Water Quality Control Policies and the Criminalisation of Pollution

Abstract

The present contribution aims to provide a comprehensive account of Italian legislation on water quality and water protection through criminal law. The Italian legal regime on water quality largely builds on the overarching European Union framework, which includes the Water Framework Directive, the Drinking Water Directive and the Nitrates Directive. The path towards full implementation of European water policies in Italy has been, however, all but void of drawbacks and still entails remarkable shortcomings. Hence the Italian implementation of European directives in Italy will be addressed, with a view to highlighting the several nuances with regard to non-compliance and the extensive use of exemptions and derogations. Furthermore, this contribution will provide an overview of the fragmented Italian legal regime for criminalisation of water pollution as interpreted by Italian criminal courts. The upshot of this overview is the ultimate unfitness of the Italian criminal legal regime to adequately ensure water quality protection. Last, the far-reaching 2015 reform of the Criminal Code on environmental crimes is analysed, which arguably paves the way for a more coherent and ecosystem-oriented approach to water quality while strengthening coordination between administrative and criminal responses to water pollution.