Comparative analysis of the EU criminal law for environmental protection and the Albanian one

• Author: Iris Petrela
• Position: University of Tirana
• Pages: 39-47

ISSN 2410-3918

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

39

IIPCCL Publishing, Tirana-Albania

Academic Journal of Business, Administration, Law and Social Sciences Vol. 2 No. 1

March 2016

Comparative analysis of the EU criminal law for environmental protection and

the Albanian one

Iris Petrela

University of Tirana

Abstract

This paper consists of two main parts where the first one presents the path how the

environmental issue was included in the primary legislation of the European Union (EU),

starting this theoretical panorama from the first founding treaty – Treaty of Rome, in 1957. It

shows that with the passing of years the environmental protection has become one of the most

important fields of action of the European Community supported by the primary and secondary

legislation of the EU and its several bodies with competencies in this field.

The second part of the paper starts with the commitments on the environmental protection

that the Albanian state has made upon signature and entrance into force of the Stabilisation

and Association Agreement with the EU. In addition, this article presents a summary of the

legislative activity in Albania regarding environmental protection in the last two decades

with special focus on the time period after the approval of the current Constitution of 1998,

which is the basis and origin of every legislative initiative. Furthermore, there are presented

the key features of the Albanian environmental legislation, as well as the protection mechanism

from the criminal legislation point of view. The presentation of the European and national

reality with special focus on environmental protection serves to a comparative purpose between

the two models. It also serves to draw conclusions and propose suggestions on how the Albanian

legislation should be developed and improved in order to be in line with that of the European

Union and effective in practice to serve the ultimate goal of environmental protection and

prevention from further environmental degradation.

Keywords: EU directive, environmental protection, judicial process, damage reparation,

environmental criminal offence.

Introduction

The basis for establishing the European Community has been the development and

strengthening of economy within the European continent. The Treaty of Rome that

established the European Economic Community clearly articulated such objective

(Treaty of Rome, 1957, Articles 2 and 3). It is obvious and clear to understand that in

the Treaty of Rome, the word ‘environment’ was not present at all. As mentioned

above the main objective of the newly established community was of an economic

nature. In addition, at the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, the

potential environmental impact of economic policies approved and implemented was

not distinguished or perceived. It was only in the early 1970s that the need for some

form of policy on the environmental protection was affirmed (Bell, S., McGillivray,

D., (2008), 184). A reason for this change served the acceptance of the interrelation

between economic growth and environmental degradation. In October 1972, the heads

of states of the today’s European Community announced that the economic expansion