@article{krämer2019schwerpunkt: author = {Ludwig Krämer}, title = {Schwerpunkt: 20 Jahre Aarhus-Konvention ∙ 20 Jahre Aarhus-Übereinkommen – Bewertung aus der Perspektive des EU-Rechts}, journal = {Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht}, volume = {17}, number = {1}, year = {2019}, keywords = {EU-Umsetzung;Verbesserungspotenzial;Gleichgewicht}, abstract = {The contribution examines in particular the activities of the EU with regard to the three pillars – access to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice – of the Aarhus Convention, including the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice. It also looks at the transposition of the corresponding requirements into the law of the Member States. It emphasizes the difficulties in completely and correctly applying the provisions of the Convention in daily administrative practice and points out the insufficient application of the requirements concerning in particular the active dissemination of information related to the environment, the frequent substitution of “participation” by “consultation”, and the provisions on access to justice in environmental matters. This third pillar of the Convention has not led to significant changes on granting access to justice at EU level and within the Member States. Public authorities are not inclined to allow civil society representatives to have access to courts, not even when public authorities themselves do not become active to protect the impaired environment. The contribution concludes that the full implementation of the Convention within the EU remains to be realised. }, url = {} }