ABSTRACT
In 2008, the European Union (EU) adopted, after seven years of discussion, a directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law. This decision put an end to discussions in Europe which had been going on for almost 15 years. Indeed, in the early 1990s, the Council of Europe started the discussions on the elaboration of a Convention on the protection of the environment through criminal law. In order to overcome the blocking of the Convention, Denmark suggested, in 2000, adopting an instrument under the Treaty on European Union. By that time, such instruments were capable of being adopted by a sort of intergovernmental decision under the Treaty on European Union (TEU). However, before its formal adoption, the Commission presented a proposal for an EU directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law which it based on the present Article 192 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
