E.U. Considers Broad New Penalties in Pollution Disasters

PARIS, Feb. 9 -- The executive arm of the European Union proposed legislation Friday that would make companies and individuals subject to criminal penalties for environmental disasters anywhere within the 27-nation bloc. If enacted, the proposal would create some of the most comprehensive environmental penalties in the world.

The measure would allow European courts to shut down companies found responsible for environmental disasters, imprison corporate executives for up to five years and levy fines of nearly $1 million.

The legislation faces tough scrutiny from individual governments and the European Parliament before any version could be enacted, and it is expected to be the target of powerful industrial lobby groups in Brussels, the headquarters of the European Commission, which proposed the measure.

E.U. Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said the proposed law is "crucial to avoid criminals profiting from the existing discrepancies in member states' criminal law systems."

He added, "We cannot allow safe havens of environmental crime inside the E.U."

Frattini said corporations are responsible for 73 percent of environmental crimes. "It is not enough to punish and prosecute managers," he said. "It's very important also that corporations pay fines."

The legislation would allow arrest warrants throughout Europe so targeted offenders could not find refuge in member states with less stringent laws.

The measure would criminalize the dumping of hazardous substances that pollute the air, water or soil. It would also cover illegal shipments or treatment of waste and trade in endangered species. Many of the areas that would be subject to criminal penalties are already included in U.S. criminal codes.

Some nations, including Britain, raised immediate concerns that the E.U. legislation would erode individual nations' control over environmental law. But Greens party representatives in the European Parliament praised the proposal as an effort to standardize environmental penalties across Europe, where enforcement and sanctions vary dramatically among member states.

International environmental concerns have increased in Europe in recent years after a series of highly publicized cases of European nations dumping dangerous environmental waste in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

In one recent incident, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship carrying toxic waste from Europe dumped its load in Ivory Coast, creating an environmental disaster that resulted in the deaths of 10 people.