Geneva, 12 September (Adnkronos / Ats) - Switzerland approves the Aarhus Convention to improve public access to environmental information, which have already been joined by the European Union, 46 other states, mainly in Europe. After the National, in fact, the Council of States - with 29 votes against 14 - approved the UN treaty that will only result in minor adaptations of the Swiss legislation. In Switzerland the right of access to documents is guaranteed at the federal level by the Freedom of Information Act, which came into force in mid-2006. With the accession to the Convention also the cantons should allow the people the right of access to documents.
The Convention also requires that the relevant public might participate especially in the context of authorization procedures of environmental significance, which obtains the necessary information and that the public is informed about the projects. Swiss law fulfills most of these requirements. Accession to the Convention implies only a few adjustments, explained Raphael Comte (Plr / Ne) on behalf of the Committee.
For their part, however, opponents have argued that the Convention is likely to increase bureaucracy. In addition, it is useless to adhere seen that Switzerland has been pursuing independently the objectives of the Treaty, explained Georges Theiler (Plr / Lu).
