Environmental Criminal Law in France

In France environmental protection has gained a constitutional status following the adoption of the Environmental Charter in 2005. Although the environment is invested with a superior social interest, the French Criminal Code does not foresee any provision expressly punishing environmental damage or pollution. The main source of French environmental law is the Environmental Code, which introduces rules applicable to the different environmental components and contains provisions punishing the infringement of the above mentioned rules with criminal sanctions. With the exception of few cases directly punishing environmental pollution, these provisions are mostly dependent on the administrative rules and consist in failing to comply with a court ruling or in failing to comply with an administrative decision or an administrative regulation. The Environmental Code has been modified by the Ordinance No. 34 of 11 January 2012, which, in the light of the obligations deriving from the EU Directive 2008/99/EC on the protection of the environment through criminal law, has harmonised the system of administrative controls as well as the regime for the detection of infringements, and created a common core of repressive provisions applicable to all areas of the environment, regardless they are covered or not by the Environmental Code.