Germany: More responsibility for environmental associations

The German Parliament has adopted legislation amending previous rules on access to justice for environmental associations, implementing Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention into national law. The Court of Justice of the European Union (Judgment of 15 October 2015) as well as the Conference of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention (Decision of 2 July 2014) had criticized German law for not satisfying international and EU law requirements. The amended law still requires the approval of the Federal Council.