Case C-176/03, Commission v. Council

Publishers Abstract:
In its judgment to a case concerning the relationship between EU and EC law as regards criminal law, the Court of Justice held that criminal enforcement of EC environmental law may fall under European Community law (and thus the EU's first pillar), rather than being reserved in any case for the European Union's third pillar on Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters. The decision is of great importance as it concerns a hotly debated issue on which there had been no precedent, namely the distribution of competences between the first and third pillars of the European Union as regards the specification of criminal sanctions in EC law.