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Update: Colombian Government Finally Gets Its Eco-Teeth
By Keith R | July 23, 2009
Topics: Environmental Governance, Environmental Justice | No Comments »
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Nearly a year ago I posted about the environmental sanctions law approved by Colombia’s congress. What I didn’t know at the time of posting was that a week later the Executive Branch would raise formal objections to the law — essentially an attempt at a line-item veto. The Senate and Chamber of Deputies refused in October to accept the President’s proposed changes, throwing the issue to Colombia’s Constitutional Court. The Congress challenged both the legal validity of the Executive Branch objections sent to Congress [because they were submitted by a ministry other than the one responsible for the subject matter, the Environment Ministry (MAVDT)] and its reasoning. To further complicate matters, MAVDT also filed a challenge to the Executive Branch statement of objections.
The Constitutional Court recently agreed with Congress, so now it’s become law.
For a full run-down on the changes brought by the law, please refer to my prior post. Among other things, it reverses burden of proof, sets a long period (20 years) for charges to be brought for environmental offenses, doubles daily fines, list aggravating circumstances under which tougher sanctions can be imposed, outlines which environmental authorities can impose preventive measures, allows for sanctions in addition to (rather than instead of) remedial or compensatory measures, and allows for community service to be imposed as part of punishment for environmental crimes.
Tags: acciones sancionatorias, Colombia, community service, Constitutional Court, dano ambiental, derecho ambiental, environment, environmental crimes, environmental enforcement, Environmental Justice, environmental law, environmental sanctions, fines, MAVDT, medio ambiente, preventive measures, recidivism, remedial measures, reverse burden of proof, trabajo comunitario
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