘transnational environmental crime’ (TEC) has flourished within the discourse on environmental crime and transnational crime. These developments need to be analysed in the light of the legal instruments – in environmental and criminal law – that have been developed over the decades to regulate and control polluting activities and to deter and punish environmental offences. Based on a disambiguation of the concept of environmental crime and on the identification of the main characteristics of this criminal phenomenon, this article assesses whether the international, regional and domestic legal frameworks relevant to environmental crime and their interplay give adequate consideration to the transnational dimension of environmental crime, as well as where significant loopholes can be identified and how they can be addressed.