SPAIN - SUPREME COURT - CASE RE TNP FOR LARGE COMBUSTION PLANTS - SUMMARY WITH JUDGMENT

Right to legal aid of non-governmental organizations – The Supreme Court of Spain declared null and void its own decisions approving the costs assessment that the “Instituto Internacional de Derecho y Medio Ambiente (IIDMA)”, a public interest environmental law organization, was initially ordered to bear following a dismissed lawsuit. The Court changed its doctrinal approach ruling, in an unprecedented order, that non-for-profit environmental organizations with recognized legal aid under Spanish Aarhus Law 27/2006 do not have to face court costs, regardless of their economic resources.