Strengthening Environmental Crime Enforcement in Austria

Project description

This project aims to strengthen environmental crime enforcement in Austria. The project has three specific objectives:

(1) developing policy options and recommendations of an environmental strategy,

(2) enhancing skills of prosecutors and judges on environmental crime prosecution, and

(3) improving the communication amongst relevant national authorities.

The first component of the project will target the development of policy options and recommendations for an environmental strategy with a specific focus on the possibility of creating a National Environmental Security Taskforce (NEST) structure and improving the investigative capabilities from the current structure. This component will be launched with a baseline study and will then invite relevant parties from Austria on a study visit to the Netherlands and France. All the input gathered will serve as the basis for the policy options and recommendations.

The second objective of the project will focus on enhancing the skills of prosecutors and judges on environmental crime prosecution. Development of a training program in collaboration with the judicial academy of the Ministry of Justice is essential in achieving this outcome. The two resulting trainings will then be given to prosecutors and judges from various regions in Austria. These trainings will be developed by Dutch and Austrian experts.

The third objective of the project will support the improvement of the communication and cooperation among relevant national authorities. Workshops will be held with input from international experts on environmental crime enforcement communication from France and the Netherlands.