Eckard Rehbinder

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 19 (2021), Issue 2, Page 199 - 210

Germany’s rules on standing (locus standi) of third parties to assert, before courts, the illegality of administrative action or inaction in the field of the environment are designed to protect subjective public rights or interests (“protective norm theory”). This narrow standing concept has to an ever increasing extent been challenged by European law, both resting on the principle of effectiveness of directives and – more recently – on the requirement of broad access to justice under Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention. While it was initially felt that European law only required an extensive interpretation of the notion of subjective public right in the field of human health, some more recent judgements of the Court of the European Union dealing with water law have made it clear that “persons concerned” could also be legitimate users of the environment. This article explores the development perspectives stemming from the new case law, both with respect to the areas of environmental law affected and the criteria to determine the “persons concerned” that have a right of action.

Eckard Rehbinder

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 16 (2018), Issue 1, Page 61 - 71

With a view to improve the chances for acceptance or at least toleration of a site for the disposal of high level radioactive waste, the German Site Selection Act creates a new site selection procedure. A major element of the new procedure is the introduction of broad rights of action of interested local citizens, local municipalities and environmental associations with respect to the selection of sites for underground investigation and a site for final disposal. The article discusses the place of this innovation of judicial review between the statutory poles of participation and parliamentary decision-making and analyses in detail the standing requirements and the scope of review.

Eckard Rehbinder

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 10 (2012), Issue 1, Page 9

Applying the provisions of the Aarhus Convention with respect to the EU institutions and bodies, Regulation 1367/2006 grants environmental NGOs access to an internal review procedure. It further provides that judicial review can subsequently be sought in accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). However, given the traditional aversion to public interest litigation, it is doubtful whether the relevant NGOs will actuall

Eckard Rehbinder

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 7 (2009), Issue 2, Page 1

Editorial EurUP 22009 Editorial 51 Schwerpunktthema des vorliegenden Hefts ist die Umsetzung der EG- Umwelthaftungsrichtlinie. Im Titelaufsatz vergleicht de Smedt die Umsetzung der Richtlinie in 18 Mitgliedstaaten. Ausgehend von der ökonomischen Analyse des Rechts und der ökonomischen Theorie des Föderalismus hinterfragt sie zunächst kritisch die Gründe für eine Haftung für reine Umweltschäden und insbesondere deren Ausgestaltung in der Richtlini