THE AARHUS CONVENTION

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THE AARHUS CONVENTION 
UNECE Convention on Access to Information,
Public Participation in Decision-making and
Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
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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...."
• Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations

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ORIGIN OF THE CONVENTION

• June 1992 Rio Declaration principle 10
• October 1995 UNECE Guidelines on Access to
  Environmental Information and Public
  Participation in Decision-making (Sofia
  Guidelines)
• January 1996 Special session to establish ad hoc
  WG for the preparation of a draft convention
• June 96 March 98 Negotiation of the draft
  Convention
• 25 June 1998 Adoption of the Convention at the
  4th Ministerial Environment for Europe
  Conference, Aarhus Denmark.
• 30 October 2001 Entry into force

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CONTENT OF THE CONVENTION

• Objective, definitions, general features (art.
  1-3)

Pillar 3 Access to Justice (art. 9)
Pillar 1 Access to information (art. 4-5)
Pillar 2 Public participation in decision-making
(art. 6-8)

• Final clauses (art. 10-22)

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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
• Open to non-ECE countries

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ACCESS TO INFORMATION

• Passive
• Any person has access (no need to prove or even
  state an interest)
• Broad definition of environmental information
• Time limit as soon as possible, max 1 month,
  plus 1 more month.
• Finite set of exemptions, with restrictive
  interpretation
• public interest to be taken into account
• effects of disclosure must be adverse

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ACCESS TO INFORMATION (2)

• Active
• Transparency and accessibility of information
  systems
• Public dissemination of international agreements,
  laws, policies, strategies, programmes and action
  plans relating to the environment
• Sufficient product information to ensure informed
  environmental choices
• Pollutant release and transfer registers
• Increased access to information through Internet
• State of environment reports (max 4-year
  interval)

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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

• Specific Projects or Activities
• list of types of activity covered (Annex I)
• timely and effective notification
• reasonable timeframes
• free inspection of relevant information by public
  concerned
• comments in writing or public hearing
• due account to be taken of outcome of public
  participation

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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (2)

• Programmes and Plans
• appropriate practical and/or other provisions
  for the public to participate during the
  preparation of plans and programmes relating to
  the environment
• reasonable timeframes, early participation
• due outcome to be taken of the outcome of public
  participation

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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (3)

• Policies
• General obligation to endeavour to provide
  opportunities in the preparation of policies
  relating to the environment, but only to the
  extent appropriate
• Rules and regulations
• Obligation to strive to promote effective public
  participation in rules/regulations that may have
  a significant effect on the environment

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE

• Review procedures to challenge the handling of
  information requests (any person)
• Review procedures to challenge legality of
  project-level decisions requiring public
  participation (restricted to concerned public)
• Review procedures to challenge general violations
  of national environmental law (standing may be
  established by Parties)

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE (2)

• 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

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STATUS OF RATIFICATION
Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania Malta
Moldova Norway Poland Romania Tajikistan
Turkmenistan Ukraine
Albania Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium
Denmark Estonia FYR of Macedonia France
Georgia Hungary Italy
TOTAL 24 PARTIES
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1st MEETING OF THE PARTIESLucca, 21-23 October
2002

• Broad participation (ECE states, non-ECE states,
  IGOs, RECs, NGOs)
• Adoption of the Lucca Declaration
• Establishment of the compliance mechanism
• Adoption of guidelines on genetically-modified
  organisms

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1st MEETING OF THE PARTIES (2)Lucca, 21-23
October 2002

• Confirmation of commitment to develop protocol on
  pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs)
• PRTR Protocol adopted and signed by 36
  states at the Kiev conference, 21-23 May 2003
• New task forces on access to justice and
  electronic information tools
• New procedural and institutional framework for
  the Convention

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ELECTRONIC INFORMATION TOOLSArticle 5, paragraph
3 of the Convention

• Decision I/6 on the use of electronic tools
  adopted by the first meeting of the Parties to
  the Convention
• Task force meets on 23-24 June 2003 in Sofia,
  Bulgaria
• Main topics on the agenda
• Development of an information clearing-house for
  the Convention
• Advancing the use of information and
  communication technology to facilitate
  implementation of the Convention

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ELECTRONIC INFORMATION TOOLS (2)
IGO
AARHUS CONVENTION CLEARING-HOUSE CENTRAL NODE
ACADEMIC
NATIONAL WEB SITE
NATIONAL NODE
NATIONAL WEB SITE
NATIONAL NODE
NGO
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MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE ÅRHUS
CONVENTION WEBSITE http//www.unece.org/env/pp