REGULATORY NEWS National news 1.1 Acts and Ordinances Act 2021‑401 of 8 April 2021 improving the effectiveness of local justice and the penal response The purpose of this text is to encourage the use of alternatives to prosecution and settlement, in order to provide a faster response to violations of lesser importance. It also aims to create more fluid use of sentences involving community service and improve the collection of fixed penalty fines. Its goals are to reinforce the proximity of the penal response for minor misdemeanours, to bring the justice process closer to the citizens and to speed up the judicial procedures. In order to reinforce the effectiveness of the penalties pronounced for violations and to facilitate collection of fixed-penalty fines, the text creates a reduction in the amount of the fine for fifth category fixed-penalty fines. Article 9 of the Act thus stipulates that when a violation is category five, or when the regulation so provides, the fixed-penalty fine is reduced if the offender pays the amount of the reduced fixed-penalty fine, either to the officer issuing the fine at the moment the violation is detected, or within fifteen days from detection of the violation or, if notification of the violation is sent subsequently to the party concerned, within fifteen days from this notification. The purpose of this procedure is to encourage voluntary payment of the fine (within 15 days). Act 2021‑1104 of 22 August 2021 combating climate change and reinforcing resilience to the effects thereof The 22 August 2021 Act comprises legislative provisions adopted by Parliament, contributing to implementation of the proposals of the “Citizens climate Convention”, concerning the following question: “By 2030, how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% in comparison with 1990, while protecting social justice?” Article 86 of this Act introduces a provision into the Energy Code (I bis of Article L. 100-4) which, notwithstanding the provisions taken to ensure nuclear security, requires that the State take account of the objectives of security of supply and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when it decides to cease the operation of a nuclear reactor in order to achieve national energy policy objectives. The purpose of Title VII of the Act is to “reinforce the legal protection of the environment” and it comprises provisions which, within the Environment Code, defines new violations, or aggravates existing violations within this same Code or in the Transport Code. The purpose of these provisions is to reinforce the criminal prosecution of environmental offences and thus contribute more effectively to protection of the environment. These provisions include the following: Penalty for exposure to risk with the creation of an offence of endangerment of the environment The Act introduces provisions into the Environment Code (new Article L. 173-3-1) and into the Transport Code (II of Article L. 1252‑5) which aggravate the penalties applicable to the circumstances set out respectively in Articles L. 173-1 and L. 173-2 of the Environment Code and Article L. 1252-5 of the Transport Code, when these circumstances directly expose the fauna, flora, or water quality to an immediate, serious and lasting risk. The Act stipulates that lasting refers to damage liable to persist for at least 7 years. The penalties incurred are three years of imprisonment and a fine of 250,000 euros, which could be raised to three times the benefit gained from the offence committed. The same penalties are incurred in the event of a further offence, created in X of Article L. 541-46 of the Environment Code, for noncompliance with formal notice served regarding the regulations governing the dumping of waste or its management, when this failure to comply “directly exposes the fauna, flora, or water quality to an immediate serious and lasting risk”. Within their sphere of competence, the nuclear safety inspectors are authorised to investigate and record these new violations. 2021 was a particular year for work in the f ield of standards, notably owing to several Ministerial Orders and ASN resolutions as a result of the Decrees transposing European Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom of 5 December 2013 setting out Basic Standards for Health Protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation. 30 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2021
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NjQ0NzU=