Access to Environmental Justice before the CJEU. Application of the Aarhus Convention to EU institutions

Abstract

In March 2017, the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee declared the EU was not complying with the Convention provisions on access to environmental justice. The reason for this non-compliance lies on the access requirements to procedures before the Court of Justice of the European Union, which have proven insufficient to ensure access to justice for the defence of common interests, when the effects of administrative acts are difficult to individualise. The article examines the Aarhus Convention provisions on access to environmental justice, the access requirements to procedures before the CJEU and the Aarhus Regulation, which was approved to implement the Aarhus Convention to EU’s institutions. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the EU’s non-compliance with the Convention derives from the definition of challengeable acts in the Aarhus Regulation and, therefore, a redefinition of these acts is proposed.