Nature Conservation 1/2012 — 13. 6. 2012 — Nature Conservation Legislation — Print article in pdf
Havelková S.: Administrative Offence and Crime Liability
On January 1, 2010 the new Penal Code of the Czech Republic entered into force. It provides some new principles in criminal liability, particularly formal approach to criminal offences added by the material corrective as well as criminal liability subsidiarity.
The new principles also influence administrative penalties. The part of the Code dealing with criminal offences against the environment was significantly amended. In addition, on January 1, 2012 the criminal liability of legal persons entered into force. Some facts of a case in criminal offences overlap with the facts of cases in misdemeanour and other administrative offences. Due to the criminal liability subsidiarity, much of misdemeanour should be visited by State/Public Administration bodies, i.e. by the State Nature Conservancy authorities. Only offences with particularly serious consequences in the environment where administrative penalties are not adequate should be treated as criminal offences.