The Aarhus Convention’s Compliance Committee receives 50th communication
Geneva, 22 June 2010 --
The Compliance Committee of the UNECE Aarhus Convention received its 50th communication shortly before its 28th meeting, which took place in Geneva from 15 to 18 June 2010.
The Aarhus Convention’s Compliance Committee was established by the Parties to the Convention at their first meeting (Lucca, Italy, 21-23 October 2002) and held its first meeting on 17-18 March 2003.
In its seven years of existence, the Committee has reviewed 51 cases concerning alleged non-compliance by a Party to the Convention.
Out of these 51 cases, 50 were communications originated by members of the public (individuals, NGOs, other stakeholders) and one was submitted by a Party.
The table below presents the status of 34 cases. The remaining 16 were either determined non-admissible or the Committee has not yet decided on the admissibility of the case or the file was closed for lack of corroborating information or lack of collaboration form the communicants.
Member State |
Status |
Access to Information |
Public Participation |
Access to Justice |
Albania (C/12) |
Non-compliance |
|
X |
|
Armenia (C/8) |
Non-compliance |
X |
X |
X |
Armenia (C/43) |
Pending |
|
|
|
Austria (C/26) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
Austria (C/48) |
Admissible |
|
|
|
Belarus (C/37) |
Pending |
|
|
|
Belarus (C/44) |
Pending |
|
|
|
Belgium (C/11) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
Denmark (C/18) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
Denmark (C/28) |
Pending |
|
|
|
European Union* (C/17) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
European Union* (C/21) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
European Union* (C/32) |
Pending |
|
|
|
France (C/22) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
Georgia (C/35) |
Pending |
|
|
|
Germany (C/31) |
Pending |
|
|
|
Hungary (C/4) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
Hungary (C/13) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
Kazakhstan (C/1) |
Non-compliance |
X |
|
X |
Kazakhstan (C/2) |
Non-compliance |
|
X |
|
Kazakhstan (C/6) |
Non-compliance |
|
|
X |
Lithuania (C/16) |
Non-compliance |
|
X |
|
Poland (C/29) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
Republic of Moldova (C/30) |
Non-compliance |
X |
|
X |
Romania (C/15) |
Non non-compliance |
|
|
|
Slovakia (C/41) |
Pending |
|
|
|
Spain (C/24) |
Non-compliance |
|
|
|
Spain (C/36) |
Pending |
|
|
|
Turkmenistan (C/5) |
Non-compliance (art. 3) |
|
|
|
Ukraine (C/3) |
Non-compliance |
X |
X |
|
United Kingdom (C/23) |
Pending |
|
|
|
United Kingdom (C/27) |
Pending |
|
|
|
United Kingdom (C/33) |
Pending |
|
|
|
United Kingdom (C/38) |
Pending |
|
|
|
Total |
|
4 non-compliance |
5 non-compliance |
4 non-compliance |
*As of 1 December 2009, the European Union succeeded the European Community in its obligations arising from the Convention (Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community.
Note: The code following each country name (i.e. “C/XX”) corresponds with the case’s reference number listed on http://www.unece.org/env/pp/pubcom.htm.
Non non-compliance means that the Committee in its deliberations doesn’t agree with the allegations of non-compliance by the communicant.
At its 28th meeting, the Committee discussed the substance of communication ACCC/C/2009/39 alleging non-compliance by Austria with the provisions of the Convention on public participation in connection with a decision by the Austrian authorities to permit the construction of a waste incinerator close to the Austrian border with the Hungarian municipality of Szentgotthrád. Representatives of both the Party concerned and the communicant participated. The Committee held that the communication was not admissible on the grounds that the communicant was not able to substantiate that it was not able to participate in the different stages of the environmental decision-making procedure, or to what extent its important objections to the project were not considered during this procedure, and therefore manifestly unreasonable, pursuant to paragraph 20(c) of the annex to decision I/7.
The Committee continued its deliberations in closed session on eight communications in which discussions had taken place with the participation of the parties concerned at either the Committee’s twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth meeting or twenty-seventh meeting:
- Two of these communications concerned the United Kingdom, one in connection with public participation and access to justice regarding Belfast City Airport (Communication ACCC/C/2008/27), and one in connection with the scope of judicial review, costs, timing and other issues related to access to justice (Communication ACCC/C/2008/33).
- The third communication concerned the European Union, in connection with access by members of the public to review procedures (Communication ACCC/C/2008/32).
- The fourth communication concerned Georgia, in connection with public participation in decision-making on the issuance of licenses for long-term forest use (Communication ACCC/C/2008/35);
- The fifth Spain, in connection with various alleged violations of the Convention in the Extremaduran community (Communication ACCC/C/2009/36),
- The sixth Belarus, in connection with access to information and public participation related to decision-making on a hydro power plant on the Neman river (Communication ACCC/C/2009/37),
- The seventh Slovakia, in connection with public participation in decision-making on the completion of the Mochovce nuclear power plant in the country (Communication ACCC/C/2009/41),
- The eighth Armenia, in connection with public participation related to decision-making on the long-term exploitation of copper and molybdenum deposits in Teghut, in the Lori region (Communication ACCC/C/2009/43).
Due to absence of the curator at this meeting for the case, the Committee deferred any deliberations concerning (Communication ACCC/C/2009/38) and alleging non-compliance by the United Kingdom, in connection with access to information and public participation regarding the construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route bypass to its twenty-ninth meeting (Geneva, 21-24 September 2010).
The Committee received one new communication (ACCC/C/2010/50), shortly before its meeting. Due to the late arrival of this communication and in light of its workload, the Committee was not in a position to examine it in sufficient detail and agreed to postpone its discussion on the preliminary admissibility to its next meeting.
Note to editors
The Aarhus Convention’s Compliance Committee was established by the Parties to the Convention at their first meeting (Lucca, Italy, 21-23 October 2002). At the same meeting, Parties also agreed on the structure and functions of the Committee, the procedures for the review of compliance, and they elected the 8 members of the Committee by consensus.
In view of the increase in the number of cases, Parties appointed one more member (decision II/5 of the Meeting of the Parties at their second session in Almaty, Kazakhstan 25-27 May 2005).
Currently, the members of the Committee are: Veit Koester (Denmark) (Chair), Svitlana Kravchenko (Ukraine) (Vice-chair), Jerzy Jendroska (Poland), Jonas Ebbesson (Sweden), Merab Barbakadze (Georgia), Alexander Kodjabashev (Bulgaria), Vadim Nee (Kazakhstan), Gerhard Loibl (Austria), and Ellen Hey (Netherlands).
Members of the Committee serve in a personal capacity and do not represent the countries of which they are nationals.
Mr. Veit Koester is an External Professor at Roskilde University in Denmark, and a Visiting Professor at the United Nations University’s Institute of Advanced Studies in Japan. Mr. Koester is also a guest lecturer in international environmental law at Copenhagen University in Denmark. He has received several awards, including the UNEP Global 500 Award, the Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Diplomacy, the Wetland of International Importance Person Award, and the environmental award for 2010 of the Danish Society for Environmental Law. Mr. Koester was Head of the Ecological Division of the National Forest and Nature Agency in Denmark for 20 years, and also directed the section for Multilateral Cooperation of the Agency. He has chaired numerous intergovernmental negotiation processes and was also the first chair of the Compliance Committee of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Mr. Koester holds a law degree from Copenhagen University.
Dr. Svitlana Kravchenko founded Environment-People-Law, the first public interest environmental law firm in Ukraine in 1995. Dr. Kravchenko has authored 12 books as well as many scholarly articles and book chapters on environmental law issues. Dr. Kravchenko taught environmental law for more than 25 years at Lviv National University in Ukraine. She was also an advisor for the Ministry of Environment and the Parliament of Ukraine. Moreover, Dr. Kravchenko co-founded and served as Co-Executive Director of the Association of Environmental Law of Central and Eastern Europe, and is an elected Regional Governor for Eastern Europe of the International Council of Environmental Law. Dr. Kravchenko obtained her J.D.-equivalent at the Lviv National University in Ukraine, her Ph.D. in Moscow, and her S.J.D. at the Law Academy of Ukraine. In the 1990s, she took part in negotiation of the Aarhus Convention and worked on ratification of the Convention by EECCA countries in the capacity of the Director of the Parliamentary component of the EU-funded TACIS project. She now serves as the Director of the LL.M. Program in Environmental and Natural Resources Law at Oregon Law at the University of Oregon where she also teaches international environmental law.
Mr. Merab Barbakadze has served as a public interest lawyer since 1995 for various NGOs, and is currently the Executive Director of the Legal Society Association, which furthers legal awareness in Georgian society and provides legal support to NGOs. Mr. Barbakadze is also a member of the Georgian Bar Association, and serves on the Compliance Committee for the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR). Mr. Barbakadze held the position of Programs Director for the International Charity Fund “Cartu” from 2000 until 2007. In addition, Mr. Barbakadze is a board member of the Environmental Law Association of Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. Mr. Barbakadze has held numerous other positions such as Public Advisor to the Tbilisi City Council and board member for the Environmental Law Club. Mr. Barbakadze holds a law degree from Tbilisi State University.
Mr. Jonas Ebbesson is a Professor of Environmental Law and the Director of the Stockholm Environmental Law and Policy Centre at Stockholm University. Mr. Ebbesson is also Sweden’s deputy member of the European Council on Environmental Law, a member of the "Avosetta Group" of environmental lawyers, and a member of the Expert Group on environmental studies for the Swedish Ministry of Finance. In 2008, he served as a researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, which advances transdisciplinary research for governance of social-ecological systems. In 2007, Mr. Ebbesson was the Director of the Centre for Transdisciplinary Environmental Research at Stockholm University. From 2001 to 2006, Mr. Ebbesson was the Editor of the Yearbook of International Environmental Law. Mr. Ebbesson was also the Editor of book entitled, “Environmental Law and Justice in Context”, and has served as an advisor on various environmental law journals.
Dr. Ellen Hey is the Head of the Public International Law Department at Erasmus School of Law in Rotterdam. Her key areas of expertise include international institutional law and international natural resources law. Prof. Hey is the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law, the Editor in Chief of the Erasmus Law Review, and a member of the Editorial Board of the Netherlands Yearbook of International Law. Prof. Hey is also a member of the Advisory Board on Legal Aspects of Water Management for the Netherlands, which advises the Dutch government and parliament. In addition, Prof. Hey has worked as a consultant for various international organizations including the European Union, the World Bank, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.N. Development Program. Dr. Hey holds law degrees from Utrecht University and a M.Sc from the University of Wales.
Dr. Jerzy Jendroska is the Managing Partner of Jendrośka Jerzmański Bar & Partners, which is an environmental law firm based in Wroclaw, Poland. Dr. Jendroska is also the Director of the Centre for Environmental Law, an independent research and consultancy that is a member of the European Environmental Bureau. Dr. Jendroska serves as Chair of European and International Law at Opole University, and Adjunct Professor of Law at Wroclaw University. In addition, Dr. Jendroska is a member of the Espoo Convention Implementation Committee, an Arbitrator at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, and a legal expert for the Polish Chamber of Ecology. Dr. Jendroska has also authored or edited about 28 books and 200 articles on environmental law. Dr. Jendroska obtained his Ph.D. from the Institute of Law at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Dr. Jendroska also received a Diploma in International Law from the Vienna University Summer School and a Master of Laws from Wroclaw University.
Mr. Alexander Kodjabashev is a Senior Partner specializing in environmental law matters at Dobrev & Partners in Sofia, Bulgaria. Mr. Kodjabashev is the founder of the Bulgarian Association of Municipal Environmental Experts, and is a member of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide and Environmental Lawyers from Central and Eastern Europe. Mr. Kodjabashev was the legal advisor to the National Ecological Ecofund, where he oversaw the assessment of the legal aspects of financing for public-private partnership projects. In addition, Mr. Kodjabashev developed a legislative framework for the creation of the Water Regulatory Body in Bulgaria as well as a legal scheme for implementing the SAPARD programme for agricultural activities in Bulgaria. Mr. Kodjabashev attended the University of Sofia and obtained his law degree from the Robert Schumann University (now University of Strasbourg) in France.
Dr. Gerhard Loibl is a Professor of International Law and Law of the European Union at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. Dr. Loibl is also a Professor for the Institute for International Law and International Relations at the University of Vienna, and a Visiting Professor at the University of London. Dr. Loibl is also a consultant for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management. Dr. Loibl served as the Editor of the Austrian Review of International and European Law from 1999 until 2006, and has written numerous chapters and papers in the field of International Law including “Environmental Law and Non-Compliance Procedures: Issues of State Responsibility”. Dr. Loibl also served as co-chair of the Conference on the Role of Precaution in Chemical Policy in Vienna.
Mr. Vadim Nee is the Executive Director of the Law and Environment Eurasia Partnership, which is an NGO based in Kazakhstan that works to promote sound environmental policy and rule-of-law in Central Asia. His key areas of expertise include environmental law and policy and labour law. Mr. Nee has worked as a consultant for a number of international organizations, including OSCE, ILO, IOM, OECD, UNDP, World Bank. In addition, he was a team member for the UNECE second environmental performance reviews of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Mr. Nee has authored about 10 handbooks and guidance documents on implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Central Asia and coauthored the Aarhus Centres Guidelines. Mr. Nee holds a law degree from Adilet Law School in Almaty, and a chemistry degree from the Kazakh State University.
The compliance procedure is designed to improve compliance with the Convention and is not a redress procedure for violations of individual rights (article 15 of the Convention and decision I/7 of the Meeting of the Parties at their first session in Lucca, Italy, on 21-23 October 2002, as amended by decision II/5).
The compliance mechanism may be triggered in four ways:
- a Party makes a submission about non-compliance by another Party, http://www.unece.org/env/pp/Submissions.htm, click document ACCC/S/2004/01, (1 case to date);
- a Party makes a submission concerning its own compliance, (no case to date);
- the secretariat makes a referral to the Committee, http://www.unece.org/env/pp/Referrals.htm, (no case to date);
- members of the public (individuals, NGOs, other stakeholders) make communications concerning a Party’s compliance with the provisions of the Convention, http://www.unece.org/env/pp/pubcom.htm, (50 cases to date).
Ref: ECE/ENV/10/P19