Environmental Taxes & Financial Crime - The Clock is Ticking for Waste Criminals

Introduction

In January 2020, the government launched a Joint Unit for Waste Crime, announcing that the ‘clock is ticking for waste criminals’.

Earlier this year, Parliament debated (not once, but twice) the introduction of an incineration tax. A plastic packaging tax will take effect in early 2022.

Environmental taxes are, clearly, a hot topic. However, they can generate unwanted side effects. As noted in the 2018 Independent review into serious and organised crime in the waste sector ‘The introduction of the Landfill Tax in 1996 has been transformational in commoditising waste as a resource, but a consequence of its introduction has been to increase the attractiveness of the market to organised crime, with…very few barriers to entry’.

Will new taxes spawn yet more crime? It is important that those operating in sectors affected by environmental taxes, and their professional advisers, are aware of the risks, as well as the precautions they can take to protect against criminality.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• The link between environmental taxes and criminality
• Types of crime prevalent in the sector
• Why do the two go hand in hand?
• How the authorities are fighting back
• The ‘weapons’ at their disposal
• Recent case examples
• The new Joint Unit for Waste Crime
• Practical steps to protect against criminality
• Risk assessments
• ‘Reasonable’ prevention procedures
• Whistleblowing and reporting

This webinar was recorded on 13th July 2020