Our colleague, Ángela Díaz-Bastien Vargas-Zuñiga, participated as a speaker and chair at this year’s 2024 UIA Winter Seminar held in Banff, Canada, during the week of March 10-17. The seminar was profoundly informative regarding new trends and regulations, both national and international, concerning Sustainable Development Goals and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance factors, as well as the importance and mandatory nature of Criminal Compliance and compliance programs for companies of any size operating in today’s market.
Ángela’s presentation focused on the criminal protection of natural resources and the environment in Spain and Europe under the new EU Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law. In Spain, this protection is codified in Articles 325 and following of the Penal Code.
In her talk, she explained and concluded that, due to historical reasons and the severe accidents and disasters that have occurred in Spain, such as the Prestige, Mar Menor, Aznalcollar, or Doñana, the national legislation exceeds in terms of the severity of penalties for behaviors that are potentially dangerous or harmful to the environment by both individuals and legal entities of any kind.
She shared the panel with two prominent international jurists, Maria Cronin (Solicitor, and Partner in the Criminal Law area of Peters & Peters Solicitors, UK) and Ian McDougall (Executive Vice President and General Counsel at LexisNexis, Adjunct Professor – IE University Law School, Madrid).
At EDBA, we have extensive experience in all types of environmental crimes, do not hesitate to contact us to learn more.
