New legal obstacles will hinder further complaints by groups acting in defense of the environment. This is the complaint that environmental organizations expressed today to the Minister of Justice, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón. All of them complain that the rate law has a deterrent effect when trying to prevent environmental violations. They also reported that the legislative reforms underway restrict access to legal aid...
If today you have to pay court fees in force in an action intended to prevent a planning permission granted by the city like the City Council of the carob Carboneras hotel, the cost would be prohibitive, says attorney Jaime Doreste. Saving Mojacar and Almeria Ecologists in Action, which promoted action complaint surely could not pay 10,350 euros in court fees. "We could not prevent another atrocity like an airport built in a protected enclave, as happened in Ciudad Real," said Asuncion Ruiz, executive director of the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO / BirdLife).
The Court Fees Act discourages auditing activity of conservation bodies, because the allegations in the courts require prior payment in amounts that can be exorbitant in many cases. Stopping a development project like Marina Valdecañas reservoir in Caceres (declared illegal) required other fees 10,350 euros. And an appeal against a suspended sentence for works in Toledo would lead to fees worth 1,290 euros. The rates are made up of a fixed part (100 to 1,200 euros) and a variable amount based on the reported project. <…>
Another matter of concern is the expectation that environmental activists (like other public interest entities) can only use legal aid three times a year, according to the draft law of the Ministry of Justice. This is rain wet because activists already have serious problems accessing legal aid as they invoke that right and to litigate they must prove insufficient resources, when paradoxically, to be declared of public utility, they must demonstrate their solvency. This is the dog chasing its tail. "Justice has to be free for non-profit organizations," said Francisco Segura, spokesman for Ecologists in Action.
The latest threat is the reform of the Criminal Procedure Act that would veto the possibility that these associations (like parties and unions) can exercise popular accusation in litigation related to environmental damage. "We explained to the minister that conservation groups can act in the same way as direct losers (private prosecutor). If not, it could act in cases like Prestige," says Jaime Doreste. <…> "Reform Ruiz-Gallardón violates the Aarhus Convention on access to information, participation and access to justice in environmental matters. I do not know if the minister knows Spain's international commitments," said Asuncion Ruiz.
The example. Court fees to prevent municipal planning permission would be today prohibitive <…>
