Decision 2021/2271 - EU position at the seventh session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention regarding compliance cases ACCC/C/2008/32, ACCC/C/2015/128, ACCC/C/2013/96, ACCC/C/2014/121 and ACCC/C/2010/54 - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 457/6

On 17 February 2005, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (‘the Aarhus Convention’) (1) was approved, on behalf of the European Community, by Council Decision 2005/370/EC (2).

The Union implemented the obligations of the Aarhus Convention with regard to its institutions and bodies notably by way of Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3).

Pursuant to Article 15 of the Aarhus Convention, the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (‘the Compliance Committee’) was established. The Compliance Committee is competent to review compliance by the Parties to the Aarhus Convention with their obligations under that Convention.

At its seventh session on 18-20 October 2021, the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention (‘the Meeting of the Parties’) is to adopt decision VII/8f concerning compliance by the Union with its obligations under the Aarhus Convention (‘decision VII/8f’), including, in particular, the findings and recommendations of the Compliance Committee in cases ACCC/C/2008/32 and ACCC/C/2015/128. Decision VII/8f also covers the findings of the Compliance Committee in cases ACCC/C/2013/96 and ACCC/C/2014/121 and in the report on the implementation of request ACCC/M/2017/3 with respect to decision V/9g (case ACCC/C/2010/54).

The findings in cases ACCC/C/2008/32, ACCC/C/2015/128, ACCC/C/2013/96 and ACCC/C/2014/121 will be submitted to the Meeting of the Parties by way of decision VII/8f by which they would gain the status of official interpretation of the Aarhus Convention and be binding on the Parties of the Aarhus Convention and the Aarhus Convention bodies.

On 17 March 2017, the Compliance Committee submitted its findings to the Union in case ACCC/C/2008/32 regarding access to justice at Union level. In paragraph 123 of its findings, the Compliance Committee held that ‘the Party concerned fails to comply with Article 9, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Convention with regard to access to justice by members of the public because neither the Aarhus Regulation, nor the jurisprudence of the CJEU implements or complies with the obligations arising under those paragraphs.’.

The Aarhus Convention bodies have been made aware, by the Declaration that the Union made upon signature and which was reiterated upon approval of the Aarhus Convention, that ‘[w]ithin the institutional and legal context of the Community […] the Community institutions will apply the Convention within the framework of their existing and future rules on access to documents and other relevant rules of Community law in the field covered by the Convention.’.

The administrative review procedure under Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 complements the overall Union system of judicial review that enables members of the public to have administrative acts reviewed via direct judicial challenges at Union level, namely under the fourth paragraph of Article 263 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and, in...