The professor Eladio Romero, coordinator of the INERCO Chair, examines the determination of substantial damage regarding crimes against the environment

The Seville School of Lawyers hosted the conference on ‘The necessary determination of substantial damage regarding crimes against the environment’, under the coordinator of the INERCO Chair of Environmental and Safety Risks, Prof. Eladio M. Romero González.

After the new regulation established in the Organic Law 1/2015, 30 March, on reforming the Penal Code, Eladio M. Romero introduced to the participants in this talk -lawyers, representative from the Administration and the industrial sector, mainly- this reform of the regulation of crimes linked to dangerous industrial activities, which is essential for the putting into practice of any activity as well as for the control of the already existing regulation.

In addition, the coordinator of the INERCO Chair put special emphasis on the need to establish a system for the diagnosis and assessment of criminal environmental risks as a tool for particularly exposed managers “in accordance with the provisions of the UNE 19601 Standard (May 2017), on criminal compliance”.

As the professor himself recognised, it is necessary to have experts and companies that know the technical needs of strategic sectors with an environmental link, “who know about key aspects such as economic viability and have proven experience in guaranteeing its impact on a country like Spain, with many regional and local distinctive features that it is necessary to be familiar with.”

Throughout his conference, Romero reviewed essential aspects such as the characterisation of the basic type of eco crime, crimes of inadequate waste management, damage in protected natural spaces, serious negligence or environmental prevarication. Additionally, he indicated the essential prior determination of the cause-effect relationships between dumping, emissions, waste or noise and the environment in which it operates, as well as their substantial or significant character when negative effects or risks with criminal relevance are brought about.