The Austrian government recently approved the Administrative Reform Plans, which amends 18 federal laws in total. The aim of the reform is to simplify authorisations and to avoid several authorities having similar responsibilities. Regarding environmental impact assessments, the reform foresees tighter time periods in order to speed up procedures.
In the run-up to the reforms, environmental organisations feared a lowering of environmental and quality standards as well as a loss of democracy. The organisations are now relieved about the revocation of the provisions, which would have resulted in a deterioration of environmental standards. The reform previously foresaw a limitation of public participation by NGOs, citizens’ initiatives, the environmental ombudsman and communities. The organisations however regret that the government did not seize the chance to reform the legislation more generally to improve public participation rights in the protection of the environment. The Aarhus Convention, an environmental treaty securing these rights, is still not implemented properly despite ongoing infringement proceedings against Austria.
