Mining activities are of tantamount importance for the EU that has approved in the last years different strategies in order to guarantee the mineral supplies that our industry requires. Authorisations, licencing procedures and liability regimes that must be complied with by mining operators as well as administrations responsible for them, are matters of major concern.

Mining activities that are highly profitable may test the effectiveness and capacity of deterrence of environmental criminal law for violations of licences and liability regimes. Big companies can afford to damage the environment and then delay legal proceedings but in other cases they cannot survive the cost of compensation and the penalties.

The case study assesses the effectiveness of the EU environmental criminal law and liability to prevent and to resolve these problems in EU Member States, examining leading cases in Spain and Hungary.