Significant EU Environmental Cases: 2014

Abstract

In Cases T-338/08 Stichting Natuur en Milieu & Pesticide Action Network Europe v Commission,1 and T-396/09 Vereniging Milieudefensie and Stichting Stop Luchtverontreiniging Utrecht v Commission,2 the General Court held that Article 10(1) of the Aarhus Regulation3 was unlawful because it limited the concept of ‘acts’ in Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention4 to ‘administrative acts’ defined in Article 2(1)(g) of the Aarhus Regulation as ‘measures of individual scope’. The General Court held that the EU was bound by the Aarhus Convention and that secondary Community legislation that was incompatible with the Aarhus Convention would be declared invalid. The Commission’s decision to refuse the non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs’) request for internal review of the Commission’s decisions on the ground that the acts were not of ‘individual scope’ was therefore unlawful. Regrettably, that decision has now been reversed on appeal by the CJEU.5