Advocate General Sharpston gives opinion on Protect v Bezirkshauptamnnschaft Gmuend

The document examines an opinion by Advocate General Sharpston on the case Protect v Bezirkshauptamnnschaft Gmuend. It highlights the AG's view that environmental NGOs must have access to courts to challenge acts adopted under laws implementing the Water Framework Directive and should be able to participate in administrative procedures at an early stage. The commentary notes that the AG's broad approach could enhance the effectiveness of EU environmental law by preventing Member States from imposing restrictive criteria on NGO challenges to EU directive obligations.

• Advocate General Sharpston concluded that environmental NGOs must have access to courts to challenge acts of competent authorities adopted through procedures based on laws implementing the Water Framework Directive, and they must be allowed to participate in these administrative procedures at an early stage.
• The AG argued that Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights prevent Member States from setting criteria that block environmental NGOs from challenging measures adopted under laws implementing the Water Framework Directive.
• The AG suggested that the reasoning regarding NGO standing should apply generally whenever EU environmental directives impose obligations on Member States and NGOs claim those obligations have been infringed.
• Regarding procedural timelines, the AG stated that requiring NGOs to submit objections "in good time" to maintain party status is not permissible if national law effectively prevents them from obtaining party status in the first place, as this violates the fairness and equity criteria of Article 9(4) of the Aarhus Convention.

APA

Kemp, M. (2017). Advocate General Sharpston gives opinion on Protect v Bezirkshauptamnnschaft Gmuend. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/projects/access-to-justice-for-a-greener-europe/updates-annual-newsletters/advocate-general-sharpston-gives-opinion-on-protect-v-bezirkshauptamnnschaft-gmuend/

Chicago

Kemp, Maximillian. Advocate General Sharpston gives opinion on Protect v Bezirkshauptamnnschaft Gmuend. ClientEarth, 2017. https://www.clientearth.org/projects/access-to-justice-for-a-greener-europe/updates-annual-newsletters/advocate-general-sharpston-gives-opinion-on-protect-v-bezirkshauptamnnschaft-gmuend/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kemp |first1=Maximillian |title=Advocate General Sharpston gives opinion on Protect v Bezirkshauptamnnschaft Gmuend |publisher=ClientEarth |date=31 October 2017 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/projects/access-to-justice-for-a-greener-europe/updates-annual-newsletters/advocate-general-sharpston-gives-opinion-on-protect-v-bezirkshauptamnnschaft-gmuend/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kemp2017advocate, author = {Kemp, Maximillian}, title = {{Advocate General Sharpston gives opinion on Protect v Bezirkshauptamnnschaft Gmuend}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2017}, month = oct, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/projects/access-to-justice-for-a-greener-europe/updates-annual-newsletters/advocate-general-sharpston-gives-opinion-on-protect-v-bezirkshauptamnnschaft-gmuend/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }