Terra dei fuochi, final approval by the Chamber of Deputies of the decree: from the Southern Department to the waste crackdown, the novelties

A special sanctioning discipline is envisaged for the company that, illegally carrying out the activity of transporting goods for third parties, commits a violation of the provisions of the environmental code. In particular, the company engaged in the haulage of goods on behalf of third parties which, being required to do so, is not enrolled in the National Register of Environmental Managers and commits this type of violation is subject, in addition to the sanctions provided for the specific violation, to the accessory sanction of suspension from the National Register of natural and legal persons engaged in the haulage of goods on behalf of third parties, from fifteen days to two months.

The Environmental Code is amended, in the criminal cases that punish waste abandonment conduct, through the provision of three distinct offences: the abandonment of non-hazardous waste, of a contravention nature, the crime of abandoning non-hazardous waste in particular cases and the crime of abandoning hazardous waste. In particular, the measure tightens up the sanctioning treatment applicable to cases of abandonment of non-hazardous waste, with the provision of a fine ranging from 1,500 to 18,000 euros (instead of the previous one ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 euros); on the other hand, a new provision is introduced concerning the cases in which the abandonment or deposit of waste is carried out by means of motor vehicles. If this circumstance occurs, the driver of the vehicle is subject to the accessory sanction of suspension of his driving licence from 4 to 6 months. A separate, subjectively qualified offence is also provided for, in that it refers exclusively to the owners of companies and persons in charge of bodies, who abandon or deposit waste in an uncontrolled manner or release it into surface or underground waters. This contravention is punished with a more serious sanction, consisting in arrest from 6 months to 2 years or a fine from 3,000 to 27,000 euros.

Unless the act constitutes a criminal offence, anyone who, in breach of local regulations on waste disposal, abandons or deposits urban waste next to roadside collection containers shall be subject to an administrative fine of between 1,000 euro and 3,000 euro. If the breach is committed by using motor vehicles, the accessory administrative sanction of immobilising the vehicle for one month shall also apply.

The measure introduces a series of amendments to the Environmental Code, in order to classify as crimes the contravening offences of unauthorised waste management and the creation and management of an unauthorised landfill already provided for. As a result of the amendments introduced during the examination in referendum, the basic conduct of unauthorised waste management remains punishable as a contravention with imprisonment from three months to one year and a fine ranging from 2,600 euro to 26,000 euro, while if the abandonment concerns hazardous waste, the conduct is qualified by the provision in question as a crime to which imprisonment from 1 to 5 years applies. A more serious sanction (imprisonment from 1 year to 5 years) is also provided for when: the fact endangers the life or safety of persons, the danger of impairment or deterioration (of water or air, or of extensive or significant portions of the soil or subsoil), of an ecosystem, of biodiversity, including agricultural biodiversity, flora or fauna; the fact is committed in contaminated or potentially contaminated sites or in any case on the access roads to these sites and their appurtenances. Finally, a further aggravation of penalties, with the provision of imprisonment from 2 years to 6 years and 6 months, is prescribed for the hypotheses in which, in addition to the conditions just described, the conduct concerns hazardous waste. In the hypotheses in which the described conduct of unauthorised waste management is committed by means of motor vehicles, a suspension of the driving licence from 3 to 9 months is prescribed for the driver of the vehicle.

Modifications are made regarding violations in the keeping of loading and unloading in operations concerning the management of waste, as well as in concerning the transportation of waste in violation of the provisions concerning the waste identification form and the waste analysis certificate.

The offence of illegal waste trafficking is amended, transforming the contravention under Article 259 of the Environmental Code into a crime. The penalty for committing this offence becomes imprisonment from 1 to 5 years, with an increase in the penalty treatment in the case of hazardous waste.

On the one hand, an increase in the sanctioning treatment is provided for when certain offences concerning the unlawful management of waste are committed in the context of a business activity; on the other hand, the punishability of specific waste-related offences also on the grounds of guilt is introduced, with the introduction, for this purpose, of an attenuating circumstance.

The measure intervenes on the regulation of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), in order to simplify the collection and storage of WEEE and counter the phenomenon of waste abandonment. In particular, it is foreseen that, at the same time as taking back used equipment, distributors may collect WEEE from households, free of charge and without the obligation to purchase EEE of an equivalent type.

The measure makes a number of amendments to the Criminal Code aimed at excluding the tenuousness of the act for the commission of certain environmental offences and introducing a new aggravated case relating to the offences of trafficking in and abandonment of radioactive material and illegal trafficking in waste, while also redetermining the increase in penalty for all aggravating circumstances.

Provision is made for the disqualification from certain licences, authorisations, concessions, registrations, certifications, authorisations and disbursements of persons definitively convicted of the following environmental offences: environmental pollution, environmental disaster, trafficking in and abandonment of highly radioactive material, organised activities for the illegal trafficking of waste. The disqualification applies for a period of no less than one year and no more than five years and determines the forfeiture of the same licences, authorisations, concessions, registrations, certifications, authorisations and disbursements. The same convicted persons are also banned from concluding public contracts for works, services and supplies, fiduciary subcontracts and related subcontracts.

The scope of the institute of deferred flagrante delicto arrest is also extended to a number of serious environmental offences (environmental pollution, death or injury as a consequence of the crime of environmental pollution, trafficking and abandonment of highly radioactive material, organised activities for the illegal trafficking of waste, etc.).

The list of crimes for which the measure of prevention of the judicial administration of assets connected to economic activities and companies provided for by the Code of anti-mafia laws can be applied is enlarged. A provision introduced during the referral gives the power to propose, in the same cases, the application of the measure of prevention under review, also to the Public Prosecutor at the court in whose district the person subject to criminal proceedings lives whose activity can be facilitated by the free exercise of economic activities.

Amendments are made to the Highway Code in order to penalise the conduct of those who deposit or throw small non-hazardous waste on the road from parked or moving vehicles.

Extension from 17 September 2025 to 31 December 2025 of the end of the state of emergency declared as a result of the exceptional meteorological events that took place from 15 September 2022 in part of the territory of the provinces of Ancona and Pesaro-Urbino, the municipalities of Camerino, Montecassiano and Treia, in the province of Macerata, and the municipalities located in the northern part of the province of Macerata.