EU: A landmark ruling by the EU's highest court has boosted the European Commission's powers considerably by giving it the right to tell member states to impose criminal sanctions for offences against EU law.
Under the European Court of Justice's ruling yesterday, which was specific to environmental law, serious breaches of the law in future may be deemed criminal offences.
However, the ruling is likely to have far wider implications.
Criminal sanctions for breaches of the EU internal market, consumer laws, data protection laws and intellectual property rights could also become the norm.
"The court strengthens the possibilities to enforce the law, once member states have agreed on a European policy. This is a watershed decision," said Commission president José Manuel Barroso.
Commission legal expert Michel Petite said: "The immediate effect of this will be that it strengthens the effectiveness of community legislation, notably in the field of the environment."
He added that the case raised a "point of principle" which might now "be applied in other areas of policy".
The commission will not be able to dole out punishments itself, but Mr Petite admitted that, for some breaches, the Brussels executive "might want to say that there has to be a criminal penalty. We may want to say it has to be at least of this level."
The ruling might involve "a certain degree of harmonisation" across the EU.
Explaining the law, one commission official said: "If a company seriously pollutes a river in Ireland, for example, or spreads waste [ effluent] on public land, the commission could require that this company be punished under criminal law."
At the moment, national governments have no obligation to take breaches of EU environment law seriously, and Ireland stands out as having a poor record in implementing law in this area.
Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle said she welcomed the ruling where the environment was concerned. But she was more cautious on its wider implications.
"We're moving into the whole area of harmonisation of aspects of criminal law," she pointed out, adding that the precedent-setting case would require more debate.
The Green Party's environment spokesman, Ciaran Cuffe, predicted that the courts and the Environmental Protection Agency would be given new powers. "This will pave the way for the Government to take environmental crimes more seriously," he said.
The Department of the Environment said it was examining the court's judgment and planned to consult with the Attorney General about its legal implications.
In 2001, the commission asked member states to consider a law that said a range of environmentally harmful activities would be deemed criminal offences when committed intentionally or with serious negligence.
Member states disagreed, feeling that the commission was overstepping its powers and that they would reserve the right to start criminal law sanctions; but they have now been overruled.