The Local Police officers implemented the real precautionary measure, delegated by the Judicial Authority, which ordered the seizure aimed at confiscating the vehicles used for the illicit activity and abandonment of waste in the countryside of Andria.
The author, carrying out the illegal activity of CDs “cellar emptyer“, after having received a commission for the clearance of a private house, he transported and abandoned the waste in the countryside of Andria. Waste which was subsequently burned.
In this regard, it should be noted that the client was held jointly responsible for the crime of abandoning waste. For the purposes of identifying this subject, in fact, it is necessary to recall the provisions contained in the art. 183, letter. h), and in the art. 188 of Legislative Decree no. 152 of 2006. According to the first provision, the producer of the same or the natural or legal person who is in possession of it is considered the holder of the waste. The art. 188, first paragraph, establishes, in turn, that the responsibility for the correct management of waste lies with the initial producer or other holder, while the fourth paragraph of this same rule specifies that this responsibility does not cease with the delivery of the waste to other subjects, unless there has been transfer to the public collection service or transfer to subjects authorized for recovery or disposal activities, and provided that the holder has received the form referred to in the following article 193. It is evident in this framework that the person producing the waste, until he gets rid of it in the ways indicated in the aforementioned art. 188, fourth paragraph, of Legislative Decree no. 152 of 2006, is responsible for the correct management of the same and is therefore the one who must be identified as the author of the abandonment in the event that the material is not correctly disposed of (see TAR Napoli Section 5 Sentence 2 February 2024).
Furthermore, it is recalled that paragraph 1 of article 6-bis of the converted Legislative Decree no. 105/2023 modifies paragraph 1 of article 255 (Abandonment of waste) of Legislative Decree 152/2006, providing for the transformation from illicit administratively, the case of abandonment of waste is considered a contravention crime, punishable by a fine of 1,000 to 10,000 euros, increased by up to double if the abandonment concerns dangerous waste.
It is necessary to point out that today’s suspects are, at present, only suspected of a crime, albeit seriously, and that their positions will be examined by the Judicial Authority during the entire procedural process and defined only following the possible issuing of a conviction which has become final, in compliance with the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence.
