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THE AARHUS CONVENTION
UN ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
Global relevance of the Convention
"… The adoption of the Aarhus Convention was a giant step forward in the development of international law in this field. ... Although regional in scope, the significance of the Aarhus Convention is global. It is by far the most impressive elaboration of principle 10 of the Rio Declaration... As such it is the most ambitious venture in the area of "environmental democracy" so far undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations...."
THE ÅRHUS CONVENTION
UN ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (ECE/CEP/43) Adopted at 4th Ministerial Conference 'Environment for Europe', Århus, Denmark, 25 June 1998 Signed by 39 countries and the European Community 16 countries required to ratify, accept, approve or accede to the Convention for entry into force (10 by December 2000 with 2 pending) Expected date of entry into force: 2001
ORIGIN OF THE CONVENTION
Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration (1992)
Sofia Guidelines (1995)
Convention negotiated 1996-98, with active NGO involvement
GENERAL FEATURES
Recognition of citizens' rights Convention is 'floor' not 'ceiling’ Broad definition of 'the public' Broad definition of public authorities European Union institutions to be covered Non-discrimination provisions Compliance review arrangements to be established Aarhus principles to be promoted internationally Open to non-ECE countries
ACCESS TO INFORMATION – PASSIVE
Presumption in favour of access
Any person has access (no need to prove or even state an interest)
Time limit: ‘as soon as possible’, max 1 month, plus 1 more month where justified by volume or complexity
Charges not to exceed ‘a reasonable amount’
Broad definition of “environmental information”:
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non-exhaustive list of environmental elements: air and atmosphere, water, soil, land and landscape, biodiversity (incl. GMOs), and their interaction
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covers policies, plans, programmes, legislation, environmental agreements likely to affect environment, and economic analyses used in environmental decision making - covers environment-related human health and safety
Finite set of exemptions: - confidential proceedings of public authorities - international relations - national defence - public security - course of justice - commercial confidentiality - intellectual property - personal confidentiality - voluntarily supplied information - disclosure could threaten environment - unfinished material - internal communications - unreasonable or poorly formulated requests
Factors concerning use of exemptions: - most standard categories included, with minor adjustments, e.g. commercial confidentiality exemption not generally to apply to emissions data - restrictive interpretation, public interest to be taken into account, effects of disclosure must generally be adverse - separation of exempt from non-exempt material
Other features
Qualified obligation to provide information in form requested (electronic, paper etc)
If information requested is not held, public authority is obliged to forward request or re-direct requester
Right to written, reasoned refusal within time limit
Right to appeal
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Available to any person exercising right to information
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Refusals, delays, failure to respond, over-charging
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Access to court of law or 'independent and impartial body established by law’ (e.g. Ombudsman)
If court of law, must also provide access to expeditious review procedure which is free of charge or inexpensive
Final decisions binding, refusals in writing
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Procedures to be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive
Decisions in writing, court decisions publicly accessible
Injunctive relief 'as appropriate‘
Mechanisms to remove financial barriers to be considered
ACCESS TO INFORMATION – ACTIVE
Transparency and accessibility of info systems
Public dissemination of international agreements, laws, policies, strategies, programmes and action plans relating to the environment
Pollutant release and transfer registers
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Increased access to information through Internet
State of environment reports (max 4-year interval)
ACTIVITIES UNDER THE CONVENTION
Task forces established on: 1. Compliance mechanism 2. Pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs) - negotiation of new legally binding ECE instrument on PRTR, for Environment for Europe conference (Kiev, 2003) 3. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) 4. Electronic information tools – regional workshop planned (Arendal, Norway, 8-9 March 2001) 5. Access to justice