ClientEarth Guide on access to justice

The document analyzes the legal mechanisms for accessing justice in environmental matters within the European Union, structured around the three pillars of the Aarhus Convention: access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice for breaches of environmental law. It details the scope of review, standing requirements for individuals and NGOs, and the standards of judicial scrutiny required to ensure effective legal protection. The guide specifically highlights the disparities in implementation across Member States and the restrictive nature of judicial review for decisions made by EU institutions.

• The estimated annual cost of poor implementation of EU environmental law is approximately €50 billion.
• Under the Environmental Information Directive, public authorities must respond to requests for environmental information as soon as possible and generally within one month, with a possible extension to two months for complex requests.
• The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has interpreted 'information on emissions into the environment' broadly, covering the nature, composition, quantity, date, and place of emissions of plant protection products and biocides, as well as their medium to long-term consequences.
• Public authorities may be classified as 'public authorities' if they are vested with special powers beyond normal private law rules or if they are under the control of another public authority and do not determine their functions in a genuinely autonomous manner.
• For projects subject to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, the public concerned can challenge not only the EIA itself but also screening decisions (decisions not to conduct an EIA) and final permitting decisions.
• The CJEU has ruled that the 'direct effect' doctrine allows individuals and NGOs to rely on certain EU environmental provisions in national courts, such as the obligation to establish air quality plans under the Air Quality Directive.
• NGOs promoting environmental protection are generally deemed to have a 'sufficient interest' or 'rights capable of being impaired' (de lege standing), meaning they do not need to prove a specific personal or economic interest to bring a challenge.
• National courts must not limit the scope of review for EIA challenges to procedural defects that impact the final decision; procedural errors must be challengeable even if the final decision might not have been different.
• The Aarhus Convention and EU law require that judicial procedures be 'not prohibitively expensive,' which necessitates an objective analysis of costs and a subjective analysis of the applicant's financial situation.
• Access to justice for decisions made by EU institutions is severely limited; the Aarhus Regulation only allows internal review for 'administrative acts' of 'individual scope,' which the CJEU interprets restrictively, often excluding acts of general application.
• The CJEU's 'Plaumann' doctrine creates a high barrier for individuals and NGOs seeking to challenge EU acts under Article 263(4) TFEU, as it requires the applicant to be differentiated from all other persons by unique attributes or circumstances.
• The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) has found that the EU's system of judicial review for its own institutions is in breach of the Convention because it denies the public a meaningful way to challenge EU acts.

APA

Berthier, A., Friel, A., & Bechtel, S. (n.d.). ClientEarth Guide on access to justice. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/xlff3sur/2019-02-26-access-to-justice-in-european-union-law-a-legal-guide-on-access-to-justice-in-environmental-matters-ce-en.pdf

Chicago

Berthier, Anaïs, Anne Friel, and Sebastian Bechtel. ClientEarth Guide on access to justice. ClientEarth, n.d. https://www.clientearth.org/media/xlff3sur/2019-02-26-access-to-justice-in-european-union-law-a-legal-guide-on-access-to-justice-in-environmental-matters-ce-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Berthier |first1=Anaïs |last2=Friel |first2=Anne |last3=Bechtel |first3=Sebastian |title=ClientEarth Guide on access to justice |publisher=ClientEarth |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/xlff3sur/2019-02-26-access-to-justice-in-european-union-law-a-legal-guide-on-access-to-justice-in-environmental-matters-ce-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{berthierndclientearth, author = {Berthier, Anaïs and Friel, Anne and Bechtel, Sebastian}, title = {{ClientEarth Guide on access to justice}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/xlff3sur/2019-02-26-access-to-justice-in-european-union-law-a-legal-guide-on-access-to-justice-in-environmental-matters-ce-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }