Administrative environmental law enforcement in Andalusia, Spain

Abstract

The European Crime Directive of 2008 forced EU Member States to use the criminal law to remedy breaches of national legislation constituting an implementation of EU environmental law. The Directive was criticised for largely ignoring the fact that in many Member States administrative enforcement plays an important role. In many Member States, such as for example Spain, administrative authorities play a crucial role in enforcing environmental legislation; there is de facto a minor role for the criminal law. In Spain, there is an important role for the so-called autonomous regions in the enforcement of environmental law. In this paper, we will focus on the enforcement of environmental law in one such region, more particularly Andalusia, as we have some (incomplete) data illustrating the operation of administrative enforcement agencies. The data are interesting as they do indicate an evolution in the number of inspections and cases where sanctions are imposed. They also provide some indication on the role played by various authorities, but also by individuals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in initiating proceedings. The data provide also some indication on the enforcement strategies pursued by the administrative agencies. We aim to present and analyse the data in this paper inter alia in the light of the literature with respect to the choice between administrative and criminal law in the enforcement of environmental law