Latvia raises penalties for serious environmental crimes

Latvia’s parliament adopted amendments to the Criminal Law in a final reading on Thursday, introducing tougher penalties for serious environmental crimes, LSM reports.

The changes establish criminal liability for serious offences including pollution, illegal handling of hazardous substances, unlawful marine pollution and breaches of waste management rules. They also cover other acts that cause significant environmental damage.

Criminal liability will also apply to the intentional introduction and spread of invasive alien species, activities carried out without a legally required environmental impact assessment, the destruction of protected species or their habitats, and the illegal sale in significant quantities of certain agricultural and forest products.

The amendments allow prison sentences of up to eight, 10 or, in some cases, 12 years for the most serious environmental crimes. The harsher sentences apply when an offence causes irreversible environmental damage, destroys protected ecosystems or leads to other serious consequences.

The changes also clarify exemptions from criminal liability. These include cases involving people who have complied with legal requirements and have not intentionally harmed protected species or their habitats, as well as people who work to contain the spread of invasive alien species.

Penalties will also increase for several other environmental offences, including breaches of waste management rules, air and marine pollution, forest burning and concealing information about environmental pollution.

Parliament also adopted related amendments to the law on the entry into force and application of the Criminal Law, clarifying the criteria for assessing environmental damage. The changes are intended to align Latvian legislation with a 2024 European Parliament and Council directive on criminal-law protection of the environment.