On Monday, August 3, two draft laws aimed at strengthening liability for environmental crimes were simultaneously registered on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. These address ecocide and violations of water resource protection rules.
EcoPolitic has prepared an overview of the key provisions of the new documents.
Liability for ecocide
Draft Law No. 15424-1 "On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine to Strengthen Liability for Ecocide" defines the very concept of ecocide and makes penalties for its commission more severe. The co-authors of the draft law are Members of Parliament Oleh Bondarenko and Olena Kryvoruchkina, who are the head and the deputy head, respectively, of the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management.
According to the document, ecocide is defined as an unlawful, intentional act that results in severe and large-scale or long-term environmental damage. Long-term damage is described as being irreversible or such that nature cannot recover from it on its own.
The draft law diversifies liability for the crime of ecocide and makes it quite severe. Thus, in peacetime, guilty individuals may lose their freedom for a period of 10 to 15 years or even for life. During martial law, the punishment may be imprisonment for 15 years or life imprisonment. The relevant amendments are made to Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Increased penalties for violations against water resources
The second document registered on Monday is Draft Law No. 15462 "On Amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code of Ukraine to Strengthen Liability for Violations of Water Resource Protection Rules and Regimes of Water Protection Zones." Its co-authors are Members of Parliament Serhiy Kuzminykh and Heorhiy Mazurashu.
The lawmakers believe that the existing system of fines is disproportionate to the harm caused to nature. Therefore, insufficient penalties are the main reason for widespread violations of water legislation.
The new draft law aims to correct this. The proposed fines are as follows:
- Violations of water resource protection rules: for citizens – from 3,400 to 8,500 UAH; for officials and sole proprietors – from 17,000 to 51,000 UAH. In the case of repeated violations, the fines increase: for individuals – from 8,500 to 17,000 UAH, for legal entities – from 51,000 to 119,000 UAH with confiscation of means used to commit the offense. This applies to pollution and littering of water, discharge of untreated wastewater, exceeding discharge limits, etc.
- Violations of the economic activity regime in water protection zones and protected shoreline strips: for citizens – from 5,100 to 11,900 UAH; for legal entities – from 17,000 to 68,000 UAH. This group of offenses includes violations of activity restrictions, land plowing, construction of structures, and establishment of landfills in water protection or shoreline protection zones.
- Violation of water protection regulations: from 51,000 to 136,000 UAH or deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to five years. If the crime led to mass illness, loss of life, or damage to living nature objects, the fines amount to between 136,000 and 340,000 UAH, and the imprisonment term is from three to eight years.
EcoPolitic previously reported that the Cabinet of Ministers approved a bill on this issue in March. Its penalties are somewhat more modest but cover a wider range of offenses. In particular, it sets responsibility for non-compliance with special water use permit conditions, destruction of riverbeds and watercourses, and submitting inaccurate information in the sphere of state water accounting.
