[ARCHIVED CONTENT] EUROPA - Environment

The Aarhus Convention

What is the Aarhus Convention?
The EU & The Aarhus Convention

What is the Aarhus Convention?

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (pdf ~50K) was adopted on 25 June 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus (Århus) at the Fourth Ministerial Conference as part of the "Environment for Europe" process. It entered into force on 30 October 2001. (For recent up-dates and the follow-up process please have a look at the UNECE Convention website).

The Aarhus Convention establishes a number of rights of the public (individuals and their associations) with regard to the environment. The Parties to the Convention are required to make the necessary provisions so that public authorities (at national, regional or local level) will contribute to these rights to become effective. The Convention provides for:

the right of everyone to receive environmental information that is held by public authorities ("access to environmental information"). This can include information on the state of the environment, but also on policies or measures taken, or on the state of human health and safety where this can be affected by the state of the environment. Applicants are entitled to obtain this information within one month of the request and without having to say why they require it. In addition, public authorities are obliged, under the Convention, to actively disseminate environmental information in their possession;
the right to participate in environmental decision-making. Arrangements are to be made by public authorities to enable the public affected and environmental non-governmental organisations to comment on, for example, proposals for projects affecting the environment, or plans and programmes relating to the environment, these comments to be taken into due account in decision-making, and information to be provided on the final decisions and the reasons for it ("public participation in environmental decision-making");
the right to review procedures to challenge public decisions that have been made without respecting the two aforementioned rights or environmental law in general ("access to justice").

The EU & The Aarhus convention

The EC is Party to the Convention since May 2005.

In 2003 two directives concerning the first and second "pillar" of the Aarhus Convention were adopted (they were to be implemented in the national law of the EU Member States by 14 February and 25 June 2005 respectively):

Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC
Directive 2003/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending with regard to public participation and access to justice Council Directives 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EC

These Directives also contain provisions on access to justice.

Provisions for public participation in environmental decision-making are furthermore to be found in a number of other environmental directives, such as Directive 2001/42/EC of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of certain plans and programmes on the environment and Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy.

On 24 October 2003 the Commission adopted further legislative proposals to align Community legislation with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention (Press release , Questions and Answers document) which contained, next to the proposal for a Decision to ratify the Convention [COM(2003) 625],

a Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on access to justice in environmental matters [COM(2003) 624]; and
a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to EC institutions and bodies [COM(2003) 622].

The Aarhus Convention also applies to the EU institutions. The Proposal for a Regulation on the application of its provisions to EC institutions and bodies took into account existing provisions in these matters, namely Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, as well as the "general principles and minimum standards for the consultation of interested parties" set by the Commission in its Communication of 11 December 2002 [COM(2002)704], in application since 1 January 2003.

Relevant EC web resources:

"Your Voice in Europe": the European Commission's single access point to a wide variety of consultations, discussions and other tools which enable the civil society to play an active role in the European policy-making process.
General principles and minimum standards for consultation of interested parties by the Commission
The European Environment Agency aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe's environment through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable environmental information to policy making agents and the public.
European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET): EIONET is a collaborative network of the European Environment Agency and its Member Countries, connecting National Focal Points in the EU and accession countries, European Topic Centres, National Reference Centres, and Main Component Elements. These organisations jointly provide the information that is used for making decisions for improving the state of environment in Europe and making EU policies more effective. EIONET is both a network of organisations and a electronic network (e-EIONET).
Eurostat: Eurostat’s mission is to provide the European Union with a high-quality statistical information service
European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER): National governments of all EC Member States are required to maintain inventories of emission data from specified industrial sources and to report emissions from individual facilities to the European Commission. The reported data will be made accessible in a public register (EPER), which is intended to provide environmental information on major industrial activities.
"Openness and access to documents": Article 255 of the treaty establishing the European Community, implemented through Regulation 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001, grants a right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents to any Union citizen and to any natural or legal person residing, or having its registered office, in a Member State.
Document registers of the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission
eEurope 2002: Creating a EU Framework for the Exploitation of Public Sector Information
eGovernment Good Practice Framework: The European Commission has started a series of measures to support the creation of comprehensive eGovernment services across all levels of the Union. The "Good Practice Framework" (GPF) is a centrepiece in this strategy.
The European Commission eGovernment Observatory: eGovernment is a way for public administrations to become more open and transparent, and to reinforce democratic participation.
The European Ombudsman: any citizen or resident of the EU (or a business, association or other body with a registered office in the Union) can make a complaint to the European Ombudsman. He investigates complaints about maladministration by institutions and bodies of the European Union.
Aarhus Convention related conferences