Case C-252/22, Societatea Civilă Profesională de Avocaţi AB & CD: Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 11 January 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel Târgu-Mureş — Romania) — Societatea Civilă Profesională de Avocaţi AB & CD v Consiliul Judeţean Suceava, Preşedintele Consiliului Judeţean Suceava, Agenţia pentru Protecţia Mediului Bacău, Consiliul Local al Comunei Pojorâta (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Environment — Aarhus Convention — Article 9(3) to (5) — Access to justice — Law firm partnership — Action seeking to challenge administrative measures — Admissibility — Conditions laid down by national law — No impairment of a right or undermining of a legitimate interest — Not prohibitively expensive judicial proceedings — Allocation of costs — Criteria)
Date: 2024-01-11
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: access to information, environmental protection, international convention, judicial review, lawyer, legal expenses, partnership, right of action








C_202401502EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2024/1502


26.2.2024





Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 11 January 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel Târgu-Mureş — Romania) — Societatea Civilă Profesională de Avocaţi AB & CD v Consiliul Judeţean Suceava, Preşedintele Consiliului Judeţean Suceava, Agenţia pentru Protecţia Mediului Bacău, Consiliul Local al Comunei Pojorâta
(Case C-252/22, (1) Societatea Civilă Profesională de Avocaţi AB & CD)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Environment - Aarhus Convention - Article 9(3) to (5) - Access to justice - Law firm partnership - Action seeking to challenge administrative measures - Admissibility - Conditions laid down by national law - No impairment of a right or undermining of a legitimate interest - Not prohibitively expensive judicial proceedings - Allocation of costs - Criteria)
(C/2024/1502)
Language of the case: Romanian

Referring court

Curtea de Apel Târgu-Mureş

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Societatea Civilă Profesională de Avocaţi AB & CD

Defendants: Consiliul Judeţean Suceava, Preşedintele Consiliului Judeţean Suceava, Agenţia pentru Protecţia Mediului Bacău, Consiliul Local al Comunei Pojorâta

Intervener: QP

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 9(3) of the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters, signed in Aarhus on 25 June 1998 and approved on behalf of the European Community by Council Decision 2005/370/EC of 17 February 2005,
must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation under which a legal entity, other than a non-governmental organisation for the protection of the environment, is recognised as having standing to bring proceedings against an administrative measure of which it is not the addressee only where it claims that there has been a failure to observe a legitimate private interest or an interest connected to a legal situation which is directly related to the object of that entity.










2.


Article 9(4) and (5) of the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters, signed in Aarhus on 25 June 1998 and approved on behalf of the European Community by Council Decision 2005/370, read in the light of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
must be interpreted as meaning that, in order to ensure compliance with the requirement that judicial proceedings not be prohibitively expensive, a court called upon to make an order for costs against an unsuccessful party in an environmental dispute must take into account all the circumstances of the case, including that party’s interest and the public interest in the protection of the environment.






(1)  
            OJ C 303, 8.8.2022.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/1502/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)