Ireland is consulting on its implementation of the Aarhus convention on access to environmental information and justice
ahead of a review of compliance by all 46 parties. Last June, it became the latest country to ratify the convention.
The parties must submit their national implementation reports to the UN’s Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) by the end of the year. The organisation will present its conclusions at their next meeting in June 2014.
According to UNECE, Ireland is one of the first countries to have prepared a national report. The EU, which is also a party to the convention in addition to Ireland and the other 26 member states, will consult on its report later in the summer.
The parties are asked to answer a long series of questions on various provisions of the 1998 convention. One question relates to efforts made to promote public participation in the development of environmental rules and regulations.
The last meeting of the parties was held in three years ago in Moldova. Decisions on eight nations that failed to properly implement the convention were adopted.
For example, the UK was criticised for its “prohibitively expensive” legal system, which diminished access to environmental justice.
In response to this and recent case law, the country has limited the cost of bringing a legal challenge against an environmental decision by a public authority. Since April, individuals have been liable to pay no more than £5,000 (€5,900).
A report published by the European Commission late last year found numerous weaknesses in EU member states’ approach to the convention. A proposal for new legislation on environmental justice may emerge later this year.
