In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the convening of “virtual” and “hybrid” meetings through videoconferencing technology has become a common practice. This trend has also reached the sphere of criminal justice, as more and more jurisdictions, such as Hungary, are authorising hearings and trials to be held without the physical presence of all persons involved. At the same time, yet other criminal justice systems, such as that in Germany, are highly sceptical about any weakening of the requirement that the accused be physically present in the courtroom.
Recently, a Latvian court requested guidance from the CJEU as to whether criminal trials employing videoconferencing technology may be held across intra-EU borders, in particular when use of the European Investigation Order (EIO) is made. On procedural grounds, the CJEU, in its judgement of 6 June 2024, refrained from deciding issues relating to the interpretation of Directive 2014/41/EU in different but authentic languages … Read more

Over the coming years, new tools based on large language models (LLMs) and other artificial intelligence-based software are set to play an increasing role in many modern administrations, including in the anti-fraud domain. One might even argue that the prevention, detection, and investigation of fraud and associated illegal activities, which today involve processing and analysing an ever-growing volume of data of different types, are uniquely suited to the strengths of such tools. The authors of this article share some reflections on two particular challenges that authorities, which seek to harvest the potential of artificial intelligence for anti-fraud purposes, have to come to terms with: first, how to leverage the strength of artificial intelligence tools by identifying suitable use cases for the specific anti-fraud domain? Second, how to navigate the emerging regulatory framework considering in particular that the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act has entered into force on 1 August 2024?

After just over two years of negotiations, the EU Environmental Crime Directive 2024/1203 was finally published in April 2024. The Directive considerably improves on the text of the previous EU Environmental Crime Directive of 2008, which was introduced in the aftermath of the ECJ rulings on Environmental Crimes (2005) and Ship-Source Pollution (2007). The 2008 Directive has been subject to considerable criticism, including for the fact that it lacks detailed rules on criminal penalties or more advanced mechanisms for interstate cooperation to combat transboundary environmental crimes. In response, the 2024 Directive not only extends the number of environmental criminal offences in the EU Member States, but it also introduces specific types and levels of criminal penalties and specific rules on interstate cooperation in criminal matters. This article critically assesses to which extent the new EU rules improve the previous legal framework for combating environmental crimes. in particular with the expansion … Read more

Environmental crime includes wildlife crimes, illegal waste dumping, substance smuggling, and illegal mining. These types of crime lead to habitat loss and species extinction, contribute to global warming, destabilise communities and economies, undermine security and development, and foster corruption. Often transnational in nature, environmental crime has become a lucrative industry for organised crime, which is underpinned by Europol research that has identified numerous criminal networks operating within the EU specializing in waste, pollution, and wildlife crimes. However, there is a lack of comprehensive data, which hampers evaluation and monitoring of measures by policymakers and practitioners. Limited awareness and scarce resource allocation for combating environmental crime is an overarching problem.
The Environmental Crime Directive adopted in 2008 aimed to address some of these issues, but the European Commission’s evaluation found that it did not have much effect in practice. In April 2024, a revised directive was adopted. It introduces several new … Read more

On 11 April 2024, the EU adopted a new environmental crime directive to replace Directive 2008/99 of 19 November 2008. This article discusses why a new Directive in the area of environmental crime had become necessary. It particularly argues that the introduction of an autonomous environmental crime and a qualified offence of ecocide constitute important changes. The article points out other novelties, e.g. with regard to minimum sanctions and the collection of statistical data. They may substantially improve the enforcement of European environmental law through criminal law.

On 20 May 2024, the new Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) entered into force. The Regulation aims to better ensure that waste exported outside the EU is properly managed and to modernise shipment procedures to reflect the objectives of a circular economy and climate neutrality.
The new provisions include a mandate to the European Commission to carry out inspections in complex cross-border cases of illegal waste shipments. The Commission will entrust OLAF with implementing these enforcement powers. This will reaffirm and extend the role that the Office and its investigators have been playing in recent years under existing legal frameworks. In the future, OLAF will be able to act on its own initiative, not only in the case of illegal waste shipments entering, transiting or leaving the EU, but also for intra-EU shipments. The new rules will allow for a better fight against waste trafficking, contribute to the protection of the … Read more