Pollution Crimes in the Spanish Criminal Code with Special Reference to Marine Spills and Ozone Layer Emissions

According to the Spanish Constitution, the environment is conceptualized from a double point of view. Thus, it is recognized that there is the right to “enjoy an appropriate for individual’s development environment” and the duty to “preserve it”. This statement sets the stage for the environment to be considered a legal good needing protection beyond administrative law. In this sense, although we do have an administrative regulation of the behaviors against the environment, the protection provided by the Criminal Code is conducted for those acts that are especially serious. Although according to the last official data the rate of environmental crimes has experienced a decrease from 2019 to 2020, we cannot forget the importance of the dark figure in these types of crimes, which is highly related to the procedural difficulties in the evidentiary area. But there is also another important point: crimes against the environment, such as toxic wastes and spills, are usually committed by companies whose members and owners are related to the most powerful social groups. This contribution seeks to analyze two specific environmental crimes, marine and ozone layer pollution. To address these objectives, a theoretical study of Article 325 of the Spanish Criminal Code is planned jointly with a special reference to the most important case studies regarding these topics: the first conviction for atmospheric emissions to the ozone layer in Spain in 2014 and the conviction for the environmental disaster due to the Prestige oil spill in the Spanish marine area in 2016. These judgments were crucial as they meant an important step towards the definition of the environment as a first-class legal good.