The European Community has ratified the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The ratification, which took place on 17 February 2005, ensures that the Community will become a Party before the opening of the second meeting of the Parties to the Convention, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 25 May 2005.
On 23 February, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland became the latest country to ratify the Convention, joining Austria, Netherlands and Spain, which also recently ratified and will also have the full status of Parties at the Almaty meeting. The Convention enters into force for each country 90 days following its ratification.
The new ratifications will bring the total number of Parties to the Convention to 35 by the time of the second meeting of the Parties.[i]
The Aarhus Convention is the world’s most far-reaching treaty on environmental rights. It seeks to promote greater transparency and accountability among government bodies by guaranteeing public rights of access to environmental information, providing for public involvement in environmental decision-making and requiring the establishment of procedures enabling the public to challenge environmental decisions.
The Convention was adopted in Aarhus, Denmark, in June 1998, and signed by 39 European countries and the European Community. It entered into force in October 2001 and its Parties now include most of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia and three-quarters of the EU member States.
Mr. Kaj Bärlund, Director of the UNECE Environment and Human Settlements Division, welcomed this milestone: “The ratifications by the European Community and four of its member States mark the treaty’s coming of age. As a direct result of the Convention, an increasing number of UNECE countries are expanding their laws guaranteeing the rights of citizens to shape their environmental future. The commitment to environmental democracy made by UNECE Governments now rests largely on the successful implementation of those laws.”[ii]
Over the past few years, the European Community has developed various pieces of legislation in preparation for ratification, including directives on access to information and public participation.[iii] However, the fact that the European Community has ratified the Convention does not mean that all of its 25 member States automatically become Parties. Each must ratify separately, and to date six member States have yet to do so: Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Sweden.
For further information, please visit www.unece.org/env/pp or contact:
Mr. Jeremy WATES,
Secretary to the Aarhus Convention
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone:+41 (0)22 917 23 84
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
[i] Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom, Ukraine and the European Community.
[ii] The UNECE region encompasses the whole of Europe and five Central Asian countries, as well as Canada, Israel and the United States.
[iii] For details, see http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/aarhus/index.htm.
