Aarhus Convention
| Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters | |
|---|---|
| Short title: | Aarhus Convention |
| Title (engl.): | Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters |
| Date: | June 25, 1998 |
| Come into effect: | October 30, 2001 |
| Reference: | Full text of the convention |
| Reference (German): | German translation (PDF; 74 kB) |
| Contract type: | Multinational |
| Legal matter: | Environmental law |
| Signing: | 39 |
| Ratification : | 47 Current status
|
| Germany: | Ratification (January 15, 2007) |
| Liechtenstein: | Signature (June 25, 1998) |
| Austria: | Ratification (January 17, 2005) |
| Switzerland: | Ratification (September 11, 2013) |
| Please note the note on the applicable contract version . | |
The Aarhus Convention is the agreement of the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice , signed on June 25, 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus and entered into force on October 30, 2001 Environmental affairs. 47 states - including all EU members - and the European Union have ratified the treaty , and Monaco and Liechtenstein have signed the treaty but have not yet ratified it.
The Convention is the first international treaty that gives everyone rights to protect the environment .
Components
The content of the Aarhus Convention consists of three “pillars”:
- as free as possible access to environmental information (Art. 4),
- public participation in decision-making processes (Art. 6 - 8) and
- access to justice in environmental matters (Art. 9).
Access to information
Article 4 of the Aarhus Convention forms the legal basis for the provision of information by the competent authorities upon request. This concerns the state of environmental components such as air and atmosphere, water, soil, land, landscape and natural habitats , the biodiversity and its components, including genetically modified organisms , as well as the interactions between these components.
Public participation
According to the Aarhus Convention, public participation primarily requires the approval of certain projects with significant environmental impacts (in particular industrial plants and infrastructure measures).
Access to justice on environmental issues
The Aarhus Convention, regulated in Article 9, gives every person the right to object and to sue in the event of denial of access to information, with regard to decisions that are subject to public participation, and in general in the event of violations of environmental regulations.
membership
47 countries have ratified the Aarhus Convention. 33 of them have also signed the Kiev Protocol and 28 countries have signed the GMO amendment .
Implementation of the specifications
The requirements of the Aarhus Convention must be implemented in the law of the contracting parties. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) reports on this on an ongoing basis.
The European Community, which is itself a party to the Aarhus Convention, has passed the so-called Legal Protection Directive 2003/35 / EC to implement Article 9 of the Convention. The directive, for its part, obliges the Member States of the Community to give environmental organizations access to legal proceedings. The Federal Republic of Germany has implemented these requirements in German law through the Environmental Legal Provisions Act. On May 12, 2011, the ECJ ruled in the “Trianel Proceedings” that the rights of environmental associations to bring legal action were inadmissibly restricted to cases in which individuals are also entitled to sue. Since January 29, 2013, this restriction has been deleted from the Environmental Right of Appeal Act.
To implement information access, the EU passed Directive 2003/4 / EC (Environmental Information Directive) . Germany implemented it in national law by adapting its Environmental Information Act , and Austria accordingly in its Environmental Information Act . Both states also have state laws that regulate access to information.
additions
Kiev protocol
The Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Register ( Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Register, PRTR ) is an international Pollutant Emission Register . It was decided on May 21, 2003 and provides for the release of environmentally relevant information by companies.
GMO amendment
At the second Conference of the Parties on May 27, 2005, an extension of the Convention on Public Participation in Planned Releases of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) was decided. The GMO Amendment will come into force 90 days after ratification by three quarters of the signatory states.
See also
- Strategic environmental assessment
- E-Government working group “Environmental Information” in Austria
literature
- Society for environmental law (ed.): Aarhus Convention - Environmental problems in the approval of airports . Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-503-08325-1 .
- Astrid Epiney : Commentary on the Aarhus Convention . In: Fluck / Theuer (Hrsg.): Freedom of information law with environmental information and consumer information law, IFG / UIG / VIG, regulations of the EU, the federal government and the states, international law, case law, commentary, as of: 16th act . CF Müller Verlag, Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 3-8114-9270-5 .
- Bernhard W. Wegener : Legal protection in European (environmental) law - secondary and judicial components of a common dogmatics . In: Hendler / Marburger / Reiff / Schröder (eds.): Yearbook of Environmental and Technology Law (UTR 98) . Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2008, p. 319 ff .
- Thomas Bunge: Legal remedies in environmental matters: Requirements of the Aarhus Convention and German law . NuR 2014, pp. 605–614
Web links
- Text of the Aarhus Convention. Retrieved July 28, 2010 .
- Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters: Aarhus, Denmark, June 25, 1998. Status of ratification. In: UN Treaty collection, UNTC . United Nations , June 14, 2015, accessed June 14, 2015 .
- Access to justice in environmental matters in Germany - Toolkit Independent Institute for Environmental Issues, July 18, 2019
Individual evidence
- ↑ Felix Ekardt : “ Representative action before the ECJ: sue member states, spare EU institutions? - Simultaneously with Art. 9 III Aarhus Convention ”. In: NVwZ 2015, pp. 772–775.
- ^ UN Treaty Collection: Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
- ^ UN Treaty Collection: Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
- ^ UN Treaty Collection: Amendment to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
- ^ National Implementation Reports. In: Public Participation → Aarhus Convention → Areas of Work → Implementation and compliance → Reporting mechanism. UNECE, March 27, 2012, accessed April 5, 2014 (English, unknown language, native speaker).
- ↑ ECJ, judgment of May 12, 2011 , Az. C-115/09, Trianel case.
- ↑ UNECE / Aarhus Convention: Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers to the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
- ↑ BMUB: Protocol on pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTR protocol) ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ UNECE / Aarhus Convention: GMO Amendment
