Brussels, 29/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Commission is proposing that within the European Union, the public now takes part in the drafting of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment. The draft Directive that is has just been presented to this end, aims to align the Community provisions on the International Aarhus Convention (convention on access to information, public participation in the decision-making process and access to courts in terms of the environment, signed in 1998 in Denmark under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe), which the Community hopes to be ready for ratification in 2002 or 2003. This draft Directive also aims to modify, by complementing it, the Community legislation that already allows the public to participate in environmental decision-making. Those concerned are: a) Directive 85/337/EEC relating to the impact of certain projects, public and private, on the environment, in virtue of which the public may give its opinion on the fundamental principals provided in terms of the environment and have an influence on the decisions concerning specific projects susceptible of having a notable impact on the environment; b) Directive 96/61/EC relating to the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (said IPPC Directive) which contains basic provisions concerning public participation in the authorisation process for certain categories of industrial installations.
The new Directive proposed by the Commission defines in more detail the type of information to be submitted to public consultation, imposes the respect for a reasonable time frames guaranteeing an effective level of public participation in the decision-making process, at a future stage, states that the Member States will be held to ensure, in accordance with their national legislation, public access to fast and cheap appeals before the courts to challenge the legality of any decision as a basis or over the procedure. For the first time, the Commission is proposing to introduce in several other sector based Directives a procedure relating to public participation in terms of the drafting of environmental plans and programmes, notably waste management plans.
This draft Directive covers the "second pillar" of the Aarhus Convention. The bringing Community legislation in-line with the first pillar (accessible to environmentally related information) is already significantly progressed. The proposal aiming to modify Directive 90/313/EEC concerning free access to environmental information is presently on the table at the Council and Parliament and should be the object of a "common position" by the Council under the Swedish Presidency.