Abstract

Recent judgement from the Provincial Court of Madrid number 711/2014 given in December the 4th 2014 (subsequently confirmed by the Supreme Court judgement number 521/2015 given in October the 13th 2015) has meant the first conviction in Spain for atmospheric emissions damaging the ozone layer, according to section 325.1 of the Spanish Criminal Code (in the wording before the last change made in 2015). This means an important step towards the definition of the environment as a first class legal good. The aim of this paper is to analyse not just the main elements of this crime but also the sentence that punishes for the first time in Spain atmospherics emissions damaging the ozone layer.