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A simplifed guide to the
Aarhus Convention on Access toInormation, Public Participation in
Decision-making and Access to
Justice in Environmental Matters
Your
Righthealthy environmentto a
A simplifed guide to the
Aarhus Convention on Access toInormation, Public Participation in
Decision-making and Access to
Justice in Environmental Matters
UNITED NATIONS
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NOTE
The designations employed and the presentation o the material in this publication do
not imply the expression o any opinion whatsoever on the part o the Secretariat o
the United Nations concerning the legal status o any country, territory, city or area, or
o its authorities, or concerning the delimitation o its rontiers and boundaries.
__________
Published by the United Nations Economic Commission or Europe and the United
Nations Environment Programme in July 2006. Produced by UNECEs Secretariat
o the Aarhus Convention and UNEPs Division or Environmental Conventions. This
book is intended or public inormation purposes only and is not an ofcial document.
Permission is granted to reproduce or translate the contents giving appropriate
credit.
For more inormation, please contact:
Secretariat o the Aarhus Convention
United Nations Economic Commission or Europe
Environment, Housing and Land Management Division
Palais des Nations, 8-14 avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
+41 22 917 1502
Ofcial convention website: www.unece.org/env/ppInormation on national laws and practices: aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org
UNEP/DEC/Inormation Unit or Conventions
International Environment House
13-15 chemin des Anmones
1219 Chtelaine (Geneva)
Switzerland
+41 22 917 8244
www.unep.org/dec/
ECE/MP.PP/5
UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION
Sales No. E.06.II.E.9
ISBN 92-1-116943-7
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healthy environment
to aYour right
A simpliied guide to the Aarhus Convention
on Access to Inormation, Public Participation
in Decision-making and Access to Justice in
Environmental Matters
United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Economic Commission or Europe
UNITED NATIONSNew York and Geneva, 2006
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ForewordThe Aarhus Convention is widely recognized as the worlds oremost international
instrument promoting access to inormation, public participation in decision-
making and access to justice in environmental matters.
Following its adoption, United Nations Secretary-General Koi Annan called the
Convention a giant step orward in international law and an instrument o global
signiicance, albeit negotiated in the UNECE region. Since then, the Convention
has entered into orce with impressive speed and been ratiied by most o the
countries o Europe and Central Asia. Increasingly, it is empowering members
o the public to hold governments accountable and to play a greater role in
promoting more sustainable orms o development.
Open to accession by States throughout the world, the Convention has
established a new benchmark in environmental democracy. It is unique among
multilateral environmental agreements in the extent to which it seeks to enable
ordinary people, irrespective o their citizenship, nationality or domicile, to have a
say in decisions that aect their environment.
However, the rights guaranteed by the Convention are only meaningul i they are
exercised. Raising public awareness o the Convention is thereore crucial or its
eective implementation.
This is why UNECE and UNEP have collaborated to produce this Guide. By
presenting the rights and obligations under the Convention in plain, easy-to-
understand language, we hope to bring this important treaty closer to people rom
all walks o lie, so that they can directly beneit rom its provisions.
Marek BelkaExecutive SecretaryUnited Nations EconomicCommission for Europe
June 2006
Achim SteinerExecutive Director
United Nations Environment Programme
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Table of contents
The birth o environmental rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
How the Convention works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The right to know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The right to participate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The right o access to justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Environmental rights in the 21st
century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
v
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Parties to the Aarhus Convention
(as o June 2006)
Albania
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Republic o Moldova
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Tajikistan
The Former Yugoslav Republic oMacedonia
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
United Kingdom
European Community
vi
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1
RIGHTS
The birth of environmental rightsA government ministry supports a project to ill in an abandoned copper mine
with sewage sludge rom a wastewater treatment plant. The ministry classiies
the waste as non-hazardous, but other authorities and experts point out that the
wastewater includes industrial discharge rom several actories.
Citizens rom a nearby village orm a committee to oppose the plan. They sue the
project contractor, but the court rejects their claim. The citizens are convinced
that the court is ignoring applicable laws as well as strong evidence that the
industrial wastes could be dangerous or their community. But, without ull
access to scientiic inormation about the case, and with no urther legal remedies
available, their case stalls.
Not so long ago, this would have been the end o the campaign. But today, a
growing number o citizens are beneiting rom a new emphasis on environmental
The Aarhus Convention recognizes every persons right to a healthy environment as well as hisor her duty to protect it.
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2
rights. Governments increasingly recognize that environmental legislation will only
be eective i individuals have a ormal right to obtain environmental inormation,
are empowered to participate ully in environmental decision-making and have
redress to the courts when necessary.
Todays environmental rights derive rom a wide range o environmental laws and
principles adopted over the past several decades. By the 1970s, international
declarations and resolutions began to link environmental concerns explicitly to
human rights. At the 1992 Earth Summit, governments adopted the landmarkRio Declaration; its Principle 10 stresses that environmental issues are best
handled with participation o all concerned citizens.
To put this principle into practice, in 1995 the member States o the United
Nations Economic Commission or Europe (UNECE) adopted the Soia Guidelines.
This document urther elaborates the importance o public inormation, public
participation, and access to justice on environmental issues.
Then, in 1998, governments took the urther step o adopting the Aarhus
Convention on Access to Inormation, Public Participation in Decision-making
Environment Ministers rom Europe and Central Asia exchange views with representatives o non-governmental organizations, the judiciary and parliaments.
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3
RESPONSIBILITY
and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. Named ater the city in Denmark
where the inal talks were held, the Convention entered into orce in 2001 and aso June 2006 has 39 members (see box, page vi).
In 2003, the Parties adopted a Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transer
Registers (PRTRs), which will enter into orce ater it has been ratiied by 16
countries.
Established under the auspices o the UNECE, the Aarhus Convention creates
a uniied legal ramework that guarantees a powerul set o rights to the citizens
o Europe and Central Asia. This simpliied guide briely explains the Conventionand the tools it oers to individuals and communities concerned about their
environment.
How the Convention works
The Aarhus Convention recognizes every persons right to a healthy environment
as well as his or her duty to protect it. It seeks to ensure that every individual
lives in an environment adequate or his or her health and well-being. This appliesnot only to those o us living today, but to uture generations as well.
To promote this objective, the Convention embraces governmental accountability,
transparency and responsiveness. It sets minimum standards a loor, not
a ceiling or citizens rights in the ield o environmental decision-making.
UN Secretary-General Koi Annan described this as an ambitious venture in
environmental democracy.
The Convention is legally binding on those States that have chosen to becomeParties to it. Because the European Community is a Party, the Convention applies
to EU institutions. A Meeting o the Parties is organized at least once every two
to three years to review progress and share inormation on national actions. These
conerences are open to observers, including the public and representatives o
organizations and other countries.
The Convention was drated by governments but with the intensive involvement
o environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These organizations
continue to play a vital role in promoting its ambitions. In addition, the
Conventions member governments have pledged to promote its principles on the
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5
ACCESS
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster o 1986, which released a radioactive cloud across Europe, led to
calls or greater transparency and was reerred to by delegates several times during the AarhusConvention negotiations.
The right to knowIn a democracy, the people have the right to gain access to inormation,
including environmental inormation. The government has the responsibility o
supporting the public interest by making it easy to access that inormation.
To ensure that this undamental democratic right is ully realized in practice, the
Convention elaborates on the speciic rights o individuals. Some key questions
people ask about the right to know are:
What inormation can I ask or? Anyone can ask or any environmental
inormation possessed by any governmental agency or any private body that
serves a public unction. The person making the request does not have to be a
citizen or resident o that State and does not even have to provide an interest
or a reason. NGOs can request inormation regardless o where they are legally
registered.
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6
The Conventions broad defnition o
environmental inormation includes air,water, soil, and biological diversity.
NICKwATES.CO.UK
The Conventions deinition o environmental inormation is deliberately broad,
including inormation on any element o the environment, such as air, water, soil orbiological diversity (including genetically modiied organisms). Also included are all
activities and programmes aecting these elements, as well as the eects that the
state o the environment may have on human health and saety.
What inormation must oicials provide in response? Public authorities should
generally supply the inormation in the orm requested, including copies o the
actual documentation i asked to do so. They may impose a charge or supplying
the inormation, provided it does not exceed a reasonable amount.
The authorities must make the requested inormation available as soon as
possible, generally within one month ater receiving the request. I the inormation
is very unwieldy or complex, they may take a maximum o one more month to
compile it, provided that they notiy the requesting individual or organization and
provide the reasons or the delay.
I the request is too general or maniestly unreasonable, it may be rejected on
those grounds. In that case, the source o the request must still be notiied.
Can oicials reuse to release the
inormation? In general, the publics
right to inormation should be interpreted
as broadly as possible. However, the
Convention lists some exemptions:
the authorities can reuse to disclose
inormation where the disclosure would
adversely aect international relations,
national deence, public security,the course o justice, commercial
conidentiality or the conidentiality o
personal data.
They may also withhold inormation whose
release could harm the environment, such
as the breeding sites o rare species. But
these exemptions may only be applied
when the public interest served by
disclosure has been taken into account.
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7
I the request or inormation is reused on the basis o these exceptions, the
requesting person or organization should generally be notiied o the reusal inwriting within one month, or at most within two months, including the reason or
reusal. This decision can then be challenged through an appeals process.
What i oicials do not have the inormation? They should direct the person
or organization to the appropriate public authority or transer the request to that
authority and notiy the requesting person.
Is the appropriate authority required to have the inormation?All publicauthorities must collect and update environmental inormation related to theirunction and make that inormation publicly accessible, ultimately in electronic
databases. They must also tell the public what kind o environmental inormation
they have and how to access it. This is part o authorities active responsibility to
produce, compile and maintain public inormation.
Each State must also produce a publicly accessible State o the Environment
Report at regular intervals, at least once every our years.
Does the Convention require States to track the release and transer opollutants? States must progressively establish pollutant release and transer
registers (PRTRs), which are inventories o pollution rom industrial sites and other
sources. The Conventions 2003 Protocol regulates the establishment o the
registers in more detail.
Although the Protocol regulates inormation on pollution, rather than the pollution
itsel, it is expected to reduce pollution because companies will not want to be
identiied as major polluters.
The PRTRs must be publicly accessible through the Internet ree o charge,
and must be searchable, user-riendly and timely. They must have limited
conidentiality provisions and allow or public participation in their development
and modiication.
What inormation must the authorities provide in an emergency? In any
emergency situation, ranging rom a potential nuclear disaster to a day o
unusually bad air pollution, authorities must immediately distribute all inormation
in their possession that could help the public take preventive measures or reduce
harm.
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8
Inormation is power i you can get it
In a small town on the ringes o Europe, the local people have
become increasingly concerned about the quality o their drinking
water. Several young women in the neighbourhood have contracted
a rare and atal orm o cancer. Rumours are circulating that
their deaths might be connected with discharges rom a timber
processing plant in the catchment area that supplies the towns
drinking water.
The locals orm a residents group to look into the situation. As a
frst step, they ask the local authority or copies o the monitoring
data on discharges rom the timber processing plant, which the
company is required to monitor on a daily basis under the terms
o its operating licence, and or copies o the publicly unded
drinking water monitoring data. They also ask the health board orepidemiological data on the incidence o that type o cancer in the
province, to determine whether or not the situation in their town is
unusual.
The local authority ails to respond or three months, despite
several reminders. It fnally replies that the inormation about the
plants discharges is confdential, but without giving any reasons.
The residents group may come and inspect the drinking water data
at the local authority ofces during opening hours but may not take
copies o the inormation, even or a ee. The health board reusesto provide the statistical inormation requested on the grounds that
it could jeopardize the right to personal privacy, even though the
residents insist that they are interested only in the statistics, not in
data on any individual.
As no other appeals process is available, the residents group tries
to go to court to orce both o the public authorities to disclose
the inormation. However, since it is an ad hoc group ormed in
CASE STUDY
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9
response to an immediate concern and lacks legal status, the court
rules that the group does not have standing (the right to bring a
case to court). Meanwhile, two more cases o cancer are diagnosed
in the town
It was to address situations like this that the Aarhus Convention
came into being. While the overall example is fctitious, the elementsthat compose it are all too real and commonplace.
The Aarhus Convention responds to peoples concerns about the quality o theirenvironment, including drinking water.
UNEP/DONNBELL
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10
The right to participatePublic participation renders decision-makers more accountable and
environmental decision-making more transparent, thereby improving the quality
o decision-making. Individuals should be given the opportunity to express their
concerns and opinions, and public authorities should take due account o these.
The Convention sets minimum standards or public participation when authorities
make general plans or license speciic projects that could aect the environment.
How much public participation is guaranteed beore the licensing o aspeciic project or activity? The public concerned must be inormed o the
proposed activity early in the process, while options are still open. They can
inspect relevant inormation ree o charge, including the projects possible
eects on the environment and an outline o the main alternatives. Inormation
should also be available about the authority responsible or decision-making, the
method or submitting comments, and dates and times o opportunities or public
participation.
Authorities must consider the outcome o the public participation in their decision,
which must be promptly and publicly accessible, in writing, with its reasoning.
The Aarhus Convention requires authorities to consider the publics views when taking decisions.
NICKwATES.CO.UK
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PARTICIPATION
Who are the public concerned?The Convention deines this term as
the public aected or likely to be aected by, or having an interest in, the
environmental decision-making. It explicitly includes NGOs promoting
environmental protection i they are recognized under national law.
What kinds o speciic projects require public participation?The Convention
lists in an annex the types o activities or which decisions to approve projects
should always be subject to public participation. They include any activity that
might have a signiicant impact on the environment, such as the licensing o a
nuclear power station, smelter, chemical plant, waste-treatment plant or road-
construction project.
The public should have input into decisions about the deliberate release o
genetically modiied organisms (GMOs) into the environment to the extent
easible and appropriate. An amendment to the Convention adopted by the
Parties at their second meeting aims to strengthen the rights o the public to
participate in decision-making on GMOs. The amendment will enter into orce
once it has been ratiied by three ourths o the Parties.
The public has a role to play in decisions about activities such as road construction thatcould potentially aect the environment.
UNEP/NIGELDICKINSON
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How much public participation is guaranteed in the development o
programmes and plans related to the environment?Authorities must make
appropriate provisions or public participation in the preparation o plans
and programmes related to the environment. This phrase covers plans or
programmes prepared by ministries (or example, o transport, energy or tourism)
when they have signiicant environmental implications. The Convention does not
speciy exactly what provisions or public participation are necessary in this case,
but several rules still apply: authorities must provide reasonable time rames or
participation and opportunities or early participation, and they must take due
account o the outcomes o participation in their decision.
Parties must also try to involve the public in the executive phase o law-making
that may have a signiicant eect on the environment. Executive regulations, which
may include decrees, rules or norms, should be prepared with public participation
until the rules are passed to the legislature. This article o the Convention is a
comparatively sot, best eorts obligation, but it is still an important goal.
Authorities must make appropriate provisions or public participation in the preparation o plans
and programmes related to the environment.
GREENPEACE
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13
Listening to the public a success story
A small village eatured a
hazardous waste site containing
62,000 corroded barrels o
chlorine. The owner proposed
building a modern incinerator
at the same location. The
local residents approved, but
surrounding towns opposed the
plan, stating that their products
based on a spa, vineyards
and arms would suer when
consumers realized they were
produced near a hazardous-
waste incinerator.
The environmental inspectorate
notifed the public about the
plan as soon as the request
or a permit was fled. It issued
a one-page summary o the plan and sent it together with a copy o
the environmental impact statement to the neighbouring communities.
Town clerks posted notifcations on municipal notice boards.
Public hearings were held, and a large coalition o NGOs, communitygroups, economic and tourism interests and political parties
commented. The owner o the proposed plant provided detailed replies
and a non-technical summary about environmental eects and public
health and social consequences.
Based on the negative response to the plan rom the neighbouring
towns, administrative bodies denied the permit. A court approved their
decision. Negotiations have started with an already-existing incinerator
to burn the waste instead.
CASE STUDYCASE STUDY
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14
The right of access to justice
For access to inormation and public participation in decision-making to be eec-
tive, the public must have recourse to a court o law or administrative proceeding.
Such a review mechanism provides a means o challenging the authorities
decisions and ensuring the eective implementation o the Convention.
What does access to justice include? Breaches o the rights to inormation and
to public participation can be appealed to a court o law (or another independentand impartial body, such as an ombudsman). Members o the public can sue
i the law has been violated or i the authority has ailed to ollow the proper
procedures. There must be access to a review process that is air, equitable,
timely, and ree or inexpensive. Final decisions must be in writing and must be
binding on the public authority.
Is access to justice limited to cases about the right to inormation and
public participation? No. Under the Convention, members o the public should
in principle be able to challenge any violation o national law relating to the
environment. I public authorities or private persons have broken such a law,citizens should be able to challenge the acts or omissions in court, even i they
have not suered personal harm. This is known as public enorcement o the law,
which has proven to be o major help to understaed environmental enorcement
agencies in some countries.
Who has access to justice under the Convention?Anyone including
individual citizens, NGOs, government oicials and companies can bring a
case to court to enorce their right o access to inormation. For example, anyone
who requested inormation and did not receive an adequate response can sue.Any member o the public with a suicient interest or legal standing can seek
a review regarding the right to participate in environmental decision-making i he
or she was barred rom participating earlier. Finally, governments must provide
access to administrative or judicial procedures to challenge breaches o national
law relating to the environment. Here the deinition o legal standing is determined
by national law.
What i court costs are extremely high?Access to justice must not be prohi-
bitively expensive. States must provide an inexpensive, accessible orum. Parties
have also agreed to work on reducing the inancial barriers to going to court.
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Going to court in the
public interest
In the year 2000, a citizen fled a
request or access to data about
noise and air pollution roma metal-waste reprocessing
plant. The public authorities at
frst reused to provide the data
on the grounds that the citizen
had no right to participate in
government decisions relating
to the enterprise and lacked
legal standing in any o the
ongoing legal cases related tothe plants emissions.
The individual responded by fling a lawsuit in the local city court. He
based his claim on a legislative provision allowing any person acting
in the public interest to seek a court order or inormation. Importantly,
the legislation placed the burden on the holder o inormation to prove
why a reusal would be lawul or well ounded.
At the heart o the case was the argument that inormation should not
be accessible only to those with legal standing on a specifc matter, butto all those promoting the public interest. Moreover, the decision to
provide inormation should not turn on whether the inormation relates
to a private company. In addition, it should not be relevant who paid or
the collection and processing o the inormation in question.
While the fnal court decision was still pending, the public authority
voluntarily released part o the air-emission data. The deendant later
released the rest o the requested inormation to the plainti.
CASE STUDY
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17
Environmental rights in the 21st centuryNow that the Aarhus Convention has entered into orce and is ully operational,
governments will ocus on making it work at the national level. National laws
will increasingly be written or adjusted to reflect the Conventions principles and
objectives. In each country a track record of case law and precedents will develop.
And new countries will join, thus expanding the Conventions geographic reach.
To ensure the Conventions eectiveness, its member States will continue to
promote capacity-building activities, particularly in the countries o Eastern
Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia that are in transition to a market
economy, as well as those o South-Eastern Europe. These activities will include
support to environmental NGOs and eorts to strengthen national institutions.
Several international and regional organizations are also actively engaged in
capacity-building activities to support the implementation o the Convention.
SUPPORT
Top: children attempt toorce open the Doors
to Democracy during aceremony held to mark
the entry into orce o theConvention (October
2001). Bottom: Finallythe doors open.
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Other useful publications available at the Convention
website:
The Aarhus Convention Implementation Guide
Public Participation in Making Local Environmental
Decisions Good Practice Handbook
Handbook on Access to Justice under the Aarhus
Convention
Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer
Registers
www.unece.org/env/pp
Printed at United Nations, GenevaGE S b
United Nations publicationS l N E 06 II E 9