January 2013, issue 2 Secretariat: The Regional
Environmental Center for
Central and Eastern Europe
Dear Themis family,
Welcome to the second issue of Themis Focus, the biannual electronic newsletter
of the Themis Network, focusing on natural resources management and combat-
ing environmental crimes. Because of our focus on the protection of natural
resources, we are producing a limited number of printed versions of the newslet-
ter: instead, a pdf version will be circulated via e-mail and posted on the Themis
website (http://themis.rec.org).
In this issue we review activities in 2012 and look forward to what 2013 will bring.
We also introduce the Austrian Development Cooperation, which has made possi-
ble a year of activities by funding the work programme for 2012-2013.
We continue with a statistical analysis of the prevalence and most reported types
of environmental crime in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; and fea-
ture a case study from Croatia on the creation of standard operating procedures
for the enforcement of environmental law and the creation of an internal network
of enforcement stakeholders, using Interpol’s concept of a National Environmen-
tal Security Task Force (NEST).
This issue also contains a report from Serbia on the national training on environ-
mental crime held at the end of 2012, in which experts used case studies from
Austria to explain the importance of cooperation and communication, and shared
methods for the detection of cross-border shipments of waste, illegal waste dis-
posal, and the illegal discharge of water, including groundwater.
On the last page you will find a calendar of upcoming events and a brief overview
of the secretariat.
The next issue, to be disseminated in July 2013, will be dedicated to forestry and
forest crimes, following a round of training events and linked activities in the re-
gion and beyond in the first half of 2013. We hope that you enjoy reading the pre-
sent issue and that you will feel inspired to become part of the next newsletter by
sending us an article or environment-related update from your country.
We would like to thank the Themis Operational Focal Points for their enthusiasm
and engagement in the network’s activities throughout the year. Happy reading!
Aniko Nemeth
On behalf of the Themis Secretariat
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Balance of activities 2012 —
page 2
Austrian Development
Cooperation — page 3
Macedonian focus: Penal
policy and eco-crime — page 4
Croatian case study: combat-
ing eco-crime — page 5
Serbian seminar on eco-
crime — page 7
Calendar of upcoming events
— page 8
Themis Focus Newsletter
“Our partners, the Hungarian Judicial Academy, EMLA, the Austrian Police and Umweltbundesamt, were essential to each event.”
BALANCE OF ACTIVITIES—2012
By Aniko Nemeth
The year 2012 was full of excitement and adventures. We
launched activities, at full speed, under the Themis Network
work programme 2012-2013, met many of you during the train-
ing events, and discussed the activities you are undertaking in
your countries. It was a rewarding experience, with plenty of
hard work and nice moments together.
The year started with a meeting of the Executive Committee, at
which countries reviewed and approved the 2012-2013 work plan
and the indicative implementation timeline. The committee was
informed about and reviewed cooperation possibilities and syn-
ergies with other regional initiatives and projects.
After network operations had been agreed on, the Themis Secre-
tariat, in cooperation with international partners, organised the
first two trainings dedicated to natural resources management,
which covered protected areas, forestry and cross-border chal-
lenges related to protected areas. The second training, delivered
in the local language, followed a sub-regional approach for Koso-
vo* and Albania and was also devoted to the management of
protected areas. The sub-regional training was a successful ex-
periment and there is a possibility to continue this practice in the
future in order to reach a wider target group, especially those
without English-language skills.
The second batch of trainings in 2012 focused on environmental
crimes, and one training was dedicated exclusively to the judici-
ary (judges and prosecutors). We covered a number of legal as-
pects of the prosecution of environmental crimes and of han-
dling environmental crime cases, based on examples from EU
member states. Our partners, the Hungarian Judicial Academy,
EMLA, the Austrian Police and Umweltbundesamt, were essen-
tial to each event. Thank you for your contributions!
The Themis Network operates under the umbrella of INECE,
with whom we cooperate on a number of issues. This year we
shared Themis experience for inclusion in a manual prepared by
INECE on regional networks and their operations.
For 2013 we are planning further trainings for your countries
and further publications. I would like to take this opportunity to
ask for your feedback and contributions on the proposed activi-
ties to help shape next year and make it happen.
All network activities are documented on the project website, and
training materials are also available: http://themis.rec.org.
2 Participants at the Themis environmental crimes training, Umweltbundesamt, Vienna, Nov 28, 2012
AUSTRIAN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
By the Austrian Development Cooperation
The Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) supports countries in Africa, Asia and
Central America as well as in South Eastern and Eastern Europe in their sustainable
social, economic and democratic development. The Federal Ministry for European and
International Affairs (MFA) is responsible for the development of ADC strategies. The
Austrian Development Agency (ADA) implements these in cooperation with partner
governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), enterprises and multilateral
organisations. Project cycle management and the efficient use of funds are ensured via
coordination offices in the respective partner countries. ADC also makes significant
contributions to common development cooperation in the EU and is engaged in the
frame of United Nations programmes, in international financial institutions and in de-
velopment-policy platforms.
The main goals of the Austrian Development Cooperation are reducing poverty, safe-
guarding peace and human security and preserving the environment. The Development
Cooperation Act also sets out the basic principles governing programmes and projects:
the right of partner countries to choose their own way of development, respect for cul-
tural diversity, gender equality and consideration for the needs of children and persons
with disabilities.
PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT Preserving the environment and natural resources is a key issue for securing a healthy
and sustainable base for the economy, for improving people’s lives as well as for reach-
ing EU standards in this context. ADC has been supporting many initiatives like sustain-
able community development and eco-friendly tourism in Montenegro, or environmen-
tal education in Macedonia. Today, it is mainly applying a regional approach, promot-
ing, among others, the Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC) and the Themis
network.
MORE INFORMATION Further information can be found on the website. Please visit www.entwicklung.at/en
for the English version and www.entwicklung.at for the German version.
ADC IN SOUTH
EASTERN AND
EASTERN EUROPE;
DANUBE REGION
In its activities in South
Eastern Europe, ADC har-
nesses synergies with the
Austrian private sector and
industry and acts in close
concert with other local
development institutions.
R egi o na l c oo p er a t i on
approaches also form an
important component of
ADC’s strategy in South
Eastern Europe. The Regional
Co-operation Council, run
by its secretariat in Sarajevo
and the successor to the Sta-
bility Pact for South Eastern
Europe, plays an important
role in strengthening the
coordination of regional
projects.
Besides promoting private
sector development, the
Austrian Development Co-
operation devotes particular
attention to mobilising
youth. ADC projects and
programmes assist in mod-
ernising the educational
system, bringing higher edu-
cation and vocational train-
ing into line with European
standards and labour market
requirements. Other priori-
ties of the Austrian Develop-
ment Cooperation are en-
hancing the rule of law and
the role of civil society as
well as measures to combat
human trafficking.
3
Communal and landscape management for Bjelasica, Komovi and Prokletije, Montenegro”, ©
Dolina Grbaje, Regionalna Razvojna Agencija (RRA)
PENAL POLICY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN
MACEDONIA
4
Crime can be defined as a formal, abstract type
of prohibited conduct, but it also refers to a
real criminal event, with real-life consequenc-
es. The existence of crime legitimates the right
of punishment. Social regulation is a challenge
for every society. In addition to the normative
regulations and actual behavior of legal sub-
jects, it must also push for the creation of an
optimal level of corresponding regulatory
mechanisms. Generally speaking, the criminal
justice system in Macedonia is characterized by
its humanistic approach. This claim is support-
ed by the fact that almost half of the inmates in
prison, for the past 10 years, have been given a
suspended sentence.
Environmental protection through penal policy
practically does not exist in Macedonia. For
example, we have 25 persons convicted of the
crime of "environmental pollution" in a 10-year
period, and 145 people for illegal hunting. Of
the 957 persons reported under the category
"Other", only 449 of them are being charged
(less than half), and, out of those, 279 persons
were sentenced during the observed period
(only 29% of the total number of reported per-
sons in the category “other” were convicted).
The methodology of tracking crime by the State
Statistical Office does not correspond with the
actual situation and does not provide for accu-
racy in this matter. The number of reported,
accused or convicted persons for offences com-
mitted against the environment is continuously
growing, and simultaneously increasing is the
share of the total number of reported, accused or
convicted persons in general.
For example, in 2000, offences against the envi-
ronment totaled 0.37%, but in 2009 the figure
rose to 0.72%, peaking in 2007 at 1.21% in terms
of the total number of reported, charged or con-
victed persons. These trends show that the share
of crime against the environment in Macedonia
has increased constantly in terms of overall
crime. This might be the result of a lenient penal
policy and mildly repressive policy in Macedonia
regarding this particular type of crime. When it
comes to the environment, one must take into
account the habits of the past and the necessary
balance with the needs of economic development.
After 15 years of the implementation of the Law
on Environment we suggest that the field of crim-
inology take action towards making an empirical
overview and assessment of the applicability of
this regulatory mechanism. In particular, it
should assess the existing institutional capacities
and link it with penal policy by answering the
following question: Does penal policy meet the
objectives of its existence in this field? Following
the assessment, solutions should be proposed.
Finally, given that the number of convictions is
three times lower than that of the crimes report-
ed, it is necessary to ask why is this so.
The full study is available in the Themis Library: the-
mis.rec.org/library/documents/28
“These trends show that the share of crime against the envi-ronment in Mace-donia has increased constantly in terms of overall crime.”
By Aleksandar Ivanov and Marina Sazdovska (University of St. Kliment Ohridski); and Darko
Blinkov (Themis focal point, State Inspectorate for Environment)
Graph 1— Total number of reported, charged and convicted environmental crime cases in Macedonia
5
Interior (crime police), the Ministry of Fi-
nance (customs administration), the Minis-
try of Agriculture (water inspection), the
Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and
Infrastructure (sea protection), the Croa-
tian Association of Court Expert Witnesses,
High Misdemeanour and Misdemeanour
Courts, and the Criminal Courts.
This was the first time that all relevant au-
thorities were brought together in order to
improve their awareness, to establish coop-
eration links, to clarify responsibilities, to
have a common understanding of all the
relevant procedures and organisational
structure, and, finally, to start the discus-
sion on existing problems.
During the implementation period, it be-
came clear that there existed a need for
further inter-institutional cooperation, the
exchange of experience and information,
and capacity building for all stakeholders.
Following this realisation, the project part-
ners developed standard operating proce-
dures (SOPs) for cooperation between envi-
ronmental protection inspectors and other
competent authorities in cases of criminal
offences against the environment. There are
three general SOPs: environmental crimes,
environmental misdemeanour offences and
environmental liability. In addition, there
are five sector-specific SOPs: waste man-
agement, air pollution from industrial in-
stallations and ozone-depleting substances
(ODS), nature protection, inland water-
related issues and the protection of the sea.
The SOPs are not legally binding docu-
ments, but they might result in an agree-
ment among stakeholders to cooperate in
the prosecution of criminal offences against
the environment.
Continuing the successful IPA 2008 twin-
ning project, the Croatian Environmental
Protection Inspectorate proposed, through
the IPA 2011 programme, the project
“Improve the capacity of environmental
protection inspectors and other relevant
stakeholders in preventing, recognising,
CROATIAN CASE STUDY—
COMBATING ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES Croatia had only a limited number of suc-
cessfully finished cases of criminal offences
and serious criminal offences against the
environment until 2005.
The situation required Croatia to enhance
capacities in the field and to ensure effective
enforcement of environmental legislation.
The environmental protection inspectors
needed to jointly improve their knowledge
and skills with other competent authorities,
such as police officers, customs officers, pub-
lic prosecutors, the judiciary, court experts
and expert witnesses in order to identify and
prosecute criminal offences and serious crim-
inal offences against the environment. In
addition, the aforementioned institutions
also needed to improve their reaction times
and inter-agency coordination mechanisms
in order to protect the evidence on the
ground.
In order to achieve these objectives, environ-
mental protection inspectors proposed the
twinning project “Enforcement of the new
Environmental Protection Act harmonized
with EU legislation in cases of criminal of-
fences against the environment”.
The project was recognised as important,
approved by the EU and implemented within
the IPA 2008 programme, from September
2010 to June 2012, by the Croatian Ministry
of Environmental and Nature Protection
(MENP) and the Austrian Environment
Agency (Umweltbundesamt).
The purpose was to improve environmental
protection through the enforcement of the
new Croatian Environmental Protection Act
from 2007 and its provisions regarding crim-
inal charges. It was also part of pre-accession
preparations for the effective enforcement of
environmental legislation as a future member
of the EU.
The key stakeholders in the project were the
Ministry of Justice, the State Attorney’s Of-
fice, the Judicial Academy, the Ministry of
By Jelena Manenica (Directorate for Inspection, Ministry of Environmental and
Nature Protection)
“...it became clear that there existed a need for further inter-institutional cooperation, the exchange of experience and infor-mation, and capacity building for all stake-holders.”
CROATIAN CASE STUDY— CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
6
detecting, investigating and prosecuting
environmental offences”. The project is
approved and is expected to 1) analyse
the status of implementation of the new
Criminal Code and the Criminal Proce-
dure Act, with recommendations for
improving cooperation and the under-
standing of environmental crime;
2) propose a new structure for the Envi-
ronmental Protection Inspectorate in
order to ensure the efficient implementa-
tion of the environmental aquis; 3) deliv-
er a training programme for stakehold-
ers.
NEST During an INTERPOL meeting, held in
Lyon in March 2012, it was proposed to
establish NESTs (National Environmen-
tal Security Task Force) with the aim of
improving cooperation at national level
for those countries that have not estab-
lished this kind of team so far and are
facing coordination problems in environmen-
tal law enforcement. The NEST should en-
hance coordination in the prevention of of-
fences against the environment by relying on
cooperation between the competent bodies,
not excluding the possibility of international
engagement. In order to combat environmen-
tal crime Croatia thus decided to use the Inter-
pol concept NEST. Coordination of the NEST
work and its reporting in INTERPOL is a re-
sponsibility of the Croatian MENP.
The Croatian Environmental Protection In-
spectorate is actively engaged in international
and inter-institutional cooperation, as reflect-
ed in its participation in different networks
(IMPEL, RENA, INECE) and their activities
regarding combating environmental crime.
These efforts and activities are expected to
change the low priority status of combating
environmental crime. As such, the MENP will
continue to strengthen cross-sector and cross-
border cooperation and coordination.
“The Na-tional Envi-ronmental Security Task Force (NEST) should en-hance co-ordination in the pre-vention of offences against the environ-ment rely-ing on co-operation between the competent bodies.”
Stipe Surać, Seagulls at Landfill (1st prize in the Croatian Journalist Photo Competition “Nature
and Environment”, June 2011)
PROJECT FLASH
“STRENGTHENING
ENVIRONMENTAL
INSPECTION AND
RELEVANT STAKE-
HOLDERS IN THE
R E P U B L I C O F
SERBIA” IPA 2010
This EUR 2.5 million
project aims to improve
the quality of the natural
environment and the
health of the population
through the effective
enforcement of environ-
mental regulations. Its
main expected outcomes
are the improved capaci-
ty and effectiveness of
the Serbian Environ-
mental In-
spectorate at
r e p u b l i c ,
province and
local levels
and im-
proved coop-
eration with
s t a k e h o l d -
ers.
D u r a t i o n :
2010-2014
T w i n n i n g
partner:
Umweltbun-
d e s a m t
(Austria)
7
Prosecutors and Deputy Public Prosecu-
tors of Serbia and the High Magistrates
Court.
Several experts who deal with environ-
mental crime presented Austrian experi-
ences in the field, namely cooperation
and communication between stakehold-
ers, cross-border shipments of waste, the
illegal disposal and incineration of waste,
illegal discharges of water, including
groundwater, case studies etc.). Partici-
pants had the opportunity to visit the
protected natural site “Mlava Spring” in
the scope of the training.
More details and a full description of the
project can be found on the European
Commission website:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/
serbia/ipa/2010/23_inspect_ipa10.pdf
SERBIA—TRAINING SEMINAR ON ECO-CRIME
By Jelena Kukolj
A training seminar on environmental
crime took place in Petrovac na Mlavi,
Serbia, from November 22 to 24, 2012.
The seminar was one of many activities
under the twinning project IPA 2010
“Strengthening Environmental Inspection
and Relevant Stakeholders in the Republic
of Serbia”, which is jointly implemented by
the Sector for Control and Surveillance of
the Ministry of Energy, Development and
Environmental Protection and the Austri-
a n E n v i r o n m e n t a l A g e n c y
(Umweltbundesamt).
The training seminar targeted environ-
mental inspectors at all levels (republic,
provincial and local), representatives of
the crime prevention police, border and
communal police, as well as representa-
tives of Interpol, the Association of Public
Seminar participants engaged in a group exercise
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS 2013
Regional Environmental
Center for Central and
Eastern Europe
REC Head Office
2000 Szentendre
Ady Endre ut 9-11
Hungary
Tel: (36-26) 504-000
Fax: (36-26) 311-294
Secretariat team:
SECRETARIAT—THE REC
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is an interna-tional organisation with a mis-sion to assist in addressing environmental issues. The REC fulfills this mission by
promoting cooperation among governments, non-governmental organisa-tions, businesses and other environmental stakeholders, and by supporting the free exchange of information and public participation in environmental decision making.
The REC actively participates in key global, regional and local processes and contributes to environmental and sustainability solutions within and beyond its country office network, transferring transitional knowledge and experience to countries and regions.
The REC was established in 1990 by the United States, the European Com-mission and Hungary. Today, the REC is legally based on a charter with over 30 signatories. The REC has an office network in 17 countries.
For more information contact the Themis Secretariat or visit themis.rec.org. The information below is indicative only. The final
dates may change at a later stage.
February Executive Committee meeting, Szentendre, Hungary
April/May Forestry and eco-crimes training, Montenegro
July Sub-regional training for Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, venue tbd
October Eco-crime sub-regional training for Bosnia, Bosnia
December Closure of the 2012-2013 Themis work programme
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
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