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ACCC/C/2010/48 Austria

Case status: Findings adopted on 16.12.2011 – Non-compliance found.
Follow-up: On-going; see Decision VII/8b, Decision VI/8b, Decision V/9b
Topics: Access to environmental information; Access to justice.
Articles alleged: 3 (1); 4 (2), (7); 9 (1) – (4).
Articles considered by the Committee: 1; 3; 4 (7); 9 (1) – (4).
Articles, if any, found in non-compliance: 4 (7); 9 (3), (4).
Summary: On 13 March 2010 the Coordination Office of Austrian Environmental Organizations, submitted a communication to the Compliance Committee alleging the failure of Austria to comply with its obligations under articles 3 (1), 4 (2), (7), and 9 (1) – (4) of the Convention. The communication alleged that the Austrian legal system lacked a clear, transparent and consistent framework implementing the access to justice provisions, it also alleged lack of access to justice through the procedures on environmental impact assessment and on integrated pollution prevention and control to challenge breaches of public participation procedures under article 6. The communication alleged that due to the Austrian legislation, members of the public did not have access to justice, and that access to justice is not adequate and effective, procedures may be prohibitively expensive or not fair, and with regard to requests for information under article 4, access to justice is not timely.  

Document Status Date received or posted by the secretariat
Datasheet ACCC/C/2010/48 (Austria) Latest datasheet on the status of the communication 07.02.2013
Determination on admissibility At CC-27 19.03.2010
Communication Communication ACCC/C/2010/48 19.03.2010
Revised communication Communication ACCC/C/2010/48 (revised) 02.06.2010
Letter to the Party concerned forwarding the communication Letter from the secretariat 08.04.2010
Letter to the communicant with further questions Letter from the secretariat 08.04.2010
Letter to the Party concerned with further questions Letter from the secretariat 22.06.2010
Message asking for a deferral in the discussion Message from the Party concerned 06.07.2010
Letter to the parties on deferral Letter from the secretariat 04.08.2010
Response from the Party concerned (cover letter) and Annex to the response (2000 EIA Act, informal translation) From the Party concerned 06.10.2010
Additional submissions from the communicant From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 1 MoE answer of 18 June 2008 to a request by Global 2000 regarding a study on transport and pollution (in German) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 2 Request by Global 2000 on 30 June 2008 to the MOE to issue an official notification for the refusal to provide the information requested (in German) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 3 Factsheet by Global 2000, further to the release of the information by the MoE (in German) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 4 Request by Oekobuero on 20 April 2010 to ASFINAG (state company for the building and maintenance of motorways) concerning traffic figures on new motorways (in German) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 5 Refusal by ASFINAG on 21 May 2010 to provide the information requested (in German) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 6 Request by Oekobuero on 2 June 2010 to ASFINAG to issue an official notification for the refusal to provide the information requested (in German) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 7 Email by an individual on 2 June 2010 to the MOE to issue an official notification for the refusal to provide the information requested (in German) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 8 Administrative court decision of 8 June 2010 on the communicant's request for injunction (in German) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 9 Excerpts of the administrative court decision of 8 June 2010 translated (in English, translation provided by the communicant) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 10 Milieu Study (commissioned by the European Commission) - Access to justice 9(3) Country report for Austria (July 2007) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 11 "Highest Austrian court abolishes EIA permit - but EIA appeal proceeding with regard to transport projects appears ineffective" by Th. Alge and D. Altenburger, ELNI Review 2/07 From the communicant 08.10.2010
Annex 12 Study commissioned by the MoE on 9(3) (July 2009) (in German) (English summary) From the communicant 08.10.2010
Statement on the annexes to the submissions of
8 October 2010
From the communicant 21.10.2010
Letters to the Party and the communicant inviting to the formal discussion at CC-30 From the secretariat 08.11.2010
Additional information From the Party concerned 30.11.2010
Oral statement by the communicant at CC-30 From the communicant 15.12.2010
Letter to parties with questions after CC-30 (discussions) From the secretariat 14.01.2011
Additional information on EIA procedures with regard to standing criteria
Schedule A
Schedule B
Schedule C.1 and Schedule C.2
Schedule D
Schedule E.1 and Schedule E.2
Synoptic overview
From the Party concerned 15.02.2011
Additional information on standing for the public in Austrian legislation and Annex From the communicant 15.02.2011
Additional information from the communicant and annex. From the communicant 06.04.2011
Draft findings and letters to the Party concerned and to the communicant From the secretariat 19.08.2011
Statement on the draft findings and recommendations of the Compliance Committee From the Party concerned 07.09.2011
Comments to the draft findings and recommendations From the communicant 16.09.2011
Revised draft findings and letters to the Party concerned and to the communicant From the secretariat 10.11.2011
Comments from the Party concerned From the Party concerned 07.12.2011
Comments from the communicant From the Communicant 09.12.2011
Findings (advance unedited copy) and letter to the parties From the secretariat 06.03.2012
Findings and recommendations (En) (Fr) (Ru) From the secretariat 17.04.2012
Letter on follow-up with the recommendations From the secretariat 15.07.2013
Report on follow-up to Compliance Committee's findings and letter From the Party concerned 10.09.2013
Comments on Party's report From the communicant 23.09.2013
Draft report by the Compliance Committee to the Meeting of the Parties
on the implementation of the findings and recommendations in ACCC/C/2010/48
 and letters to the Party concerned and communicant
From the secretariat 18.11.2013
Comments on the Compliance Committee's draft report to the Meeting of the Parties From the communicant 05.12.2013
Covering email and comments on the Compliance Committee's draft report to the Meeting of the Parties From the Party concerned 09.12.2013