Environmental policing

Pursuant to the French Grenelle II Act (law no. 2010-788 of July 12, 2010 on the national commitment to the environment), Order no. 2012-34 of January 11, 2012 simplified and harmonized the police provisions applicable to all regulations in the Environmental Code (ICPE, water, waste, nature protection, etc.).

Alongside this common base, rules specific to each regulation continue to exist (article L 170-1 paragraph 2 of the Environment Code). For ICPEs, these rules are maintained in Book V of the Environmental Code (articles L. 511-1 et seq., R. 512-1 et seq.). This reform came into force on July 1 2013.

In Book I ^er of the Environment Code, environmental policing is the subject of Title VII entitled "Common provisions relating to controls and sanctions" (articles L. 170-1 et seq. of the Environment Code), itself subdivided into two parts, one concerning administrative policing, the other judicial policing.

The purpose of this fact sheet is to present the changes relating to controls and sanctions:

• for administrative police (articles L. 171-1 et seq. of the Environment Code);

• for the judicial police (articles L. 172-1 et seq. of the Environment Code).