Access to justice and the EIA directive: the implications of the Aarhus Convention

This chapter examines the implications of the Aarhus Convention for access to justice in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) matters with particular emphasis on national judicial review procedures.2 Practical difficulties in accessing review mechanisms have proven to be a persistent problem for individuals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in cases where it is alleged that the requirements of the EIA Directive have not been met. The main concerns here relate to restrictive standing rules, the costs associated with judicial review procedures, and the intensity of the standard of review applied by national courts when called upon to examine decisions taken by public authorities in the planning and environmental law field. The Aarhus Convention attempts to address the access to justice problem head-on and it has already had a marked impact on the development of European Community environmental law.3