The second meeting of the Task Force on Access to Information will take place on 16 and 17 December 2013 in Geneva (Palais des Nations, Salle VIII).

At this meeting, delegates are expected to deliberate on public access to environmental information in the specific sectors: land management and spatial planning, agriculture as well as water supply and waste water treatment. Furthermore, they will have an opportunity to share experiences in the effective use of electronic information tools in the Convention`s implementation and to exchange information on the relevant capacity building initiatives at the regional, subregional and national levels. They will also be informed about the recent activities of other international forums relevant to the matter of access to environmental information.

In addition, the participants will consider the outcomes of the survey to assess implementation of the Recommendations of the Meeting of the Parties on Electronic Information Tools (Decision II/3 ENG, FRE and RUS) that  Parties, Signatories and other interested states were kindly invited to complete by 1 November 2013 (see questionnaire below).

Registration, financial support and visa

Governments and organisations are kindly requested to nominate their representatives responsible for or involved in developing and implementing policies and regulations related to public access to environmental information.

Participants are requested to complete the registration form and send it by e-mail (indicating in the subject 2nd meeting of the Task Force on Access to Information) to the secretariat at public.participation[at]unece.org.  Participants requiring a personal invitation letter for visa purposes should indicate this clearly in the registration form and submit the registration form as early as possible taking into account the period required to obtain the visa.

Limited funds are available to support experts with relevant expertise from countries with economies in transition, eligible for financial support, and NGOs. Participants requiring such support are requested to complete the financial support form and send it to the secretariat  at public.participation[at]unece.org.

Kindly take note of the following registration deadlines:

- for participants applying for financial support - 12 November 2013

- for other participants - 2 December 2013

Practical information

Kindly note that electrical power plugs and sockets are unique to Switzerland within the UNECE region (type J, three-pin, 230 V, 50 Hz),  and respectively require an adaptor, though slim two-pin plugs (type C) will fit.

For additional practical information, please go here.

Statements

Participants are invited to submit their expected written statements in electronic form to the secretariat (public.participation[at]unece.org, indicating in the subject line “ 2nd meeting of the Task Force on Access to Information: statement”) prior to the meeting, preferably by Monday, 9 December 2013.

Documents

Documents for the meeting will be uploaded as they become available. Please consult this page regularly.

Please note that this is a paper free meeting. No documents will be made available in the meeting room. We kindly urge you to bring with you all documents that you will require for the meeting.