MILIEUAANSPRAKELIJKHEID VAN LEIDINGGEVENDEN : Over strafrechtelijke, bestuursrechtelijke en privaatrechtelijke sanctionering van leidinggevenden voor milieuovertredingen in bedrijfscontext

Abstract

Corporate environmental crime is a structural problem with serious consequences. If an environmental offence occurs in a corporate context, usually only the legal corporate person is held liable. Natural persons within the company then remain unaffected. Nevertheless, the legal person does not write its own environmental policy nor does it carry out the environmentally harmful activities itself: the environmental offences are actually committed by people within the company. Ultimately, it is up to natural persons holding a position of leadership in the company to oversee environmental compliance. Therefore, under circumstances, it may be reasonable to hold directors or other executives personally liable for corporate environmental offenses. This doctoral thesis is about the possibilities for sanctioning directors and executives for an environmental offence under Dutch criminal, administrative and civil law. For each of these legal areas, the author examines which types of rules exist for environmentally harmful activities of companies, as well as to whom these rules are addressed. The author also provides insight into the application of criminal, administrative and civil perpetration requirements in the context of corporate environmental offences. Also, the author explains under which conditions a director may be subject to preventive, remedial or punitive sanctions for breaching an environmental norm. In order to contribute to a balanced and structured assessment of directors’ liability for environmental offences, the author examines both the grounds for environmental liability and the defences against it. In addition, for each legal area, the author evaluates whether there is cause for additional protection against directors’ liability for environmental offences, for example in the form of a qualified requirement of intent or an additional culpability assessment.