COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Improving access to justice in environmental matters in the EU and its Member States
Date: 2020-10-14
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU environmental policy, access to the courts, application of EU law, environmental law, environmental protection, international convention, national law, right to justice, transparency in decision-making

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 14.10.2020  COM(2020) 643 final  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Improving access to justice in environmental matters in the EU and its Member States  
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Improving access to justice in environmental matters in the EU and its Member 
States 

I.  CALL FOR JOINT ACTION  

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The involvement and commitment of the Member States, of the public and of all 
stakeholders  is  crucial  to  the  success  of  the  European  Green  Deal.  The 
Commission  committed  in  the  European  Green  Deal1  to  ‘consider  revising  the 
Aarhus Regulation to improve access to administrative and judicial review at EU 
level  for  citizens  and  NGOs  who  have  concerns  about  the  legality  of  decisions 
with effects on the environment. The Commission will also take action to improve 
their access to justice before national courts in all Member States’. 

The EU should engage with citizens and stakeholders if the European Green Deal 
is  to  succeed  and  deliver  lasting  change.  The  public  is  and  should  remain  a 
driving  force  of  the  green  transition  and  should  have  the  means  to  get  more 
actively involved in developing and implementing new policies. To enhance trust 
in  both  national  and  EU  administrations,  it  is  equally  important  to  have  the 
necessary ‘checks and balances’ to ensure that acts and decisions can be checked 
for compliance with environmental legislation. Access to justice in environmental 
matters,  both  via  the  Court  of  the  Justice  of  the  EU  (CJEU)  and  the  national 
courts  as  Union  courts,  is  an  important  support  measure  to  help  deliver  the 
European  Green  Deal  transition  and  a  way  to  strengthen  the  role  which  civil 
society can play as watchdog in the democratic space. 

This Communication accompanies a Commission proposal to amend Regulation 
(EC) No 1367/2006 (Aarhus Regulation) with the aim of improving the internal 
review of administrative acts ((COM) 2020 …)2. The proposal, when adopted by 
the  co-legislators,  will  improve  implementation  of  the  Aarhus  Convention  (the 
Convention)3 ‘in a way that is compatible with the fundamental principles of the 
Union  legal  order  and  with  its  system  of  judicial  review’4.  It  is  proposed  that 
environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have broader possibilities 
to challenge acts and omissions of EU institutions and bodies in accordance with 
the Convention.  

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3 

COM(2019) 640. 
[Reference to legislative proposal amending the Aarhus Regulation - Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament 
and  of  the  Council  of  6 September  2006  on  the  application  of  the  provisions  of  the  Aarhus  Convention  on  Access  to 
Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions 
and bodies, OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p. 13-19.]. 
United  Nations  Economic  Commission  for  Europe  (UNECE)  Convention  on  access  to  information,  public  participation  in 
decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. 

4   Declaration made by the European Union in Montenegro, Budva, at the 2017 Meeting of the Parties to the Convention (Budva 

Declaration). 

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The legislative proposal aims to strengthen the EU’s system of access to justice in 
environmental  matters.  This  system,  taken  as  a  whole,  grants  every  applicant 
access  to  an  effective  redress  mechanism  in  line  with  the  requirements  of  the 
Convention.  

The aim of this Communication is to highlight the vital role that Member States 
play within the EU’s overall system. Member States are to provide and facilitate 
access  to  justice  in  environmental  matters  governed  by  acts  adopted  under  EU 
legislation,  including  national  implementing  measures  related  to  non-legislative 
EU  acts.  Access  to  justice  includes  providing  legal  standing  for  NGOs  and 
individuals  directly  affected  by  a  breach  of  environmental  law5  also  in  a  cross-
border  context.  Unfortunately,  there  are  shortcomings  in  practice.  In  2019,  the 
Commission  published  the  Environmental  Implementation  Review6,  which 
identified  a  series  of  systemic  shortcomings  concerning  on-the-ground 
implementation  of  access  to  justice  in  environmental  matters  in  national  legal 
systems. In particular, it highlighted problems faced by NGOs in obtaining legal 
standing  to  bring  legal  challenges  on  EU-related  environmental  issues  and 
procedural hurdles, such as prohibitively high costs. 

To improve the EU’s system of access to justice in environmental matters, in line 
with the Convention, to which Member States are parties in their own right, the 
Commission calls on Member States to step up implementation of applicable 
EU  laws.  It  is  equally  important  that  Member  States’  rules  applicable  to  the 
judiciary and judicial practice fully implement CJEU case law on access to justice 
in  environmental  matters.  Furthermore,  national  legislations  should  not  create  a 
barrier to this, for example by not providing legal standing to NGOs as required 
under  the  Convention.  To  ensure  legal  certainty  in  all  Member  States,  national 
law  must  meet  the  requirements  of  the  Convention,  of  EU  legislation  and  of 
CJEU  case  law.  National  courts  should  also  apply  and  enforce  the  applicable 
rules in light of the requirements set in their national legal orders stemming from 
EU law. 

II.  THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  ACCESS  TO  JUSTICE  IN  ENVIRONMENTAL  MATTERS  IN 

THE EU  

Access to an effective remedy and a fair trial is a fundamental right of the EU’s 
legal order.7 Effective judicial systems play a crucial role in safeguarding the rule 
of  law  enshrined  in  Article  2  of  the  Treaty  on  European  Union  (TEU)8,  and  in 
ensuring  effective  application  of  EU  law  and  improving  public  trust  in  public 
administrations.  

This  is  also  reflected  by  Article  19(1)  TEU  which  requires  Member  States  to 
provide  remedies  sufficient  to  ensure  effective  legal  protection  in  the  fields 

5   Case C-197/18, Wasserleitungsverband Nördliches Burgenland, paras. 31-34. 
6   Environmental Implementation Review 2019: A Europe that protects its citizens and enhances their quality of life - COM(2019) 

149. 

7       Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union OJ C 326, 26.10.2012, p. 391–407, Article 47. 
8   Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament,  the  European  Council  and  the  Council  on  Further 

strengthening the Rule of Law within the Union: State of play and possible next steps (COM/2019/163). 

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covered  by  Union  law,  and  in  CJEU  case  law  on  access  to  justice  in 
environmental matters. Access to justice in environmental matters is also relevant 
in the context of Article 419 and 4710 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the 
EU and helps provide legal certainty. 

Individuals and NGOs play a crucial role in identifying potential breaches of EU 
law  by  submitting  complaints  to  administrations or  taking  cases  to  court.  When 
individuals or NGOs seek justice before a non-judicial, administrative body, the 
review is called an administrative review; if they seek redress in court, it is called 
a judicial review11.  

The EU’s system of administrative and judicial redress  as a whole encompasses 
not only the internal review mechanism under the Aarhus Regulation and access 
to the CJEU, but it also relies on national courts. In particular, Article 267 of the 
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) allows any natural or 
legal  person  who  is  party  to  proceedings  before  national  courts  to  request  a 
preliminary reference to  the CJEU regarding the validity of acts  adopted by EU 
institutions.  The  EU  and  the  national  systems  of  redress  taken  together  are 
essential to provide effective access to justice in environmental matters in the EU. 

III. THE EU AS A PARTY TO THE CONVENTION 

The  EU  formally  became  a  Party  to  the  Convention  in  2005.  The  27  Member 
States are also, separately, Parties to the Convention each with their own and with 
shared competences, responsibilities and obligations to ensure access to justice in 
‘environmental  matters’  under  Article  1  of  the  Convention12.  The  onus  of 
complying with the Convention, therefore is subject to this characteristic feature 
of the EU, where competences are exercised by the EU and its Member States. It 
is important to recall in the following paragraphs, the specific limits and nature of 
the obligations stemming from the ratification of the Convention.  

Under  the  terms  of  the  Convention,  the  EU  is  an  organisation  of  regional 
economic  integration.  Under  Article  19(5)  of  the  Convention,  the  EU  was 
required to declare when notifying its instrument of ratification ‘the extent of their 
competence with respect to the matters governed by this Convention’. 

In response, the EU declared that  ‘the EU institutions will apply the Convention 
within  the  framework  of  their  existing  and  future  rules  on  access  to  documents 
and other relevant rules of EU law in the field covered by the Convention.’ Most 
crucially  it  added  that  ‘the  EU  is  responsible  for  the  performance  of  those 
obligations resulting from the Convention, which are covered by EU law in force’ 

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9   Right to good administration. 
10   Right to an effective remedy and a fair trial. 
11   According to the terminology used in the Convention, Article 9(3). 
12  

‘In order to contribute to the protection of the right of every person of present and future generations to live in an environment 
adequate to his or her health and well-being, each Party shall guarantee the rights of access to information, public participation 
in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters in accordance with the provisions of this Convention.’ 

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and  that  ‘the  exercise  of  EU  competence  is,  by  its  nature,  subject  to  continuous 
development’. 

As  a  result,  the  EU  institutions  and  bodies  apply  the  Convention  within  the 
framework  of  the  applicable  EU  rules.  The  specific  features  of  the  EU’s  legal 
order must be taken into account  when implementing the Convention. This  was 
also  confirmed  by  the  CJEU,  which  explained  that  the  Convention  was 
‘manifestly designed with the national legal orders in mind, and not the specific 
legal  features  of  institutions  of  regional  economic  integration,  such  as  the 
European Union’13. 

The access to administrative and judicial review is a multi-layered system in the 
EU. As the CJEU also recalled, as EU law now stands, judicial and administrative 
procedures  concerning  access  to  justice  in  environmental  law  fall  ‘primarily’ 
within the scope of Member State law14. Subject to the conditions defined in their 
national law, individuals and legal entities can request a national court to refer to 
the CJEU to review the validity of EU acts under Article 267 TFEU. 

In  addition,  Article  263  (4)  TFEU  allows  natural  or  legal  persons  to  institute 
proceedings  directly  before  the  CJEU  (the  General  Court)  against  (i)  an  act 
addressed to them; (ii) an act which is of direct and individual concern to them or 
(iii)  a  regulatory  act  which  is  of  direct  concern  to  them  and  does  not  entail 
implementing measures. 

By adopting the Aarhus Regulation, the EU complemented the existing system of 
review  available  at  EU level  as  regards both  administrative and judicial review. 
As a result, NGOs active in environmental protection can obtain an administrative 
review of non-legislative administrative acts  of individual  scope adopted by EU 
institutions  and  bodies15.  The  Union,  however,  chose  not  to  exercise  its 
competence  as  indicated  at  the  time  of  ratification  and  did  not  adopt  separate 
provisions on administrative review for individuals, under the Aarhus Regulation 
at Union level, applicable to the EU institutions and bodies.  

Following a complaint submitted to the Convention’s Compliance Committee, the 
Committee  concluded  that  the  EU  does  not  currently  fully  meet  its  obligations 
under  the  Convention’s  requirements  on  access  to  justice  in  environmental 
matters16. The legislative proposal, recalled above17, aims to remedy this situation 
by  amending  the  Aarhus  Regulation  and  extending  access  by  NGOs.  This 
Communication complements EU-level action by highlighting the improvements 
needed at national level. 

IV. MEMBER STATES’ OBLIGATIONS UNDER EU LAW 

13   Case C-612/13 P, ClientEarth, ECLI:EU:C:2015:486, paragraphs 40 and 41. 
14   Joined Cases C-401/12 P to C-403/12 P, Council and Commission v Vereniging Milieudefensie aos, EU:C:2015:4, paragraph 60; 
Joined Cases C-404/12 P and C-405/12 P, Council and Commission v Stichting Natuur en Milieu aos, EU:C:2015:5, paragraph 
52. 

15   And amended by Regulation (…) to cover administrative acts of general scope. 
16   As described in Commission Staff Working Document, Report on European Union implementation of the Aarhus Convention in 

the area of access to justice in environmental matters, SWD (2019)378 final. 

17   Paragraph 3. 

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19  Where  the  action  of  national  authorities  has  been  insufficient  or  incorrect  as 
regards  the  respect  of  the  substantive  rules  protecting  the  environment, 
individuals and NGOs have to be able to rely upon the procedural rules that are 
applicable  to  them.  To  safeguard  the  environment  and  to  empower  members  of 
the  public  and  NGOs,  the  EU  has  adopted  a  number  of  sectoral  environmental 
directives18,  which  include  provisions  on  access  to  justice  in  national  courts. 
Implementation  of  these  directives  enables  members  of  the  public  including 
NGOs  to  exercise  their  right  to  go  to  court  in  these  specific  areas.  It  is  well 
established  that  the  duty  to  ensure  effective  judicial  protection  in  environmental 
matters extends to national courts19. This duty concerns rights stemming from EU 
environmental  law  and  the  possibility  to  cite  the  obligations  defined  under  EU 
legislation20. 

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In order to ensure effective judicial protection of these rights, the obligations of 
the  Member  States  to  secure  access  to  justice  in  their  national  courts  are  not 
limited to those provided for in the acts of Union secondary law recalled above21. 

First, under the principle of loyal cooperation laid down in Article 4(3) TEU, it is 
for  the  Member  States  to  take  all  appropriate  actions,  including  effective  judicial 
protection,  to  ensure  that  measures  required  by  EU  law  are  adopted  and  that 
individuals’ rights stemming from EU law are sufficiently protected22. Furthermore, 
Article 19(1) TEU requires Member States to ‘provide remedies sufficient to ensure 
effective legal protection in the fields covered by Union law’.  Therefore, access to 
justice  in  national  courts  is  indispensable  for  the  proper  functioning  of  the  EU’s 
system of judicial protection. 

In this regard, national redress mechanisms via the national courts of the Member 
States are an integral part of the EU’s system of judicial redress. National courts 
are  also  Union  courts,  and  are  linked  to  the  CJEU  within  the  system  of 
preliminary  references  established  under  Article  267  TFEU.  This  cooperation 
covers  the  interpretation  of  EU  law  and  the  examination  of  the  validity  of 
acts of EU institutions. Access to courts should be possible for both individuals 
and NGOs on the basis of national procedural rules. 

Second,  the  Convention,  which  is  an  integral  part  of  the  EU’s  legal  order  and 
binding  on  the  EU  institutions  and  on  the  Member  States  under  Article  216(2) 
TFEU,  is  also  applicable  to  EU  law  governing  environmental  protection.  In  the 
absence of EU rules governing access to justice in environmental matters, ‘it is for 
the domestic legal system of each Member State to lay down the detailed procedural 

18    For example, Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of 
the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, OJ L 26, 28.1.2012, p. 1-21, Directive 2004/35/CE of the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  21 April  2004  on  environmental  liability  with  regard  to  the  prevention  and 
remedying of environmental damage  OJ L 143, 30.4.2004, p. 56-75 or Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control), OJ L 334, 17.12.2010, 
p. 17-119. Directive 2012/18/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on the control of major-accident 
hazards  involving  dangerous  substances,  amending  and  subsequently  repealing  Council  Directive  96/82/EC,  OJ  L  197, 
24.7.2012, p. 1-37. Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to 
environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC, OJ L 41, 14.2.2003, p. 26-32. 

19   Case C-404/13, ClientEarth, ECLI:EU:C:2014:2382, para 52. 
20   Case C-237/07, Janecek, 2008 I-06221, para 37. 
21   See footnote 17. 
22   Case C-752/18, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, ECLI:EU:C:2019:1114, para. 38. 

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rules governing actions for safeguarding rights which individuals derive from EU 
law, […] since the Member States are responsible for ensuring that those rights are 
effectively protected in each case’23.  In particular, Article 9 (3) of the Convention 
and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, read 
together,  impose  on  ‘Member  States  an  obligation  to  ensure  effective  judicial 
protection  of  the  rights  conferred  by  EU  law,  in  particular  the  provisions  of 
environmental law’24. 

The CJEU has added that  ‘in  order  to  ensure  effective  judicial  protection  in  the 
fields covered by EU environmental law, it is for the national court to interpret its 
national law in a way which, to the fullest extent possible, is consistent both with 
the  objectives  laid  down  in  Article  9(3)  and  (4)  of  the  Aarhus  Convention  and 
with  the  objective  of  effective  judicial  protection  of  the  rights  conferred  by  EU 
law’25. 

The  effectiveness  of  the  preliminary  ruling  procedure  under  Article  267  TFEU 
regarding  the  validity  of  EU  acts  is  therefore  dependent  on  the  Member  States 
providing  sufficient  legal  standing  to  NGOs  and  individuals.  It  is  their  duty  to 
ensure that access to justice is granted in their courts in matters of environmental 
law  covered  by  EU  rules.  This  includes  cases  where  there  is  ‘a  specific  issue 
which has not yet been subject to EU legislation [but which] may fall within the 
scope of EU law if it relates to a field covered in large measure by it’26. 

CJEU case law developed over the years has clarified that the Member States are 
obliged to ensure access to justice in environmental matters covered by EU rules, 
including  on  decisions,  acts  and  omissions27  in  a  range  of  environmental  policy 
areas, such as water28, nature29 and air quality30.  

To take stock of the practical implications of CJEU case law and to help Member 
State  authorities  and  practitioners  to  understand  the  importance  of  these 
implications  in  the  fields  regulated  by  EU  environmental  law,  in  2017  the 
Commission issued a Notice on access to justice in environmental matters31 (‘the 
Notice’).  The  Notice  outlined  the  standards  governing  access  to  justice  in 
environmental  matters  in  terms  of  procedural  guarantees  and  legal  standing  for 
NGOs  and  individuals.  It  also  clarified  the  requirement  to  avoid  expensive  or 
lengthy procedures and that Member States must make all information related to 
access  to  justice  publicly  accessible,  as  required  by  CJEU  case  law.  Member 

23   Case C-240/09 Lesoochranárske zoskupenie, ECLI:EU:C:2011:125 para 47-48.
24   Case  C-664/15  Protect,  ECLI:EU:C:2017:987,  para.  45;  Case  C-243/15,  Lesoochranárske  zoskupenie,  ECLI:EU:C:2016:838, 

paras 50 and 73. 

25   Case C-752/18, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, EU:C:2019:1114, para. 39. 
26   Case C-240/09, Lesoochranárske zoskupenie, para 40. 
27    Article  6, 7, 8, 9 of the Convention are relevant to the decisions, acts and omissions concerned. 
28   Council  Directive  91/676/EEC  of  12 December  1991 concerning the  protection  of  waters  against pollution  caused  by  nitrates 

from agricultural sources OJ L 375, 31.12.1991, p. 1-8. 

29   Council  Directive  92/43/EEC  of  21 May  1992  on the  conservation  of  natural  habitats and  of  wild  fauna  and flora  OJ  L  206, 

22.7.1992, p. 7-50. 

30   E.g.  Article 23  of  the  Directive  2008/50/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  21 May  2008  on  ambient  air 

quality and cleaner air for Europe OJ L 152, 11.6.2008, p. 1-44. 

31   2017/2616, OJ C 275, 18.8.2017, p. 1-39.

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States  should follow the developments  of CJEU case law, as summarised in  the 
Notice, and take the necessary measures to implement them32. 

V.  THE WAY FORWARD: PRIORITY AREAS FOR ACTION 

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31 

32 

The European Green Deal Communication announced that ‘the Commission and 
the Member States must also ensure that policies and legislation are enforced and 
delivered  effectively’.  The  Commission  is  fully  committed  to  working  with  the 
Member States to improve access to justice in environmental matters at national 
level. 

Effective implementation of the adopted EU rules on the ground by the Member 
States is indispensable in order to draw the full benefits for the protection of the 
environment. It is also important to ensure that access to the CJEU for members 
of  the  public  and  for  NGOs  under  Article  267  TFEU  is  not  unduly  restricted. 
Removing obstacles to access to justice would yield further benefits by increasing 
legal  certainty,  improving  administration  of  justice  and  reducing  administrative 
burdens. 

The  Commission’s  2019  Environmental  Implementation  Review  found  that 
several Member States should take further measures to provide legal standing to 
environmental  NGOs  to  bring  legal  challenges  on  EU-related  environmental 
issues33.  It  also  found  that  environmental  claimants  should  not  face  national 
procedural  hurdles,  such  as  prohibitively  high  costs  (hundreds  of  thousands  of 
euros in some cases)34. 

In  light  of  the  Member  States’  obligations  set  out  in  Section  IV  in  this 
Communication and of the Commission’s findings35 regarding the situation on the 
ground  in  each  Member  State,  priority  action  is  needed  in  the  following  four 
areas. 

In  line  with  the  Commission’s  strategic  communication  entitled  EU  law:  better 
results through better application36, the first priority area for Member States is 
to  secure  the  correct  transposition  of  EU  secondary  law.  This  concerns  EU 
environmental legislation that include provisions on access to justice37. Member 
States  have an obligation to  transpose these directives correctly  and in  full with 
the objective to ensure implementation, in line with Article 291(1) TFEU. 

33 

The  second  priority  area,  is  for  the  co-legislators  to  include  provisions  on 
access to justice in EU legislative proposals made by the Commission for new 

32 

See 

in 

particular 

the 

Notice 

(and 

updates) 

available 

on 

the 

Commission’s 

website: 

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/aarhus/legislation.htm. 

33   Environmental Implementation Review 2019, cited above. 
34   Environmental Implementation Review 2019, cited above. Findings of the study on Development of an assessment framework 

on environmental governance in the EU Member States No 07.0203/2017/764990/SER/ENV.E.4 Final report. 

35   See paragraph 30. 
36   Communication from the Commission  — EU law: Better results through better application C/2016/8600 OJ C 18, 19.1.2017, 

p. 10-20. 
37   See footnote 16. 

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or  revised  EU  law  concerning  environmental  matters38.  This  requires  active 
support  by  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  when  the  Commission 
comes forward with such proposals. Access to justice provisions will be drafted 
in  light  of  CJEU  case  law  as  summarised  in  the  Notice.  In  recent  years,  the 
Council has been reluctant to adopt such provisions39, departing from its previous 
approach,  which  has  led  in  the  past  to  the  adoption  of  the  directives  mentioned 
above. 

In  this  regard,  the  Commission  takes  the  view  that  clear  provisions  in  EU 
environmental legislation in this matter would be in the interest of legal certainty 
and also necessary to underpin the obligation to grant effective judicial protection 
of  the  rights  enshrined  in  EU  law.  It  therefore  invites  the  European  Parliament 
and  the  Council  to  embrace  this  approach  when  deliberating  on  the  legislative 
proposals to be brought forward.  

The  Commission  will  also  make  sure  that  secondary  law  is  fit  for  purpose  by 
carrying  out  regular  evaluations.  For  example,  as  part  of  the  review  of  EU 
measures  to  address  pollution  from  industrial  installations  announced  in  the 
European  Green  Deal40,  the  Commission  will  also  evaluate,  inter  alia,  the 
provisions affecting the rights of concerned parties, including public participation 
and access to justice.  

The  third  priority  area  is  the  review  by  the  Member  States  of  their  own 
national  legislative  and  regulatory  provisions  other  than  those  that  transpose 
the  directives  referred  to  above  in  paragraph  32.  National  provisions41  that 
prevent NGOs active in environmental protection or individuals directly affected 
by a breach of EU environmental law resulting from the actions or omissions of 
public  authorities.  Therefore,  it  is  indispensable  to  revise  these  national 
provisions for the purpose of removing any barriers to access to justice, such as 
restrictions  on  legal  standing  or  disproportionate  costs,  and  as  a  result,  ensure 
effective access to justice in environmental matters in the EU. 

The  fourth  priority  area  concerns  the  obligation  of  national  courts  to 
guarantee  the  right  of  individuals  and  NGOs  to  an  effective  remedy  under 
EU law. The role of national courts as Union courts42 is one of the cornerstones 
of  the  proper  functioning  of  the  EU’s  system  of  effective  judicial  protection. 
Where necessary, national courts must set aside any provisions that are contrary 
to  EU  law,  even  if  these  are  of  legislative  or  regulatory  nature43.  This  should 
include  undue  restrictions  on  legal  standing44  to  ensure  that  EU  rules  have  full 
force  and  effect45.  The  supreme  jurisdictions  of  the  Member  States  have  a 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38   Based on standards of access to justice established in the Notice. 
39   Proposal for a Directive on the quality of water intended for human consumption (recast) COM/2017/0753. 
40   This review covers Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions. 
41  
42   Case T-51/89. Tetra Pak Rausing SA v Commission, ECLI:EU:T:1990:41. para. 42; Opinion 1/09 of the Court (Full Court) of 
8 March 2011, pursuant to Article 218(11) TFEU, Creation of a unified patent litigation system, ECLI:EU:C:2011:123, para 80. 
43   Joined Cases C-128/09 to C-131/09, C-134/09 and C-135/09 Boxus and Others and Case C-182/10. Solvay and Others v Région 

In particular on water, nature and air quality. 

wallonne. 

44   Case  C-240/09  Lesoochranárske  zoskupenie,  ECLI:EU:C:2011:125  and  C-197/18.Wasserleitungsverband  Nördliches 

Burgenland. 

45   Case Simmenthal, 106/77, EU:C:1978:49, paragraph 22 and Case C-664/15 ECLI:EU:C:2017:987.

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38 

39 

40 

41 

preeminent  role  to  play  in  this  respect,  due  to  their  position  in  the  national 
judiciaries  and  the  influence  of  their  case  law  on  the  lower  courts.  The 
effectiveness of this role is indispensable for the proper functioning of the EU’s 
general system of access to justice in environmental matters. 

The first, third and fourth priorities set out in paragraphs 32, 36 and 37 will guide 
the Commission’s action in its role as guardian of the treaties when dealing with 
unduly restricted access  to justice in environmental matters covered by EU law. 
This includes the power to initiate infringement procedures. 

EU  legislative  action,  as  described  under  the  second  priority  area  in  paragraphs 
33,  34  and  35,  will  also  play  an  important  role  to  support  Member  States  in 
establishing  the  required  standard  of  national  access  to  justice46.  With  regard  to 
the  national  courts,  addressed  in  paragraph  37  above,  the  Commission  will 
closely  follow  how  national  courts,  including  supreme  courts,  ensure  effective 
judicial protection in  environmental  matters in their respective legal  orders, and 
will take action as necessary. 

In  pursuing  all  four  priorities  outlined  above,  the  Commission  will  support 
Members  States  and  step  up  its  work  to  engage  actively  with  civil  society  and 
public authorities to achieve full implementation of applicable EU environmental 
law.  It  plans  to  run  further  capacity-building  initiatives,  training  and  education 
schemes  and  information  exchange  initiatives  with  civil  society  for  public 
administrations and NGOs47. Areas of cooperation with the judiciary48 include the 
European  Judicial  Training  Network  (EJTN)49,  the  European  Union  Forum  of 
Judges  for  the  Environment50,  and  the  Association  of  European  Administrative 
Judges51. 

Last  but  not  least,  the Commission  will continue to  monitor the implementation 
of EU law regarding access to justice in environmental matters. To facilitate this, 
it will make information available online on the Commission’s eJustice- portal52 
the 
and  carry  out  regular 
Environmental Implementation Review.53  

implementation  monitoring  work  as  part  of 

46   See provisions of the Notice. 
47   LIFE project ‘Access to Justice for a greener Europe’ launched by ClientEarth. 
48   Cooperation with judges programme launched in 2008 by DG ENV. 
49   www.ejtn.eu/en/. 
50   https://www.eufje.org/index.php?lang=en. 
51   https://www.aeaj.org/. 
52   Towards a European e-Justice strategy (COM(2008) 329). 
53   See reference under paragraph 5 above. 

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