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Nuclear Transparency Watch

NTW

Nuclear Transparency Watch is a European network created in 2013 promoting a citizen watch on transparency and nuclear safety.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with François Thiollet (Member of the European Parliament)

25 Apr 2024 · Echange nucélaire

Meeting with Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg (Member of the European Parliament) and European Environmental Bureau

25 Oct 2023 · Atomausstieg

Response to Access to Justice in Environmental matters

3 Apr 2020

Nuclear Transparency Watch is a European network of NGOs whose goal is to increase nuclear safety by supporting access to justice and access to information. NTW welcomes the Commission’s efforts to address the findings of EU non-compliance with the Convention by amending the Regulation with suitable measures. We firmly believe that legislative initiatives will be necessary to ensure that Convention rights are granted uniformly across the EU. We hope to also be able to contribute to a public consultation on the Commission’s proposed amendments once drafted. 1. Public disclosure of Commission documents Under the Convention the substantive right to a safe environment and justice in environmental matters depends on the effective implementation of procedural rights enabling access to information. These rights are the ‘pillars’ of the Convention and critical both to effective environmental governance and justice. Denial of access to documents that clearly fall under the Convention, including those of EU institutions, has frequently been flagged as a problematic issue by the Aarhus Compliance Committee and the European Ombudsman. Given the large number of complaints before the courts related to denial of access, we hope that amendments to strengthen the Regulation will clarify that grounds for refusals of requests for documents must be interpreted more strictly when the documents contain environmental information, and that the disclosure of documents may also occur over the course of the decision-making process. The high number of incidents of misapplication of the exceptions (particularly the presumption of confidentiality) and the failure to respect the deadline of 15 days (+ 15 days in complex cases) constitute important barriers to access to justice in information cases. The frequent failure on the part of the Commission to recognize an overriding public interest in disclosure is also a point of concern which would require guidance and/or legislative reforms. Moreover, there remain serious discrepancies between the information provisions of the Regulation (read in conjunction with Regulation 1049/2001) and the Aarhus Convention. We hope that the Commission will take this opportunity to correct these issues during the revision process. 2. Scope of judicial review Under Art.10(1) of the Regulation the scope of review only covers challenges of administrative acts ‘under environmental law’; this should be broadened to ‘law relating to the environment’ in line with Art. 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention. 3. Domestic barriers The right to environmental justice of EU citizens, where affected at the Member State level, must ensure access to national courts in line with the principle of effective judicial protection guaranteed under both the EU Treaties and the European Charter. The CJEU considers that it is settled case law that where EU regulations are absent Member States may establish the procedural rules designed to ensure these rights “provided that they are not less favourable than those governing similar domestic situations (principle of equivalence) and that they do not render impossible in practice or excessively difficult the exercise of rights conferred by the European Union legal order (principle of effectiveness).” Despite the settled case law, the procedural autonomy of the Member States continues to result in unacceptable discrepancies in the level of access to justice. 4. Amendment proposals NTW fully supports ClientEarth’s proposed substantive amendments to the Regulation (please find in detailed response available on our website: www.nuclear-transparency-watch.eu). 5. Amendment process In addition, NTW believes that the process of amending the Regulation should be used to revise any other provisions of the Regulation, including those relating to access to information, that do not meet the requirements of the Aarhus Convention in order to ensure full compliance with aspects of the Convention.
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Meeting with Robert Schröder (Cabinet of Commissioner Carlos Moedas)

3 May 2018 · Sitex Initiative

Meeting with Robert Schröder (Cabinet of Commissioner Carlos Moedas)

3 May 2018 · Euratom & Civil society