Zugang zu Gerichten in Umweltangelegenheiten in Deutschland - Toolkit

The document serves as a guide for citizens, NGOs, and legal professionals to navigate the complex system of environmental litigation in Germany. It details the three pillars of the Aarhus Convention—access to information, public participation, and access to justice—and explains how these are implemented through EU directives and German national law. The toolkit outlines specific procedures for challenging government inaction or illegal acts, the standing of recognized environmental associations, and the roles of international bodies like the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC), and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

• The Aarhus Convention establishes a three-pillar system for environmental protection: access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to courts to enforce these rights and challenge violations of environmental law.
• Under the Aarhus Convention, the 'concerned public' includes non-governmental organizations promoting environmental protection that meet national legal requirements, and these NGOs are generally presumed to have a sufficient interest in legal proceedings.
• Access to environmental information in Germany is governed by the Environmental Information Act (UIG), allowing any person to request information; disputes over denied requests are typically handled via administrative courts after a mandatory contradiction procedure.
• Public participation is mandatory for specific procedures, such as the approval of industrial plants, power plants, and urban development plans; failure to provide this participation can be challenged through 'participation enforcement lawsuits' (Partizipationserzwingungsklage).
• The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) provides a non-judicial mechanism for the public to report a state's non-compliance with the Convention, though the process is slow, taking an average of four years to reach a conclusion.
• Direct legal action against private individuals for environmental violations in Germany is largely limited to neighborhood disputes under the Civil Code (§ 1004 BGB), where the plaintiff must prove a direct impairment of their own rights.
• Litigation costs for environmental associations in Germany can be substantial, with total risk for lawsuits against plans requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) often ranging between 30,000 and 50,000 Euro.

APA

Lütkemeyer, E., Hantsche, L., Sperfeld, F., Stracke, K., & Tryjanowski, A. (2019). Zugang zu Gerichten in Umweltangelegenheiten in Deutschland - Toolkit. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/jpybaeo4/2019-08-20-zugang-zu-gerichten-in-umweltangelegenheiten-in-deutschland-toolkit-ext-de-1.pdf

Chicago

Lütkemeyer, Eva, Louisa Hantsche, Franziska Sperfeld, Karl Stracke, and Alexandra Tryjanowski. Zugang zu Gerichten in Umweltangelegenheiten in Deutschland - Toolkit. ClientEarth, 2019. https://www.clientearth.org/media/jpybaeo4/2019-08-20-zugang-zu-gerichten-in-umweltangelegenheiten-in-deutschland-toolkit-ext-de-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lütkemeyer |first1=Eva |last2=Hantsche |first2=Louisa |last3=Sperfeld |first3=Franziska |last4=Stracke |first4=Karl |last5=Tryjanowski |first5=Alexandra |title=Zugang zu Gerichten in Umweltangelegenheiten in Deutschland - Toolkit |publisher=ClientEarth |date=July 2019 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/jpybaeo4/2019-08-20-zugang-zu-gerichten-in-umweltangelegenheiten-in-deutschland-toolkit-ext-de-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ltkemeyer2019zugang, author = {Lütkemeyer, Eva and Hantsche, Louisa and Sperfeld, Franziska and Stracke, Karl and Tryjanowski, Alexandra}, title = {{Zugang zu Gerichten in Umweltangelegenheiten in Deutschland - Toolkit}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2019}, month = jul, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/jpybaeo4/2019-08-20-zugang-zu-gerichten-in-umweltangelegenheiten-in-deutschland-toolkit-ext-de-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }