Public consultation on the Review of the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations 2007-2018

In 2020, Ireland committed to amending the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations 2007-2018 (S.I. No. 133 of 2007; S.I. No. 662 of 2011; S.I. No. 615 of 2014; S.I. 309 of 2018) in response to findings of non-compliance by the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC).

As the Regulations have been in place since 2007, and have been amended previously on three occasions, it is proposed to use this opportunity to review and consolidate the existing regulations.

The review will consider updating the Regulations to ensure continued compatibility with EU law, and we want to gather views and feedback from interested parties to prepare for it.

The document below provides an overview of the review and the regulations, and offers some questions for consideration.

The closing date for submissions is 5.30pm Friday 16 April 2021

Submissions should be sent by email to environmentpolicy@decc.gov.ie or by post to:

Review of the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations 2007-2018

Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications

Government Buildings

Newtown Road

Wexford

Y35 AP90

• An informal consolidated version of the AIE Regulations 2007 - 2018 is available online
• Further information on the Aarhus Convention is available on gov.ie and on the Aarhus Convention website. The UNECE has published a document entitled The Aarhus Convention: Implementation Guide which provides both a general overview of the principles behind the Convention and a detailed article-by-article analysis of its provisions.
• The full title of the AIE Directive, Directive 2003/4/EC, referred to in the public consultation is - 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
• The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee adopted findings regarding Ireland’s compliance with the Access to Information pillar of the Aarhus Convention in November 2020

We are committed to engaging with stakeholders in a clear, open and transparent manner. Any person or organisation can make a submission in relation to this consultation. All submissions and feedback will be considered before the final version of the Review is published.

Please note that responses to this consultation are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI), Access to Information on the Environment Regulations 2007-2014 (AIE) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Please also note that the Department intends to publish the contents of all submissions received to this consultation on its website. The Department will redact personal data prior to publication. In responding to this consultation, parties should clearly indicate where their responses contain personal information, commercially sensitive information or confidential information which they would not wish to be released under FOI, AIE or otherwise published.

We would like to draw your attention to the Department's Data Privacy Notice which is available on our website and explains how and when we collect personal data, why we do so and how we treat this information. It also explains your rights in relation to the collection of personal information and how you can exercise those rights.

Individual Submissions