KRIVIČNOPRAVNA ZAŠTITA ŽIVOTNE SREDINE U ZAKONODAVSTVU REPUBLIKE SRBIJE I STANDARDI EVROPSKE UNIJE

Abstract

With the raising of the social visibility of numerous forms of injury and endangerment of the environment, as well as the raising of people's awareness of the need for wider and more intensive environmental protection, a special group of crimes aimed exclusively at environmental protection is being formulated. Criminal protection of the environment should be viewed through the basic three characteristics of criminal law - its fragmentation, accessory and subsidiarity in order for this protection to be justified and to represent the ultima ratio in environmental protection. This position is taken both in the national criminal legislation and at the level of the European Union, within the framework of whose rich legislative activities in this field the states are again appealed to criminalize and prosecute crimes against the environment, when other measures of social reaction to damage and destruction of the environment does not give satisfactory results. Comparing the criminal offenses against the environment contained in the Criminal Code of Serbia with the actions whose incrimination is proposed within the EU regulations, it can be noticed that the domestic legislation is essentially harmonized with EU law. What remains "uncovered" is criminal law protection against noise, given that noise protection is regulated in domestic legislation within the framework of misdemeanor law.