Criminal liability for illegal cutting of forest vegetation: new practical connotations

Currently, in the Republic of Moldova, there is a rallying of national, European and global concerns, as a result of the awareness of the need to take more serious measures to limit and stop the criminal phenomenon in the field of ecological crime which is in full expansion. Since the sanctioning systems were not sufficient to guarantee full compliance with environmental protection legislation, stricter provisions were needed to prevent the extent of the criminal phenomenon in the field of illegal tree cutting. As a result, by the Law of 06.06.2024, changes were made to the provision of the crime of illegal cutting of forest vegetation, by criminalizing not only the actions of cutting, but also the actions of breaking and uprooting trees and shrubs without authorization, such as and by including the vegetation from green spaces, from wet areas, from the bottom of the waters and other lands with a special purpose of protection, as being the material object of this crime.