On 28 June 2007, EC Regulation No. 1367/2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention to European Community institutions and bodies came into effect. This 'Aarhus' Regulation, which deals with the application of procedural rights guaranteed by the Aarhus Convention within the EU’s institutional framework, was adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on 6 September 2006.
The Regulation contains provisions on public access to environmental information held by EC institutions and bodies, as well as requiring the European Commission and other Community bodies to actively collect and disseminate such information.
It organizes a new public participation procedure which shall apply whenever Community institutions and bodies prepare, modify or review plans and programmes likely to have significant effects on the environment.
Finally, it provides for a special ‘internal review’ procedure whereby NGOs meeting certain criteria can request the European Commission or any other Community body to reconsider any administrative act it has adopted pursuant to EU environmental law, or to adopt such an act where it was legally required to do so but failed to act.
The controversial aspects of the issues of public participation, transparency and accountability at the EU level, whose institutional, legal and political implications go far beyond environment policy, sparked off a heated debate during the legislative process, which lasted from 2004 to 2006, eventually leading to a ‘conciliation’ procedure between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers prior to the final adoption of the Regulation last year.
The text was finally published in the Official Journal of the EU on 25 September 2006 and a transitional period of nine months was provided for to allow the institutions and bodies concerned to prepare for its implementation. That period has now elapsed, and the provisions of the ‘Aarhus’ Regulation have become directly applicable and can be invoked by their beneficiaries since 28 June 2007.
Which new rights and opportunities does EC Regulation No. 1367/2006 actually create for citizens and civil society organisations in the EU and beyond and how can they be exercised?
To address these questions, the European Centre on Sustainable Policies for Human and Environmental Rights (ECOSPHERE) organised a public Forum in Brussels on 27 October 2006, at which experts and practitioners from NGOs, several European universities and the legal profession discussed the provisions of the ‘Aarhus’ Regulation and analyzed their implications for EU environmental policy.
A report of this Forum has recently been published by ECOSPHERE, with the support of the Brussels Capital Region, and can be downloaded free of charge from the Centre’s website, at: http://www.ecosphere.be/pdfflyers/ReportForumOct2006.pdf
The 34-page report is structured according to the three ‘pillars’ of the Aarhus Convention and contains either the full text or a summary of each speaker’s contribution. For ease of reference, the relevant provisions of the Regulation are reproduced in full at the beginning of each section.
