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Public participation and enforcement are increasingly viewed as important dimensions of environmental governance. Participatory tools were first introduced in EU environmental law in the context of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive in 1985.

The number of provisions granting citizens and civil society organisations participatory rights in formulating and implementing responses to environmental challenges has expanded considerably since. This has been helped by the implementation of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.

Directive 2003/4/EC on access to environmental information and Directive 2003/35/EC on public participation in environmental decision-making were adopted to facilitate access to environmental information held by public authorities and to improve public participation in key administrative processes, such as Environmental Impact Assessment procedures (IPPC). Directive 2004/35/EC on environmental liability introduced administrative enforcement and sanctioning procedures to deal with situations of non compliance with EU legislation on the environment.

IEEP has been closely involved in work relating to access to information, public participation, access to justice, environmental liability and the implementation of the Aarhus Convention.

Key work in this area:

A review of the regulatory context for public participation in the EU and six Member States of carbon capture and storage operations, NEAR CO2.

Research brief on the financial contributions of parties and signatories to the Aarhus Convention to the funding of its work programme for the 2003-07 period. The research brief was presented on the occasion of the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention in Riga (Latvia) on 11 June 2008

IEEP assisted Defra (the UK environment ministry) in 2007 to process the answers from stakeholders arising from its consultation on options for the transposition of the Environmental Liability Directive in the UK.

In 2006-07, IEEP chaired an ad hoc expert group tasked with preparing a draft long-term strategic plan for the Aarhus Convention. The group's draft served as a basis for intergovernmental negotiations which eventually led to the adoption of the Strategic Plan 2009-14 by the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention in Riga (Latvia) in June 2008.

Regarding work in this area please contact:

Marc Pallemaerts
Kristof Geeraerts

More about our work in this area...

Latest in Citizen's Environmental Rights & Environmental Liability

Environmental complaint handling and mediation mechanisms at national level

Gradual harmonisation of Member States’ approaches to handling complaints over environment law breaches could have major benefits for the EU.
Climate Change Mitigation Policies and Social Justice in Europe

This study explores the potential conflicts and synergies between climate change mitigation policies and social justice issues in Europe. It identifies EU-level policies and measures likely to play an ...
Compliance by the European Community with its obligations on access to justice as a party to the Aarhus Convention

The report examines whether the European Community gives citizens and environmental organizations adequate and effective access to justice, enabling them to seek review of acts and omissions of EC institutions ...
Aarhus And Access To Justice: Does The EC Meet The Grade?

On 9 June 2009, the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) will publish a study, commissioned by WWF-UK, on the European Community's performance on access to justice. The report examines whether ...
New Report: the application of the Almaty Guidelines in Belgium

This report, written for the Belgian federal department of the environment, analyses the extent to which and how Belgium applies the principles of the Aarhus Convention on Access to information, Public ...
The application of the Almaty guidelines on public participation in international forums by Belgium

This report, written for the Belgian federal ministry of the environment, analyses the extent to which and the way in which Belgium applies the principles of the Aarhus Convention in international forums ...
Research Brief on the Financial Contributions to the Aarhus Convention Presented

A new research brief analyses the financial contributions of the parties to the Aarhus Convention.An IEEP research brief was presented by Marc Pallemaerts at a side event of the Third Meeting of the Parties ...
Who is Paying for the European Public Good of Environmental Democracy?

This is a research brief on the financial contributions of parties and signatories to the Aarhus Convention to the funding of its work programme for the 2003-07 period...

Highlights

The application of the Almaty guidelines on public participation in international forums by Belgium

This report, written for the Belgian federal ministry of the environment, analyses the extent to which and the way in which Belgium applies the principles of the Aarhus Convention in international forums ...