Project Description

The Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters (the so called Aarhus Convention) of 1998 is aimed at reaching a high level of environmental protection by means of democratic instruments of involving public into decision-making procedures in a wide range of issues concerning environment. Among the parties of the Aarhus Convention there are all the V4 countries. In most of the member states of the Convention it was not simple to ensure the correct legislative transposition and full practical implementation of the Convention requirements. In some aspects of their interpretation and application, certain difficulties may still remain. It holds especially true for the so called third pillar of the Convention that consists in an obligation to ensure public access to a review procedure in court or a similar body.

The project focuses on summarization of the current situation in implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the Visegrad countries involved in the project and on their comparison, including identification of the main problem areas and outlining possible paths to their resolution. As the practical application of public “rights” established in the Convention is often initiated and performed by environmental NGOs, their practical experience is to be added to a theoretical view offered by research experts so as to create a complete picture of the Aarhus contributions to the environmental protection.

Developing of the project covers

• analysis of each partner national law implementing the Aarhus Convention including its enforcement situation;
• exchange of experience based on presentation of the national data at a workshop on the topic of public participation in environmental matters in May 2013, Prague;
• comparison and synthesis of findings gained thanks to the personal meeting; the main expected results are to identify a typical application paths of the Convention within the structures and procedures of the countries involved and to uncover the main transposition and implementation problems of the Aarhus Convention in the V4 countries;
• publication of the most important findings and recommendations in print.

 
The countries of the Visegrad region display a lot of similarities in their environmental situation. It is mostly enriching for all the four countries to share their experience in how (similarly or differently) the alike problems are tackled by their legislations and how the laws are enforced. Regarding the Aarhus Convention, there is apparently a common challenge for all the Visegrad countries, its member states, in supporting and strengthening the democratic principle of public participation in decision-making procedures concerning environment. As the environment has no state borders and the environmental objectives are common for all the Visegrad countries, there is a strong need to share the positive experience within the region.

The purpose of the project is to establish an expert group as a new platform to communicate the issues of legislation ensuring public participation in environmental matters. The group will invite also contributions of environmental NGOs and thus mediate a contact between a theoretical and practical sphere. The first step attainable within the current project is mainly to summarize the today implementation situation in the Visegrad group. The possible future closer cooperation shall bring subsequent contributions like suggestions of concrete instruments to increase the application and efficiency of public participation forms in the protection of environment.