The Aarhus Convention and e-DemocracyThe Aarhus Convention and e-Democracy

Michael Stanley-JonesEnvironmental Information Management Officer

Aarhus Convention SecretariatEnvironment, Housing and Land Management Division

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Second Plenary meeting of the ad hoc Committee on e-democracyStrasbourg, 8-9 October 2007

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UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

“"… 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

THE AARHUS CONVENTIONTHE AARHUS CONVENTION

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AN UNCONVENTIONAL CONVENTIONAN UNCONVENTIONAL CONVENTION

• Unique among MEAs in the extent to which it seeks to guarantee procedural rights of the public: addressing the environment / human rights interface

• A treaty less about Party-to-Party relations, more about the relations between governments and civil society

• An international treaty is not a blueprint - national and local procedures can and must go into more detail (cf art. 3.1)

• Unprecedented involvement of civil society in its negotiation and governance

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ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE CONVENTIONORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE CONVENTION

June June 19919922 Principle 10 of Principle 10 of Rio DeclarationRio Declaration taken up within Environment for Europe processtaken up within Environment for Europe process

Oct Oct 19199595 UNECE Guidelines on Access to Environmental UNECE Guidelines on Access to Environmental Information and Public Participation in DecisionInformation and Public Participation in Decision--making making (Sofia Guidelines) adopted. (Sofia Guidelines) adopted.

191996 – 96 – 19199898 Negotiation of the draft ConventionNegotiation of the draft ConventionJune June 19981998 Adoption of the Convention at the 4Adoption of the Convention at the 4thth

Ministerial “Environment for Europe” Conference, Ministerial “Environment for Europe” Conference, Aarhus Aarhus Denmark. Signed by 39 Denmark. Signed by 39 countries and the countries and the European CommunityEuropean Community

Oct Oct 20200101 Entry into force of the ConventionEntry into force of the ConventionOct 2002Oct 2002 11stst meeting of the Parties (Lucca, Italy) meeting of the Parties (Lucca, Italy)May 2005May 2005 22ndnd meeting of the Parties (Almaty, Kazakhstan) meeting of the Parties (Almaty, Kazakhstan)June 2008June 2008 33rdrd meeting of the Parties scheduled (Riga, Latvia) meeting of the Parties scheduled (Riga, Latvia)

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STATUS OF RATIFICATIONSTATUS OF RATIFICATIONAlbania ArmeniaAustriaAzerbaijan Belarus BelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmark EstoniaFinlandFormer Yugoslav Rep. of Macedonia France GeorgiaGermanyGreeceHungaryItaly

Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania LuxembourgMalta MoldovaNetherlandsNorway PolandPortugalRomaniaSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenTajikistan Turkmenistan UkraineUnited KingdomEuropean Community

TOTAL: 41 PARTIESTOTAL: 41 PARTIES

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CONTENT OF THE CONVENTIONCONTENT OF THE CONVENTION

Objective, definitions, general features (arts. 1-3) ACCESS TO INFORMATION (arts. 4-5) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (arts. 6-8) ACCESS TO JUSTICE (art. 9) Final clauses (art. 10-22) Annexes

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GENERAL FEATURESGENERAL FEATURES

• Recognition of citizens' rights

Procedural rights to information, participation, justice

Substantive rights of present and future generations to live in an environment adequate to health and wellbeing

• Broad definition of 'the public‘

Any natural or legal person, plus informal groups

• Broad definition of public authorities

All sectors and levels of government, excluding bodies

acting in legislative or judicial capacity

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GENERAL FEATURESGENERAL FEATURES

• European Community is a Party

EU institutions covered

• Anti-harassment, non-discrimination provisions

Rights to be enjoyed irrespective of citizenship, nationality,

domicile etc

• Compliance review arrangements

• Open to non-ECE countries

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ACCESS TO INFORMATIONACCESS TO INFORMATION

Passive (art. 4)Passive (art. 4)

• Any person has access (no need to prove or even state an

interest)

• Broad definition of environmental information (art. 2)

• Time limit: ‘as soon as possible’, max 1 month, plus 1 more

month.

• Charges not to exceed reasonable amount

• Finite set of exemptions, with restrictive interpretation:

– public interest to be taken into account

– Potential effects of disclosure must be adverse

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ACCESS TO INFORMATION (2)ACCESS TO INFORMATION (2)

Active (art. 5)Active (art. 5)

• Transparency and accessibility of information systems

• Immediate dissemination of information in cases of imminent threat to health or environment

• 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 PARTICIPATIONPUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Specific Projects or Activities (art. 6)Specific Projects or Activities (art. 6)

• 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)PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (2)

Programmes and Plans (art. 7)Programmes and Plans (art. 7)

• “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 account to be taken of the outcome of public participation

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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (3)PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (3)

Policies (art. 7)Policies (art. 7)

• General obligation to endeavour to provide opportunities in the preparation of policies relating to the environment “to the extent appropriate”

Rules and regulations (art. 8)Rules and regulations (art. 8)

• Obligation to strive to promote effective public participation in rules/regulations and other legally binding instruments that may have a significant effect on the environment

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE (art. 9)ACCESS TO JUSTICE (art. 9)

• 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 law relating to the environment (standing may

be established by Parties)

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE (2)ACCESS TO JUSTICE (2)

• Procedures to be fair, equitable, timely and not Procedures to be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensiveprohibitively expensive

Decisions in writing, court decisions publicly accessibleDecisions in writing, court decisions publicly accessible

Injunctive relief 'as appropriate‘Injunctive relief 'as appropriate‘

Mechanisms to remove financial barriers to be consideredMechanisms to remove financial barriers to be considered

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MAIN AREAS OF ACTIVITY (1)MAIN AREAS OF ACTIVITY (1)

• Protocol on pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTR): adopted at EfE-5 (Kiev, May 2003), signed by 36 States and EC

• Genetically modified organisms: guidelines adopted at MoP-1, amendment adopted at MoP-2

• Access to justice: task force set up to exchange information on good practices, prepare recommendations

• Electronic information tools: task force set up to exchange information on good practices, prepared recommendations on their more effective use to provide public access to information, adopted at MoP-2

• Public Participation in International Forums: guidelines adopted at MoP-2 on implementation of article 3, paragraph 7; task force set up and international consultation on PPIF undertaken

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MAIN AREAS OF ACTIVITY (2)MAIN AREAS OF ACTIVITY (2)

• Compliance mechanism: Compliance Committee established,

mandated to consider communications from the public

• Capacity building: diverse activities, co-operation framework

for regional and international organizations, co-ordinated by

secretariat

• Clearinghouse mechanism: launched July 2004 at

http://aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org

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Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy

a place to exchange ideas, good practices and capacity-building

resources for implementation of the Aarhus Convention,

its the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers

principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment

and Development globally

– Content management system allows registered national and other Content management system allows registered national and other information nodes, including civil society organizations, to submit information nodes, including civil society organizations, to submit content (news features and resource entries)content (news features and resource entries)

– More than 500 entries provided by non-governmental organizations More than 500 entries provided by non-governmental organizations and networksand networks

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DECISION II/3DECISION II/3 ON ELECTRONIC INFORMATION TOOLS ANDON ELECTRONIC INFORMATION TOOLS ANDTHE CLEARING-HOUSE MECHANISMTHE CLEARING-HOUSE MECHANISM

adopted at the second meeting of the Partiesadopted at the second meeting of the Partiesheld in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 25-27 May 2005held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 25-27 May 2005

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AnnexAnnex

RRecommendations on the more effective use of electronic ecommendations on the more effective use of electronic information tools to provide public access to environmental information tools to provide public access to environmental information information

> > Alert the public to Alert the public to their their respective opportunitiesrespective opportunities

> > Ensure that the public can provide publicly documented Ensure that the public can provide publicly documented feedback on proposed activities,feedback on proposed activities, p plans, programmes, policies lans, programmes, policies and legally binding instruments electronicallyand legally binding instruments electronically

> Promote participation in the Convention’s clearing-house > Promote participation in the Convention’s clearing-house mechanismmechanism

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Questionnaire to assess implementationQuestionnaire to assess implementationof the recommendationsof the recommendations

Circulated in October 2006; responses collected by February 2007

Asks inter alia :

• Which types of environmental decision-making process (in the sense of arts. 6, 7 and 8) may public participation take place electronically

• Whether comments of third parties on draft permits and conditions aregenerally, partly or not available through the Internet, and whether thispractice is legally required

• Plans to progressively improve access to public comment

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• Among EU member States, 9 out of 11 reported public participation Among EU member States, 9 out of 11 reported public participation in environmental decision-making processes electronicallyin environmental decision-making processes electronically

• Among EECCA member States, 2 out of 7 reported electronic Among EECCA member States, 2 out of 7 reported electronic public participation public participation (one not reporting)(one not reporting)

Comments of third parties: Question 2 (d) I, iii and ivComments of third parties: Question 2 (d) I, iii and iv

• 1 EU reported as generally and 3 as party available; 1 EU reported as generally and 3 as party available; 6 as not available 6 as not available (1 not reporting)(1 not reporting); 1 as legally required; 1 as legally required

• 0 EECCA reported as generally and 1 as party available;0 EECCA reported as generally and 1 as party available; 5 as not available 5 as not available (1 not reporting)(1 not reporting); 2 as legally required; 2 as legally required

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““Implementation of electronic public participation is at bestImplementation of electronic public participation is at bestcharacterized as partial in EU member States and only weakly characterized as partial in EU member States and only weakly in evidence in EECCA countries.” (in evidence in EECCA countries.” (Summary reportSummary report, para. 36), para. 36)

““Specifying the procedures for electronic public participation in Specifying the procedures for electronic public participation in environmental decision-making processes . . . would promote environmental decision-making processes . . . would promote transparency and provide useful guidance both to members of transparency and provide useful guidance both to members of the public wishing to use e-participation techniques and to the public wishing to use e-participation techniques and to government officers dealing with public consultation” government officers dealing with public consultation” (para. 40)(para. 40)

““Training in the use of electronic public access and participation Training in the use of electronic public access and participation tools was generally absent across the region.” (para. 41)tools was generally absent across the region.” (para. 41)

From Report of the fifth meeting of the task force on electronic information tools. Addendum, Summary report on the implementation of the recommendationsMeeting of the Parties on electronic information tools (decision II/3) ECE/MP.PP/WG.1/2007/L.3/Add.2

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MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE AARHUS CONVENTION WEBSITE AND AARHUS CONVENTION WEBSITE AND

CLEARINGHOUSE:CLEARINGHOUSE:

http://www.unece.org/env/pphttp://www.unece.org/env/pp

andand

http://aarhusclearinghouse.org