Commission welcomes agreement on Directive providing for public participation in environmental decision-making

Brussels, 11 December 2002

Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström today welcomed the agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on a new Directive on public participation in environmental decision-making. The Directive provides for public participation in the preparation of environmental plans and programmes, in the sectors of waste management, air pollution and protection of water against nitrate pollution, and of projects with significant environmental impact. The Directive implements a part of the UN-ECE Aarhus Convention into EU legislation.

Commissioner Wallström commented : "This Directive brings us one step further in implementing the Aarhus Convention⁽¹⁾. In practice, it will enable European citizens to take part more effectively in environmental decision-making which affects them. If the public is aware of environmental issues, and involved in decisions, then the decisions are likely to be of a better quality, because relevant information and interests will have been taken into account. And those decisions are also likely to be better implemented and respected, because stakeholders will have been involved in the decision."

Public involvement in environmental decision-making contributes not only to increased environmental awareness among the public but also to improved quality of the decisions and, lastly, public support. The new Directive establishes basic procedures for public participation in important plans and programmes relating to the environment, in the sectors of waste, air pollution and protection of water against nitrate pollution. The Directive also introduces for the first time public participation in the decision-making on environmentally significant projects. To do so, it amends the Directives on environmental impact assessment and integrated pollution prevention and control⁽²⁾. It also establishes access to justice, giving the public a possibility to challenge the legality of decisions, acts or omissions subject to the public participation provisions. Within the framework of the Directive, Member States will have to establish the practical arrangements to provide for effective and early participation.

Agreement on the Directive was reached in a single conciliation meeting between the European Parliament and the Council, and it retains the main elements of the January 2001 proposal from the Commission⁽³⁾.

The Union and all its Member States have signed the Aarhus Convention (the UN/ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters), which entered into force on the 30 October 2001. The Directive adds to the recently agreed Directive on public access to environmental information. It will still have to be formally approved, and Member States will have a delay of two years for its implementation.

^{(1)Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending with regard to public participation and access to justice Council Directives 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EC}

^{(2)Council Directive 85/887/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environmentCouncil Directive 96/61/EEC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control}

^{(3)See HYPERLINK "http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/01/118|0|AGED&lg=EN&display=" IP/01/118 of 26 January 2001}