The legal debate on access to justice for environmental NGOs

Abstract

The scope of access to justice in environmental matters in Germany is determined by European and International provisions. Since the ratification of the Aarhus Convention (AC) Germany is bound to this system of legal protection and guarantee of participatory rights. Moreover the provisions of Art. 9.2 AC have been implemented as European law especially through Art. 11 EIA-Directive (2011/92/EU) and Art. 25 IPPC-Directive (2010/75/EU). The implementation of these international and European provisions into the German legal system has partially led to difficulties: On the one hand its content and scope are controversial to a certain degree. On the other hand the objective to improve the execution of environmental law provisions must be achieved in accordance with the traditional German legal system of administrative law. Therefore this study examined legal questions on access to justice â€Ì of environmental-NGOs, individuals and municipalities - and the extent and the intensity of the judicial review which are of special im-portance for the implementation process of the Aarhus Convention in Germany. Hence the German legal debate as of October 2016 was analysed and on some selected legal aspects a comparative study concerning the national legal systems of France, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom was conducted. Quelle: Forschungsbericht