Citizen’s Rights in European Environmental Law: Stock-Taking of Key Challenges and Current Developments in Relation to Public Access to Information, Participation and Access to Justice
The article aims to provide a short overview of the current situation regarding public access to information, participation and access to justice in Europe. The article briefly presents the role of the Aarhus Convention and its compliance mechanism in shaping the respective legal framework at both national level and EU level. On that basis it summarises some key challenges and implementation problems respectively in relation to public access to information, participation and access to justice.
Towards a Green Energy Transition: REPowerEU Directive vs Environmental Acquis
The article provides a brief overview and assessment of the proposed measures against the respective political and legal background. It shows that the proposed measures, while generally guided by legitimate objectives, were not properly balanced with the other EU environmental policies. In this context it claims lack of a profound debate regarding the scope and means for such balancing and considers this as a fundamental issue to be addressed before submitting any concrete measures. It then compares the proposed measures with some of the official proclamations in the Europesan Green Deal and shows issues of concern in relation to some of the concrete proposed measures. Finally, it assesses …
Access to Justice in the Aarhus Convention – Genesis, Legislative History and Overview of the Main Interpretation Dilemmas
Abstract The article present the key elements of the access to justice pillar of the Arhus Convention against the background of its legislative history, conceptual approaches and motivations laying behind certain provisions. On this basis, the article identifies and briefly indicates the main interpretation dilemmas regarding specific provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 9 as well as those which apply to access to justice pillar as a whole, in particular the interpretation dilemmas regarding the internal relations between these provisions and the role of this pillar in relation to the other pillars, in particular the public participation pillar. The conclusion is that while the st…
Roots of Modern Environmental Law in Europe
Abstract The article provides a concise overview of the origins of modern environmental law in Europe based on general historical studies or the legal studies dealing with the history of environmental law in particular European regions or countries. It presents historical development of the two fundamental branches of environmental law, namely nature conservation and pollution control, first at the medieval times and then as a consequence of Industrial Revolution. The article presents the legal instruments and concepts invented in the past in the light of the instruments and concepts used in the current European legislation. In this context it attempts to show that some of the contemporary …
The Escazú Agreement and the Regional Approach to Rio Principle 10: Process, Innovation, and Shortcomings
Abstract The adoption in 2018 of the Escazú Agreement by the countries of the Latin American and Caribbean region marks the second regional legal instrument aimed at the implementation of Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration, joining the Aarhus Convention of the pan-European region. The international community has settled upon the regional level as the appropriate means for implementing standards related to access to information, public participation, and access to justice in environmental matters. The appropriateness of the regional level is demonstrated by the differences and innovations found in the Escazú Agreement, in its scope and definitions, background principles, burden of proo…