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The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters - known ubiquitously as the Aarhus Convention - is having an ever-increasing influence on domestic and EU environmental law and procedure. Recent years have seen a steady flow of case law from the UK courts, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, a raft of civil procedure reforms in response to concerns about whether the costs rules in domestic environmental litigation are compatible with the Convention and an infraction by the European Commission against the UK alleging various systemic breaches. Even the EU itself has been the subject of a ruling by the Compliance Committee that the CJEU''s rules on standing for judicial review of EU legislation are too narrow to comply with the Convention. This book, written by several of the leading experts in the field, provides a comprehensive guide to the implementation of the Convention in each of the UK''s jurisdictions, the three pillars of the Convention (access to information, public participation and access to justice) and the mechanisms by which the rights under the Convention can be enforced.>
List of contents
1. The Aarhus Convention: An Overview
Charles BannerThe Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the UK2. The Aarhus Convention in England and Wales
Brian KA Ruddie3. The Aarhus Convention in Scotland
Lorna Drummond KC4. The Aarhus Convention in Northern Ireland-A Tale of Two Polities
William Orbinson KC5. The Aarhus Convention and the European Union
Professor Ludwig KrämerThe Substantive Rights6. Access to and Collection of Environmental Information
David Blundell7. Public Participation in Environmental Decision-Making, Plan-Making and Executive Regulations-Articles 6, 7 and 8 of the Aarhus Convention
Simon Ricketts and Juliet Munn8. Access to Justice: Review Procedures and Costs
James Maurici KC9. The Aarhus Convention and NGOs
Carol DayReview of Parties' Compliance with the Aarhus Convention10. The Aarhus Convention Compliance Mechanism and Proceedings before its Compliance Committee
Veit KoesterAppendices1. The Aarhus Convention
2. Decision I/7 of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention
3. Format for Communications to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee
4. Regulation 1049/2001/EC
on public access to Parliament, Council and Commission documents5. Regulation 1367/2006
on the application of the Aarhus Convention to Community institutions and bodies 6. Directive 2003/4 (the Environmental Information Directive)
7. Directive 2003/35/EC (the Public Participation Directive)
8. Directive 2011/92/EU (the Codified Environmental Impact Assessment Directive)
9. Directive 2001/42/EC (the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive)
10. Civil Procedure Rules, Rule 45 Section VII, Practice Direction 45 Section VII, and rule 52.9A
11. Rules of the Court of Session, Chapter 58A
12. The Costs Protection (Aarhus Convention) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013
13. Tabular analysis of the Meeting of the Parties' Consideration of the Compliance Committee's Findings in Communications and Referrals Concerning the Parties ' Compliance
14. List of Useful Weblinks Relating to the Aarhus Convention
