A new law has been introduced in the UK which makes it more difficult for individuals and NGOs to file a complaint before a court in environmental protection cases. Under the new rules, not every individual or NGO will be secured by an automatic costs cap when unsuccessfully bringing a judicial review in environmental cases. The court will have the right to check the financial resources of the claimant and possibly discard the automatic costs cap. The mechanism initially came into power to ensure the government was in compliance with the provisions of the Aarhus Convention which it ratified in 2005. The Convention requires that access to justice in environmental matters is fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive. The chief executive of the NGO Client Earth is worried that the new rules will deter people from bringing actions before the courts. The spokesman of the Ministry of Justice denies the accusation and stresses that legal aid will be available for those who cannot afford to bring environmental challenges with their own means.
