Descrizione 1
Marina Cerra, Paola Di Toppa, Daniele Montanaro
The national legislation on environmental damage, regulated under Part Six of Legislative Decree No. 152/2006 (transposing Directive 2004/35/EC on environmental liability), designates the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE) as the sole competent authority for the prevention and remediation of environmental damage. The Ministry acts through both judicial and administrative procedures, with the support of the National System for the Protection of the Environment (SNPA), which provides the necessary technical assistance.
In 2023, out of 552 criminal proceedings reported, the Ministry requested SNPA’s assistance in 53 cases to assess the existence of environmental damage. SNPA concluded 61 technical-scientific assessments to support ministerial decisions, including those initiated in 2022. The Ministry acted as civil party in 2 cases, based on SNPA’s technical reports.
The National System for the Protection of the Environment (SNPA), as established by Law No. 132/2016, provides technical-scientific support to MASE in both criminal and administrative proceedings, where it is necessary to identify, describe, and quantify environmental damage for the protection of public interests, through the development of technical assessments.
The environmental damage action in criminal proceedings is initiated by MASE by activating SNPA to carry out technical assessments. Such action is taken for all criminal proceedings reported by the State Attorney's Offices which, due to the relevance of the offence, require technical-scientific support aimed at verifying the existence of potential environmental damage. If confirmed, MASE, upon authorization from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, notifies the District Attorney’s Offices of its intention to join the proceedings as a civil party and to pursue compensation from the liable parties.
The indicator represents the number of technical assessments developed for the evaluation of environmental damage, reflecting the State’s action to address the environmental consequences of criminal offences. The data describe, in addition to the territorial distribution of the criminal proceedings reported by the District Attorney's Offices and those for which MASE acted as civil party, the detailed information on the cases subject to SNPA technical assessment.
Such data are organized on a regional basis (according to the competent Court) and provide information regarding the type of offences, and the category of sites/activities where the alleged facts took place, based on the classification in Annex 5 of Part Six of Legislative Decree No. 152/2006 (activities at risk of causing environmental damage).
To provide an overall framework of the actions promoted by the central Public Administration for initiating decision-making processes aimed at addressing environmental consequences resulting from offences charged in criminal proceedings at the national level.
- Directive 2004/35/EC on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage
- Legislative Decree No. 152/2006, Part Six – Provisions on compensatory protection against environmental damage
- Law No. 132/2016 – Establishment of the national environmental protection system and regulation of ISPRA
Descrizione 2
Qualificazione dati
Data derived from the database managed internally by ISPRA – Department for the Assessment, Evaluation, and Remediation of Environmental Damage, and from data provided directly by the national competent authority (MASE – Directorate General USSRI – Division IX – Environmental Damage) for the reference year.
National (I), Regional (R)
2017-2023
Qualificazione indicatore
Starting from the assignments received by SNPA from MASE, the content of criminal proceedings under preliminary investigation was analyzed within the framework of the environmental damage assessments carried out during the reference year. This analysis enabled the identification, across the national territory, of the percentage distribution of the reported illicit activities and of the most frequently involved site types in these proceedings.
In 2023, SNPA carried out 61 environmental damage assessments at the request of MASE, representing approximately 11% of the 552 notifications received from the District Attorney’s Offices (Table 1). Compared to the previous year, despite a decrease in the total number of assessments, there is a 5 percentage point increase in the ratio of assessed cases to total notifications received by MASE, confirming the State’s commitment to environmental protection (Figure 1).
Overall, based on the information collected since 2017 (the year of SNPA’s establishment), following a slightly negative trend up to 2020, the data for the recent years show an increase (Figure 1).
Dati
Tabella 1: Numero dei casi relativi ai procedimenti penali in fase preliminare
Elaborazione ISPRA su dati ISPRA e MASE
Tabella 2: Numerosità (e percentuale) delle tipologie di attività da Allegato 5 Parte VI Dlgs. 152/2006 relative agli illeciti contestati nei procedimenti penali oggetto di istruttoria SNPA nel 2023
Elaborazione ISPRA su dati ISPRA
Figura 1: Casi oggetti di istruttoria tecnica (% su segnalazioni ricevute dal MASE)
Elaborazione ISPRA su dati MASE
Figura 2: Numero dei procedimenti penali segnalati dalle Avvocature Distrettuali in cui il MASE risulta tra le persone offese suddivisi per distretto/regione
Elaborazione ISPRA su dati MASE
Figura 3: Dettaglio dei procedimenti penali segnalati dalle Avvocature Distrettuali in cui il MASE risulta tra le persone offese suddivisi per tribunale territorialmente competente
Elaborazioni ISPRA su dati MASE
Figura 4: Tribunali di competenza dei procedimenti penali oggetto di istruttoria nel 2023
Elaborazioni ISPRA su dati MASE
Figura 5: Distribuzione percentuale delle attività illecite contestate nel 2023
Elaborazioni ISPRA su dati ISPRA
In 2023, MASE received 552 notifications from District State Attorneys in which the Ministry was listed as an injured party in the preliminary acts of criminal proceedings. Overall, the Campania region recorded the highest number of reports (210), followed by Lazio and Tuscany (65 each), and Puglia (41) (Figure 2).
In detail, the highest number of reported criminal proceedings came from the courts of:Prato (58), Vallo della Lucania (57), Naples (52), Naples North (51). For other courts, the number of criminal proceedings reported in 2023 was below 50 (Figure 3).
Following a screening based on the relevance of the reported facts, MASE identified 53 cases—corresponding to about 10% of total notifications—as having the necessary elements to initiate a compensation action. For these cases, MASE assigned SNPA to carry out technical-scientific assessments to provide support in deciding whether to join the criminal proceedings as a civil party and pursue environmental damage claims.
As a result of these assignments, SNPA concluded 61 technical assessments in 2023, leading to MASE acting as a civil party in 2 criminal proceedings (Table 1). The courts involved in the 61 preliminary technical assessments were mainly located in the regions of Campania (17), Puglia (10), Lazio (7), and Lombardy (7) (Figure 4).
According to Figure 5, the offences in these criminal proceedings mostly fall under violations governed by Legislative Decree No. 152/2006, particularly in the area of waste management (45% of the cases in 2023).
In addition, penal code violations, including so-called “ecocrimes”, were frequently identified and represent approximately 20% of the reported offences. Other relevant offences include:
The activities involved are manifold. Among them, those listed in Annex 5, Part Six of Legislative Decree No. 152/2006, are particularly noteworthy. These professional activities are considered potential sources of damage and are subject to a special liability regime with a reversal of the burden of proof.
In 45 of the 61 assessments carried out in 2023, i.e. approximately 74%, the offences involved activities listed in Annex 5.
In several of these 45 assessments, multiple activities were involved, for a total of 51 reported instances, with a predominance of waste management and unauthorized discharges (Table 2).
The presence of factors relevant to potential environmental impacts resulting from the identified offences led to MASE joining 2 criminal proceedings as a civil party in 2023, concerning events that occurred in the provinces of Catanzaro and Taranto.