Criminal liability for violation of environmental protection

Abstract

In the Russian Federation, industrial civil construction is currently one of the leading places in economic activity. It is one of the major factors of negative impact on the environment. At the construction stage, the most significant negative impacts on the environment are: air pollution by gas and dust emissions; pollution of underground and waste waters; pollution of the environment by construction waste; violation of the natural landscape of the area. One of the means of responding to violations of the rules of environmental protection and encroachment on environmental safety in the course of construction is the application of criminal law measures against subjects of socially dangerous behaviorIn the process of the study, the following legislative problems of regulating environmental crimes were identified: 1) the blanket nature of legal norms providing for liability for their commission; 2) the widespread use of evaluative concepts in characterizing the elements of an environmental crime; 3) the continuing nature of the acts in question; 4) features of the subject of environmental crime. These problems, to one degree or another, reduce the effectiveness of the criminal law impact on those responsible for committing environmental crimes in the construction industry. Based on the results of the study, a proposal was made to improve the norms of criminal legislation providing for liability for environmental crimes that violate the rules of environmental protection. It is proposed to provide for liability for violation of the requirements of environmental expertise. In addition, cases of applying the institute of reasonable risk in construction activities, which is a circumstance precluding the criminality of the act, are highlighted.