LOS DERECHOS AMBIENTALES DE INFORMACIÓN, PARTICIPACIÓN Y JUSTICIA Y SU RÉGIMEN EN LA COMUNIDAD AUTÓNOMA VASCA

2010 ◽  
pp. 867-904
Author(s):  
JOSÉ ANTONIO RAZQUIN LIZARRAGA
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Environmental Rights ◽  
Aarhus Convention ◽  
The Impact

Los derechos de acceso a la información, participación pública y acceso a la justicia han avanzado con la aplicación del Convenio de Aarhus de 1998 y de las Directivas comunitarias de 2003 por la Ley estatal 27/2006, que ha afectado a su pionera regulación por la Ley vasca 3/1998, General de protección del medio ambiente. Aquí se estudia el régimen jurídico de los derechos ambientales de la ciudadanía en la Comunidad Autónoma Vasca, mostrando los cambios derivados de la nueva normativa y su incidencia en la legislación autonómica, así como su aplicación práctica y los retos pendientes para su cumplimiento real y efectivo. Informazioa eskuratzeko, bizitza publikoan parte hartzeko eta justizia eskuratzeko eskubideek aurrera egin dute 1998ko Aarhus Ituna eta, Estatuaren 27/2006 Legearen bidez, 2003ko Erkidegoko Direktibak aplikatzearen ondorioz, eragina izan baitu Ingurumena Babesteko EAEko 3/1998 Lege Orokor aitzindarian. Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoko herritarren ingurumeneko eskubideen araubide juridikoa ikertzen da, arau berrietatik ondorioztatzen diren aldaketak eta autonomiaren legeetan duten eragina erakutsiz. Araudi horren aplikazio praktikoa eta benetan eta ganoraz betetzeko erronka ere izan dira lanaren xede. The rights of access to information, public participation in decisionmaking and access to justice in environmental matters have improved by the Act 2006/27 approved in application of Aarhus Convention on 1998 and European Directives on 2003, affecting the pioneering regulation in Basque Act 1998/3. This paper studies the system of environmental rights in the Basque Country, showing the changes prompted by the new regulation, the impact in regional legislation and the measures envisaged to implementation. At the end, public authorities must continue working to real and effective fulfilment of environmental rights.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTING PRINCIPLE 10 OF THE 1992 RIO DECLARATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE AARHUS CONVENTION 1998 AND THE ESCAZÚ AGREEMENT 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (55) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Sidney GUERRA ◽  
Giulia PAROLA
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Environmental Rights ◽  
Healthy Environment ◽  
Aarhus Convention ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
America Latina

ABSTRACTTwenty years after the signature of the UNECE  Convention  on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, (the Aarhus Convention, 1998) on March 4, 2018 –and after six years of negotiations-,twenty-four countries in Latin American and the Caribbean adopted the Escazú Convention, the first ever legally binding treaty on environmental rights in the Region. The Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, once ratified by the signatories, will affect the constitutions and the legislations in Latin America and the Caribbean in environmental matters, serving as a framework to increase the level of the protection on environmental participatory rights in the region. The objective of this article is to give an overview of both treaties. Part I will briefly outline the context and the negotiating process of the two texts. Then, Part II will consist of a comparative analysis, that will scrutinise the structure of the treaties, the notion of democracy and the substantive right to a healthy environment. Finally, the Part III will compare the three pillars recognised in both documents and underline the similarities, the differences between the three pillars, and the steps forwards for Environmental Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. KEYWORDS: Right to access; Aarhus Convention; Escazú Agreement; Environmental Democracy; Latin America and Caribbean. RESUMOVinte anos após a assinatura da Convenção sobre Acesso à Informação, Participação no Processo de Tomada de Decisão e Acesso à Justiça em Matéria de Ambiente UN/ECE (Convenção de Aarhus, 1998) e após seis anos de negociações, vinte e quatro países da América Latina e do Caribe adotaram a Convenção Escazú, o primeiro tratado juridicamente vinculante sobre direito ambiental na Região. O Acordo Regional sobre Acesso à Informação, Participação Pública e Justiça em Matéria de Ambiente na América Latina e no Caribe, uma vez ratificado, produzira efeitos na ordem jurídica interna dos Estados partes em matéria ambiental e servirá para aumentar o nível de proteção dos direitos de participação ambiental na região. O objetivo deste artigo é fornecer uma visão geral de ambos os tratados. A parte I delineará brevemente o contexto e o processo de negociação dos dois textos. A Parte II consistirá numa análise comparativa que examinará a estrutura dos tratados, a noção de democracia e o direito substantivo a um ambiente saudável. Por fim, a Parte III se destina a comparar os três pilares reconhecidos em ambos os documentos e sublinhar as semelhanças, as diferenças entre os três pilares e os passos a serem tomados para o Direito Ambiental na América Latina e no Caribe. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Acesso à justiça; Convenção de Aarhus; Acordo de Escazú; Democracia Ambiental; América Latina e Caribe

Limits of NGO Rights to Invoke Access to Justice under the Aarhus Convention

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 458-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérardine Garçon
Keyword(s):  
Crop Protection ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Aarhus Convention ◽  
Maximum Residue Levels ◽  
Judicial Procedures ◽  
The Impact

Joined Cases C-404/12P and C-405/12PThe Aarhus Convention was concluded in order to strengthen the rights of the public on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. The Convention provides that members of the public shall have access to administrative or judicial procedures to challenge measures by private persons and public authorities that contravene provisions of national law relating to the environment. At EU level, a regulation made the Aarhus Convention applicable to EU institutions. Pursuant to that regulation, review of measures adopted by EU institutions is limited to administrative acts. Two NGOs challenged the legality of that limitation and filed legal action. The case was related to the establishment of EU maximum residue levels for active substances contained in crop protection products. The Commission refused to review this measure which it considered to be no administrative act. The Court of Justice of the European Union has recently given its judgment in that case. The impact of the judgment goes beyond the crop protection sector as it concerns the scope of the internal review concept in general. Further, but not less important, the Court has clarified to which extent international treaties concluded by the EU can be relied upon by individuals.

The Right of Access to Environmental Information and Legal Transplant Theory: Lessons from London and Beijing

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Information ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Legal Transplant ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Aarhus Convention ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Right Of Access

AbstractThis article analyzes the potential for legal transplant theory to strengthen the legal regimes that guarantee the right of access to environmental information in England and China. Guaranteed by the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, the right has a substantial impact on how individuals can act as environmental stewards. However, despite the framework provided by the Aarhus Convention, there are shortcomings in how these states guarantee the right when compared with the obligations set by the provisions of the Convention. The article applies Alan Watson’s legal transplant theory to the environmental information regimes in England and China and considers the likelihood of each jurisdiction sourcing legal reforms from the other. It also seeks to identify common trends shared by each jurisdiction and the impact of the Aarhus Convention on such transplants.

scholarly journals The Right of Access to Environmental Information in the Aarhus Convention Paradigm: Implementation Experience in Some States

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (91) ◽  
pp. 116-122
Author(s):  
E. D. Makritskaia ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Information ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Aarhus Convention ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Right Of Access ◽  
Implementation Experience

The study analyzed some provisions of the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters directly related to the right to access to environmental information (in particular, articles 4 and 5 of the Convention, which regulate directly access to environmental information and the collection and dissemination of environmental information, respectively). The components of this right have been studied and described, as well as the main legal terms relating to the law in the text of the Aarhus Convention, such as “environmental information”, “as short as possible”. The work also analyzed and identified those types of information that, based on the provisions of the Convention, relating to environmental information. The paper provides examples of the impact of the Aarhus Convention on the national legislation of some States, as well as a mechanism for implementing the right of access to environmental information in the Republic of Belarus. Based on the study, general provisions on the right of access to environmental information are described, as well as the fact that the language of the Aarhus Convention is widely used in the legislation of States parties to the convention, and the right of access to environmental information itself is integral and multidimensional.

scholarly journals Information Disclosure and Environmental Rights: The Aarhus Convention

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 10-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mason
Keyword(s):  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Environmental Rights ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Aarhus Convention ◽  
Structural Imbalance ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Disclosure Obligations

Access to information is the first “pillar” of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998). This article examines how the information disclosure obligations on states within the Aarhus Convention express a particular blend of human environmental rights, conjoining procedural entitlements (and duties) with a substantive right to an environment adequate to human health and well-being. “Aarhus environmental rights” have been lauded for increasing citizen access to environmental information, helping to secure more transparent and accountable regulatory processes. However, the information rights are rendered inconsistent in practice by three properties: 1) the discretion accorded to Convention Parties in interpreting Aarhus rights; 2) the exclusion of private entities from mandatory information disclosure duties; and 3) the indeterminate coupling of procedural and substantive rights. These tensions reflect a structural imbalance in the articulation of Aarhus rights between social welfare and market liberal perspectives.

scholarly journals Digital citizens’ participation right in defense of the environment

2021 ◽  
pp. 326-339
Author(s):  
Maria Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
The European Union ◽  
United Nations Economic Commission ◽  
National Regulation ◽  
Aarhus Convention ◽  
Participation In Decision Making ◽  
The Right

The Aarhus Convention of June 25, 1998, of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters, introduced the commitment of each signing State to ensure, within the framework of its national regulation, that citizens could suit and appeal any decision, or any action or omission that falls within the scope of public participation regarding issues on environmental matters. Hence, citizens are entitled to appeal administratively and judicially against public environmental decisions if they invoke a legal infringement in relation to this issue. Access to justice for violation of the rights of public participation are set out in the same terms on Regulation (EU) number 1367/2006, of September 6, relating to the application, to the institutions and community bodies, of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice on environmental matters. Although the right of access is quite broad, it is not exempt from exceptions, such as those indicated on the Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of January 28, on public access to environmental information, which has recently been interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union on the Judgement (First Chamber) of January 20, 2021 in the Land Baden-Württemberg case (Communications internes). However, all this is not useful if citizens are not granted with the possibility of accessing to control judicially administrative decisions that do not comply with environmental policies with the same extension, because the opportunity for any citizen to be entitled to effectively control these actions is being excluded. This paper aims to analyze the extent of the right of citizens to participate digitally in public decision-making of an environmental nature, and determine if such right is consistent with the possibilities of access to justice in this matter, since only through judicially control of the administrative decisions it is possible to make the participation right effective.

Access to documents: Interaction and gaps in the REACH and Aarhus Convention systems

elni Review ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
Vito Buonsante
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Official Journal ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Community Institutions ◽  
Aarhus Convention ◽  
Access To Documents ◽  
The Eu

Regulation (EC) 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) was published in the Official Journal on 30 December 2006 and came into force on 1 June 2007. Regulation (EC) 1367/2006 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 Community Institutions and Bodies entered into force on 28 September 2006 and became applicable on 28 June 2007. This article discusses the gaps in REACH in relation to the Aarhus Regulation, and the obligations for ECHA that derive from the application of REACH and from the fact that the EU is a party to the Aarhus Convention. The article also carries out a partial assessment of the work conducted by ECHA on access to and dissemination of environmental information.

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