Foreign experience regarding the criminal law framework for radioecological safety

The article provides a comparative legal analysis of criminal law framework for radioecological safety in the legislation of the European Union, the USA, and some post-Soviet countries, and presents generalized conclusions drawn by the authors on the basis of this analysis: in the majority of countries (the United Kingdom, USA, Spain, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic) the target of crimes is radioactive materials (substances); there is a differentiation of liability based on the signs of the parties to the crimes included in this category; the sanctions under the articles of the criminal codes of the European countries, USA that provide for liability for crimes in the field of radioactive materials management are much more severe than similar national provisions (life imprisonment (USA)); (life imprisonment or life imprisonment without the right to early release (Bulgaria)). The article identifies the peculiarities of the legislative regulation of liability for criminal offenses in the field of radioecological safety in some post-Soviet countries, namely, the specifics of the systematization of the offenses under study, their target and parties. Taking into account the identified positive experience and practice of foreign countries in combating the crimes of the studied category on the basis of criminal law, as well as taking into account the national model of the criminal law effect, the authors substantiate the expediency of applying criminal law measures to legal entities whose officials and designated authorized persons have committed criminal offenses in the field of radioecological safety. The scope of such crimes is outlined on the basis of the criteria of crimes committed in the interests of a legal entity, crimes committed with the aim of evading the liability provided by law, and the lack of sufficient and appropriate level of control by a legal entity over the actions of designated authorized persons in the field of nuclear energy use and management of radioactive materials and other sources of ionizing radiation.

crime in the field of radioecological safety, nuclear and radiation safety, criminal liability of legal entities, comparative criminal law research, punishment, sanction