The twenty-seventh meeting of the Compliance Committee of the UNECE Aarhus Convention took place in Geneva from 16 to 19 March 2010.
The Committee discussed the substance of communications concerning:
a. Slovakia, in connection with public participation in decision-making on the completion of the Mochovce nuclear power plant in the country (Communication ACCC/C/2009/41)
b. Armenia, in connection with public participation related to decisionmaking on the long-term exploitation of copper and molybdenum deposits in Teghut, in the Lori region (Communication ACCC/C/2009/43)
c. United Kingdom, in connection with access to information and public participation regarding the construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route bypass (Communication ACCC/C/2009/38)
d. United Kingdom, in connection with an opencast coal mine and adjacent coal processing plant in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales (Communication ACCC/C/2009/40).
In the discussions on all four cases, representatives of both the Government and the communicant participated. The Committee held that Communication ACCC/C/2009/40 was not admissible. The Committee will proceed to prepare draft findings in the other three communications and, where appropriate, recommendations.
The Committee reviewed five new communications, three of which have been determined admissible and one inadmissible. The Committee deferred its decision on the preliminary admissibility of the fifth communication to its twenty-eighth meeting, which will take place in Geneva from 15 to 18 June 2010.
The Committee also reviewed progress reports submitted by Albania, Armenia, Luthuania, Turkmenistan and Ukrainse concerning the activities they were undertaking to implement the recommendations of the Meeting of the Parties, which had found each of them to be in non-compliance. In each case, the Committee requested further information to be submitted or for the Party concerned to promptly provide information the Committee had previously requested. It also called on the Parties concerned to provide information on the steps being taken to bring about compliance with the Convention.
[Source: UNECE Weekly. Not an official record]
