Environmental crimes — what the corresponding chapter of the Criminal Code covers
Environmental pollution and other violations of ecological safety are provided for by a separate chapter of the Criminal Code of Georgia. This page examines the principal groups of environmental crimes: the violation of environmental protection rules during the conduct of works, the violation of the rules of handling environmentally hazardous substances and waste, the pollution of water and the pollution of the sea, together with other norms connected with this group. Each of them carries its own punishment, and the correctness of the classification often depends precisely on which norm corresponds to the factual circumstances.
If your enterprise, an official or an organization is facing an environmental charge, it is important to know exactly what each norm provides. The description of each group below is accompanied by the precise content of the punishment established by law.
Violation of environmental protection rules during the conduct of works
Under the corresponding norm of the Code, the violation of environmental protection rules during the design, placement, reconstruction, construction, commissioning into operation or operation of an industrial, agricultural, scientific or other facility, which has caused a substantial deterioration of the radiation background, damage to human health, mass destruction of animals or of the plant world, or another grave consequence, is punishable by a fine or by imprisonment for a term of two to five years, with deprivation of the right to hold office or to carry out an activity for a term of up to three years or without such deprivation.
Violation of the rules of handling environmentally hazardous substances or waste
A separate norm concerns the violation of the rules of handling toxic, bacteriological, chemical or other environmentally hazardous substances or waste during their production, transportation, placement, storage, burial or use. Where the act could have caused substantial damage to human health or to the environment or another grave consequence, it is punishable by a fine or by imprisonment for a term of up to two years. The same act that has caused the pollution, poisoning or contamination of the environment, damage to human health, or the mass destruction of animals or of the plant world, as well as one committed during a state of environmental emergency or in an ecological disaster zone, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of three to five years. And where the act has caused the death of a human being or mass disease among people, the offender is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years.
Pollution of water
The pollution, littering, depletion or other such negative impact on a water object, which may damage the health of the population, reduce fish stocks, worsen the conditions of water supply, cause the deterioration of the physical, chemical or biological properties of the water, the decline of its natural self-purification capacity, or the violation of the hydrological and hydrogeological regime, is punishable by a fine or by corrective labour for a term of up to one year or by imprisonment for a term of up to one year, with deprivation of the right to hold office or to carry out an activity for a term of up to three years or without such deprivation.
The same act that has caused damage to human health or the mass destruction of animals or of the plant world, as well as one committed on the territory of a state reserve or a protected area, or during a state of environmental emergency or in an ecological disaster zone, is punishable by a fine or by corrective labour for a term of up to two years or by imprisonment for a term of up to three years. Where an act provided for by the first or the second part has caused the death of a human being or another grave consequence, it is punishable by imprisonment for a term of two to five years.
Pollution of the sea
The composition of the pollution of the sea covers the unlawful dumping into the sea, from a ship, another floating craft, a platform or another artificially erected construction at sea, of substances harmful to human health or to marine organisms, of other waste or material, as well as the pollution of the sea through the violation of the rules of their burial, where this endangers human health or marine organisms or hinders the lawful use of the sea — committed after an administrative penalty has been imposed for such an act. Such conduct is punishable by a fine or by corrective labour for a term of up to one year, with deprivation of the right to hold office or to carry out an activity for a term of up to three years or without such deprivation. The same punishment is provided for the unlawful dumping into the sea from land or from an aircraft.
Where such conduct has caused significant damage to human health, to the plant world, to fish stocks or to other living organisms of the water, to a recreation zone or to another legally protected good, the offender is punishable by a fine or by corrective labour for a term of up to two years or by imprisonment for a term of up to three years, with deprivation of the right to hold office or to carry out an activity for a term of up to three years. And where the act has caused the death of a human being, it is punishable by imprisonment for a term of two to five years.
Related norms — biological agents, veterinary medicine, water use
Together with the group examined above, the Code establishes liability for the violation of the rules of handling microbiological or other biological agents or toxins: where this has caused damage to human health, the spread of an epidemic or an epizootic, or another grave consequence for the environment, the offender is punishable by a fine or by imprisonment for a term of up to three years, with deprivation of the right to hold office or to carry out an activity for a term of up to three years or without such deprivation; the same act that has caused the death of a human being is punishable by imprisonment for a term of two to five years, with deprivation of the right to hold office or to carry out an activity for a term of up to three years.
Liability is also provided for the violation of the legislation of Georgia in the field of veterinary medicine that has caused the spread of an epizootic or another grave consequence — by a fine or by corrective labour for a term of up to one year or by imprisonment for a term of up to two years; for the arbitrary abstraction of water or the arbitrary conduct of hydrotechnical works on a network of common use, as well as for another violation of the rules of water use that has caused significant damage — by a fine or by corrective labour for a term of up to one year, with deprivation of the right to hold office or to carry out an activity for a term of up to three years or without such deprivation. A separate norm establishes liability for an official who is obliged to notify the corresponding bodies about the dumping into the sea of a harmful substance or waste and evades that duty — such conduct is likewise punishable by a fine or by corrective labour for a term of up to one year, with deprivation of the right to hold office or to carry out an activity for a term of up to three years or without such deprivation.
How a lawyer assists in environmental cases
In cases of this category three questions are central: the existence and the content of the concrete rule; the causation between the violation and the established consequence; and the correspondence of the consequence to the elements provided for by law. A lawyer works on ecological, chemical, radiological and medical expert examinations, verifies the operational documentation and the legality of the actions of the control bodies. The procedure for conducting the case and the time limits are established by other acts of procedural legislation.
Our team offers consultations on every group of environmental crimes — both for accused persons and for injured parties. Contact us so that we can assess your situation and build a defence strategy.