Aarhus Convention

The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) was adopted on 25 June 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus. The Convention originates in the 1992 Rio Declaration, specifically Principle 10 on the Environment. Principle 10 sets out three fundamental rights: access to information, access to public participation and access to justice, as key pillars of sound environmental governance.

Ireland ratified the Aarhus Convention and the associated Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Amendment and the Pollutant Release Transfer Register (PRTR) Protocol in June 2012. It entered into force in Ireland in September 2012. Prior to the ratification of the Aarhus Convention, Ireland had to ensure that all the provisions of the Convention were implemented in national law, which took a number of years.

Over 60 pieces of legislation have been used to implement the Aarhus Convention in Ireland. Additional measures have since been enacted.

These include:

• S.I. No. 309/2018 – European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) (Amendment) Regulations 2018
• S.I. No. 615/2014 - European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014
• S.I. No. 352/2014 - European Union (Access to Review of Decisions for Certain Bodies or Organisations promoting Environmental Protection) Regulations 2014
• S.I. No. 138/2013 - European Union (Industrial Emissions) Regulations 2013
• S.I. No. 137/2013 - Environmental Protection Agency (Industrial Emissions) (Licensing) Regulations 2013
• S.I. No. 283/2013 - Environmental Protection Agency (Integrated Pollution Control) (Licensing) Regulations 2013
• European Union (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Integrated Pollution Prevention And Control) Regulations 2012

The full text of all the legislation referred to may be accessed on the website of the Irish Statute Book.

We have also published the Irish translation of the Convention.

The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) was established under Article 15 of the Aarhus Convention. In essence, the ACCC serves as a compliance mechanism whereby Parties to the Convention or members of the public may, for example, bring a concern regarding the implementation of the Convention to the Committee for consideration. It is a non-confrontational, non-judicial and consultative mechanism established to review compliance by Parties to the Convention. Ireland became subject to the ACCC one year from the date of coming into force of the Convention in Ireland, that is on 18 September 2013.

The compliance mechanism may be triggered in four ways:

• a Party may make a submission about compliance by another Party
• a Party may make a submission concerning its own compliance
• the secretariat may make a referral to the Committee
• members of the public may make communications concerning a Party's compliance with the convention

Most commonly complaints about compliance with the Aarhus Convention, known as communications, are brought by members of the public. More information about the ACCC is available on the UNECE website.

Ireland’s Plan of Action

Since Ireland became subject to the ACCC non-compliance mechanism in December 2013, nine non-compliance cases concerning Ireland have been accepted for consideration by the ACCC. Two were deemed not admissible. All were initiated by communications from the public. Findings in the three cases below were brought to the 7th Meeting of the Parties (MOP) in October 2021 for endorsement. This is the first time that Ireland has had non-compliance findings at the MOP.

ACCC/C/2013/107

ACCC/C/2014/112

ACCC/C/2016/141

The Report of the Compliance Committee in relation to Ireland (ECE/MP.PP/2021/52) was endorsed by the MOP in Decision VII/8i.

Plan of Action

In paragraph 5 (a) of decision VII/8i concerning Ireland’s compliance, the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention has requested that Ireland submits to the Committee by 1 July 2022 a plan of action, including a time schedule, addressing the recommendations contained in that decision.

To assist Parties in the preparation of their plan of action, the ACCC held an open session at its seventy-third meeting (online, 13-16 December 2021) to provide guidance and to answer any questions Parties had regarding the form and content of their plan of action.

In light of the questions received at the open session, the ACCC prepared a sample template to assist each Party concerned in preparing its plan of action, including a template for Ireland.

A public consultation on a draft of the plan of action opened on 22 March 2022.

Access to information on the environment (AIE) is important to enable members of the public to know and understand what is happening in the environment around them. It also assists the public to participate in environmental decision making in an informed manner.

Under the Convention, the public has a right to participate effectively in decision-making in environmental matters. Public authorities should enable the public to comment on, for example proposals for projects affecting the environment, or plans and programmes relating to the environment. The outcome of the public participation process should be taken into consideration in the decision-making process. To facilitate this, information should be made available to help members of the public participate in on the decision-making process and understand the reasons for it.

In the European Union, this part of the Aarhus Convention has been implemented by Directive 2003/35/EC on public participation, also known as 'the Public Participation Directive'. Several pieces of legislation have been used to transpose the Public Participation Directive into Irish law, including the integration of its requirements into Irish planning law and into legislation governing other environmental licenses and consents. For example, in the planning system, members of the public may submit observations on planning applications and may appeal planning decisions to An Bord Pleanála.

Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention requires that adequate review procedures are in place to safeguard the rights granted by the other pillars of the Convention and under national law. A number of pieces of legislation were introduced to assist Ireland in meeting its obligations under this pillar including the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011, which requires that a judge must take notice of the Convention in relevant cases and also introduced new costs rules which apply in certain cases.

The Aarhus Convention, and associated EU Directives, require that certain groups of people have access to a review procedure to challenge the substantive and procedural legality of certain decisions, acts or omissions relating to the environment. A review of the substantive and procedural legality of a decision is a review of how the public authority applied the law – it is not a review on the merits of a decision In Ireland, such challenges are taken under the mechanism to challenge the substantive and procedural legality of a decision by a public body is through Judicial Review.

Article 10 of the Aarhus Convention requires that the implementation of the Convention is kept under continuous review. This is achieved through regular reporting by the Parties in National Implementation Reports (NIRs). These are to be completed and submitted to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) ahead of the Meeting of the Parties (MoP) which is held every four years. Further information is available on the UNECE website.

There are two other agreements associated with the Aarhus Convention:

GMO Amendment to the Convention

The GMO Amendment to the Aarhus Convention was adopted in 2005. This specifically puts in place requirements for public participation in decision-making in relation to the deliberate release of Genetically Modified Organisms. Ireland ratified the GMO amendment to the Aarhus Convention in 2012. However, as it has not been ratified by a sufficient number of participating Parties, it has not entered into force.

The GMO Amendment has not been ratified by a sufficient number of participating Parties and so has not entered into force. However, it has been implemented in the EU by an EU Directive 2001/18/EC which was subsequently amended by the Directive EU 2015/412. This amendment allows for Member States of the European Union to restrict or prohibit the cultivation of approved GMO crops within a specified territory.

'Deliberate Release' refers to placing Genetically Modified (GM) products on the market or the cultivation of GM crops. This Directive has been transposed in Ireland by the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 2003, S.I. No. 500 of 2003.

Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers

The Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR) serves to enhance public access to information on the environment by maintaining a register of certain industrial activities which may release emissions of substances listed in the Annex II of the Protocol, into the environment above threshold levels. This facilitates public participation in environmental decision-making and contributes to the prevention and reduction of environmental pollution.

The PRTR in Ireland is a national environmental database, or inventory. It is intended to make it easier for citizens to gain information about emissions to the environment. This publicly accessible register contains information on the release of a defined set of pollutants from specified activities into the environment. The PRTR Regulations 2011, S.I. No. 649 of 2011 designates the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the Competent Authority which manages the Register in Ireland.

The EPA established Ireland’s Register in October 2011 and it currently contains information about emissions from more than 350 industrial facilities across the country. The EPA reports data for Ireland annually to the European Register which contains information on over 30,000 industrial facilities across Europe.

Ireland submits a National Implementation Report to the UNECE every four years on the PRTR Protocol.