This article examines the necessity of enshrining the right to a healthy environment in the second chapter of the Constitution in light of international and European legal developments. It traces the emergence and gradual consolidation of this right from the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and the 1992 Rio Declaration to the 2022 resolution of the United Nations General Assembly. Particular attention is given to the role of the Aarhus Convention in shaping procedural guarantees and to the case‑law of the European Court of Human Rights, through which environmental protection has been linked to the rights to life, private life, and property, thereby affirming States’ positive obligations. Through a comparative legal analysis, the article presents constitutional solutions adopted in several European countries and explores the specific features of their judicial application. It argues that incorporating the right to a healthy environment into the second chapter of the Constitution would render the State’s environmental obligations directly applicable, broaden the toolkit of constitutional review, and provide an interpretative framework for the systematic development of national environmental legislation. The purpose of the study is to assess the necessity of constitutionally entrenching the right to a healthy environment in the second chapter of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, devoted to fundamental rights and freedoms.

The article examines the right to information about the environmental footprint of products as a new dimension of digital human rights in the context of contemporary sustainable development challenges. The authors analyze the transformation of traditional environmental rights into the digital environment and substantiate the necessity of legal regulation of access to environmental information through digital technologies. The study explores the evolution of digital rights, including the right to Internet access, freedom of expression online, personal data protection, and digital self-determination, within the context of the environmental agenda. Special attention is given to the analysis of European legislation, particularly the implementation of Digital Product Passports, the EU Battery Regulation (2023/1542) with mandatory carbon footprint labeling, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The authors examine in detail the mechanisms for implementing the right to environmental information through QR codes, blockchain tracing, Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), and online platforms. The legal foundation of this right, established by the Aarhus Convention, the Constitution of Ukraine, and European directives, is analyzed. The article provides a comprehensive overview of the implementation status of key European directives into Ukrainian legislation, including the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive, the Industrial Emissions Directive, and the Ecodesign Directive. Particular attention is paid to analyzing Ukraine’s European integration obligations in the field of environmental policy, including the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), and the Climate Law. The research substantiates that the right to information about the environmental footprint of products is a fundamental prerequisite for informed consumer choice and the formation of a responsible society, and its effective implementation requires the creation of a comprehensive legal framework and digital infrastructure in Ukraine.

Book Review: <i>Europeanisation of Access to Justice on Environmental Matters The Aarhus Convention in the Balkans</i> by Todorović Bojana and Caranta Roberto (eds.) TodorovićBojanaCarantaRoberto (eds.) <i>Europeanisation of Access to Justice on Environmental Matters The Aarhus Convention in the Balkans</i> . Hart Publishing. 2025.

Abstract While acknowledging the differences between judicial and non-judicial bodies, this paper argues that the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, by dealing with several relevant cases involving the EU and/or its Member States, may potentially provide an important contribution to the legal debate on the apportionment of obligations between the EU and its Member States. What this paper aims to add to such a debate is a broader analysis of the Committee’s cases by encompassing more recent communications into the investigation. In particular, this paper will clarify the role of the declaration of competence under the Aarhus Convention and will examine whether the Aarhus Committee applies the normative control doctrine when dealing with EU directives.

The primary goal of this paper is to demonstrate the positive correlation of Environmental Democracy (ED) and Environmental Sustainability (ES), and the necessity of ED in the Bangladesh legal framework for tackling environmental degradation. This article examines the legal framework of Bangladesh (a non-European/South Asian developing country) as a case study to explore the grounds and scope of operationalizing ED in the legal practice of developing countries outside Europe. This qualitative research comparatively studied the correlation between the compliance ratio of ED and the Environmental Sustainability Indicators (Environmental Performance Index and SDG Index), reflecting ES among the developed and developing countries from the European region. To test the feasibility of ED integration in Bangladesh, the legal system of Bangladesh has been thoroughly aligned with the three pillars of ED and critically appraised under the same pillars to highlight its limitations as a developing country. The research finds that despite the limitations, the country can integrate ED in its legal system to achieve better environmental sustainability through the recommended steps, such as signing the Aarhus Convention, following the Bali and Aarhus Implementation Guidelines, along with the exemplary performance of leading ED-compliant European states in the sustainability index.

&lt;div&gt; The General Court in T-534/23 and T-535/23: Aarhus and the EU's Functionally Legislative Power under Article 122(1) TFEU &lt;/div&gt;

The General Court in T-534/23 and T-535/23: Aarhus and the EU's Functionally Legislative Power under Article 122(1) TFEU

Ensuring access to environmental information is one of the key elements of democratic governance in the environmental sphere and an important component of the implementation of environmental human rights. In the current conditions of globalization and European integration of Ukraine, bringing national legislation into line with international standards enshrined in the 1998 Aarhus Convention and regulatory legal acts of the European Union is of particular importance. Research in this area is of practical importance, since ensuring openness of environmental information contributes to raising environmental awareness in society, prevents violations of citizens’ rights and ensures the fulfillment of Ukraine’s European integration obligations. The purpose of the article is to analyze international legal standards for access to environmental information, assess the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with the EU acquis and the Aarhus Convention, as well as identify areas for improving the national regulatory framework and the practice of its application. The methodological basis of the research is general scientific and special legal methods, in particular: formal legal method for analyzing regulatory acts; comparative legal method for comparing the provisions of Ukrainian legislation with EU law and the Aarhus Convention; a systematic approach for considering environmental information policy as a holistic phenomenon; a method of analysis and synthesis for formulating generalized conclusions. The article reveals the content of international legal standards in the field of access to environmental information, identifies the main provisions of the Aarhus Convention and relevant EU directives. The current legislation of Ukraine is analyzed, in particular the Law «On Environmental Protection», the Law «On Information», the Law «On Access to Public Information», as well as by-laws that regulate the procedure for providing environmental information. It is concluded that despite some harmonization with European law, the Ukrainian legal system is still characterized by fragmentation, insufficient clarity of access procedures and low efficiency of law enforcement. It was revealed that the issues of the timing of the publication of environmental information, ensuring its relevance and completeness, as well as mechanisms for holding accountable for refusal or improper provision of information remain problematic. Based on the conducted research, the need for further adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to EU standards in the field of access to environmental information has been proven. Areas of improvement have been proposed, in particular: strengthening institutional guarantees of access, introduction of modern digital tools for information dissemination, unification of data provision procedures, improvement of mechanisms of judicial and extrajudicial protection of citizens’ rights. The implementation of these tasks will contribute to increasing transparency in the field of environmental management, effective implementation of European environmental standards and realization of the right of every person to an environment safe for life and health.

The article is devoted to the study of administrative and legal challenges of implementing Ukraine’s environmental policy in the context of public administration reform. The author analyzes the current state of state environmental policy, identifies key problems of its institutional, legal, financial and information support. Particular attention is paid to the issue of integrating environmental priorities into strategic planning of state policy, since it is the systematic consideration of environmental aspects that is the basis of sustainable development. The content of regulatory and organizational obstacles that reduce the effectiveness of public administration in the field of environmental protection is revealed the fragmentation of environmental provisions in strategic documents, the lack of proper interdepartmental coordination and incomplete implementation of international obligations. It is emphasized that the implementation of the provisions of international environmental agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement, the Aarhus, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, remains partial and requires improvement of legal and procedural mechanisms. An important element of the study is the analysis of the problems of the functioning of state environmental control, in particular the insufficient resource provision of the State Environmental Inspectorate, restrictions on inspections and technical backwardness of monitoring systems. It is emphasized that these factors lead to a weakening of control over industrial pollution, especially in the industrial regions of Ukraine. The role of digital transformation in improving environmental management is analyzed. It is noted that the absence of a single integrated system of environmental data complicates environmental monitoring, analytical activities and management decision-making. Special attention is paid to the need to create a National Environmental Information System that will unite all state environmental registers, monitoring data and analytical tools based on the principles of open data and digital interaction. It is noted that increasing the effectiveness of Ukraine’s environmental policy requires a comprehensive administrative and legal approach.

The article is devoted to the study of the institution of NGO representation of the interests of an indefinite group of persons in Ukrainian judicial proceedings, in particular through the prism of the actio popularis doctrine. The emphasis is on the fact that NGOs play an important role in a democratic society, but national legislation lacks a clear general mechanism for protecting the «public interest», with the exception of certain, narrowly defined cases. It is found that the actio popularis doctrine in its classical sense, which provides for the right of every member of society to file a lawsuit to protect public interests, has not found direct implementation either in the national legal system or in the practice of the ECHR. An analysis of the ECHR and relevant practice confirms that the ECHR consistently requires the applicant to have victim status. At the same time, in some cases involving public organizations, the ECHR makes exceptions. It has been established that national legislation determines the exercise of the right to apply to an administrative court only through an individual appeal (through a representative), which is based on the need for the plaintiff to prove the fact of a violation of their subjective legitimate interest. Based on the analysis of the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and established judicial practice, it has been proven that the right of an NGO to appeal to the court in the interests of other persons (both members and non-members) in Ukraine is not absolute. To establish the existence of the right of an NGO to appeal to the court in the interests of other persons, the court must clarify certain circumstances. National courts consistently refuse claims where the NGO cannot prove its personalized interest or acts in the interests of an unspecified circle of persons without legal grounds. An exception to this general approach is represented by claims in the field of environmental protection, in which the direct effect of the norms of the Aarhus Convention is applied. The practice of foreign countries indicates that some countries provide for the application of the doctrine under study, however, in different manifestations and forms. The study concluded that introducing the possibility of filing an actio popularis lawsuit by NGOs in Ukraine would provide a tool for combating state arbitrariness. However, its implementation would be hindered by certain risks that require additional research.

This socio-legal paper examines how the duty under Article 3.7. of the Aarhus Convention to promote principles of environmental democracy in international environmental forums is being interpreted and operationalised in practice. A systematic content analysis of the parties' 2021 and 2025 national implementation reports identifies uneven reporting and predominantly ad hoc approaches, focussing mainly on nationally based measures to facilitate the participation of states' own publics, rather than collaborative initiatives to influence the design of participatory processes and outcomes of international institutions themselves. These findings point to a need for stronger institutional coordination, tailored forum-specific guidance, and more systematic monitoring and accountability mechanisms in order to strengthen Article 3.7's operationalisation. More broadly, the paper also contributes to wider debates on the prospects of environmental democracy at scale, illustrating how the Aarhus Convention both exposes and tests the limits of efforts to democratise international and global environmental governance.

The article examines the role of environmental whistleblowers in the process of Ukraine’s European integration and their contribution to strengthening the rule of law. The significance of the activities of environmental whistleblowers is substantiated both in view of the environmental challenges and dangers that Ukrainian society faces today, and in terms of establishing effective and efficient democracy. Information today serves as the basis of all competencies and orientations in life situations. Providing its citizens with complete and reliable information, generated or stored by the state, is an integral part of both respect for them and recognition of national sovereignty. Information issues are directly correlated with the state’s guarantee of effective implementation of the rule of law, and therefore with issues of European integration. Ensuring environmental security is one of the most important tasks of modern state policy. The activities of environmental whistleblowers in this case become an important mechanism for preventing violations of environmental norms, combating corruption, and building citizens’ trust in state institutions. An important component of the whistleblower institution is the creation of internal and external channels of communication, ensuring confidentiality and prohibiting the persecution of informants. This determines the right of citizens to access environmental information, participation in decision-making and access to justice in the environmental sphere. It has been established that environmental whistleblowers play a key role in identifying and preventing violations in the field of environmental protection, increasing transparency and accountability of government bodies. In Ukraine, the whistleblowing mechanism is provided for by the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption”, but the environmental sphere remains virtually outside its regulatory influence. A positive moment for the national legal system was the accession to the Aarhus Convention and the introduction of environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment procedures. However, the system of legal protection of environmental whistleblowers has not yet been created. The latter often face pressure and persecution that restrain their activity. Ukraine should use the experience of the European Union and its member states to create its own model of protection of environmental whistleblowers as a component of environmental and national security.

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the administrative-legal principles of land relations protection in Ukraine. The work analyzes the essence of land protection as a legal category and its place in the system of environmental and land law. Particular attention is paid to a thorough analysis of the means of administrative-legal influence, which include: the permitting system, which includes environmental permits, approval of land management projects and environmental impact assessment; mechanisms for control and supervision of compliance with the requirements of land legislation; as well as administrative coercion measures, in particular, the issuance of regulations, prohibition of activities and the imposition of fines. The text analyzes the important role of public authorities in the relevant field, in particular the functions of the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers in the process of rule-making activities. The important participation of local governments in ensuring the implementation of environmental policy at the regional level is also emphasized. The regulatory and legal basis of the studied area includes the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine (Articles 13, 14), the Land Code of Ukraine, the laws of Ukraine “On Land Protection” and “On State Control over the Use and Protection of Lands”, subordinate regulatory acts, as well as international documents ratified by Ukraine, in particular the Aarhus Convention and European Union directives. The article examines key problems of law enforcement, among which the insufficient effectiveness of state control, cross-duplication of functions between various bodies, low level of implementation of regulatory requirements and formal approach to the application of certain administrative sanctions are highlighted. Directions for improving the administrative and legal mechanism are outlined, including harmonization of national legislation with European standards, introduction of digital technologies in maintaining the land cadastre, increasing the efficiency of public control and optimization of the administrative responsibility system.

This article explores the obligation of State Parties to the Aarhus Convention, under Article 9(4), to ensure that costs for accessing justice are ‘not prohibitively expensive’. The analysis reveals that this criterion has two sides. Firstly, the level of costs must not be excessive, both in relation to the dispute and object at hand and in relation to the financial resources and what is at stake for a complainant. Secondly, the rules and framework for imposing legal costs must not be unforeseeable. The threshold for costs being prohibitive is when the costs are so excessive or unforeseeable that they will be dissuasive for environmental defenders seeking access to justice. In practice, problems have particularly arisen in regard to ‘loser pays’ systems, which combine high potential costs with low foreseeability. Such systems are permissible but should have limits on the level of imposable costs and on the judicial discretion that can be exercised.

ABSTRACT This piece is based on my experience as Chair and member of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. Here I highlight the quasi-judicial facets of the Committee and the essential elements of law, integrity, due process, dialogue, and trust that underpin its work. I also reflect on the increasing caseload of the Committee, and the Committee's relevance, outcome and impact, arguing that the Committee has delivered on promoting compliance by upholding integrity, ensuring due process and high quality in the reviews of non-compliance and follow-ups, and in engaging in dialogues with parties and non-state actors. My main concern, however, is that, due to the great number of cases, and the limited resources to manage its caseload, the Committee has not been able to live up to the message of the Convention of providing timely legal reviews. Importantly, despite its non-judicial character, the exercise of the Committee is governed by international law, and its findings of non-compliance, through the endorsements of the Meetings of the Parties, have significant legal effect for the interpretation of the Convention. The Committee, in short, is not as weak as I anticipated in 1998 when the Aarhus Convention was adopted.

The article is dedicated to the study of regional systems for the protection of human rights to a favorable environment, which demonstrate a more progressive and flexible approach compared to the universal level of regulation. Four key models are analyzed: European - based on the judicial interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights and the provisions of the Aarhus Convention; Inter-American - consolidating the autonomous right to a favorable environment and the extraterritorial obligations of states; African - recognizing collective environmental law at the normative level for the first time; and Arab and ASEAN systems. Special attention was paid to judicial practice: precedent decisions on environmental claims, climate and transboundary pollution cases, as well as innovative tools, including the 2018 Escos Agreement, which established unique guarantees for environmental rights defenders. The mechanisms for integrating environmental law at the regional level and the influence of cultural and legal traditions on the formation of diverse approaches to its protection are examined. The author concludes that the diversity of regional practices forms a multitude of protection models that effectively compensate for the gaps in universal regulation. Each of the systems has made its unique contribution to the development of the concept of human environmental rights, ensuring the transition from indirect recognition to their autonomous consolidation and strengthening the transboundary measurement of environmental obligations.

Abstract The Aarhus Convention is the EU’s main legal reference in the field of environmental law. However, conflicting interpretations and non-compliance violations made it necessary to amend the Regulation implementing the provisions of the Convention. The purpose of this paper is to highlight, through a semiotic analysis of the normative text, ambiguities and contradictions intrinsic to the text’s structure, and how these contribute to failure to implement its intended provisions. The intersemiotic translations involved in the review process, which affect the actants and actors of the environment as well as its regimes of meaning and temporality, trace out a negotiable space available to environmental justice.

This paper explores the legal standards governing environmentally impactful administrative decisions through a comparative legal analysis. It focuses on how different jurisdictions—namely Egypt, the UAE, India, and France—incorporate environmental considerations into administrative decision-making. The research emphasizes the procedural safeguards required to ensure transparency, legality, and environmental responsibility, such as environmental impact assessments and public participation mechanisms. The study also examines the influence of international legal instruments, including the Rio Declaration and the Aarhus Convention, on domestic administrative practices. It reveals that while France and India demonstrate advanced judicial oversight in enforcing environmental obligations, Egypt and the UAE adopt more centralized models with varying degrees of public involvement. Drawing from judicial rulings and international norms, the paper concludes with recommendations to enhance environmental governance through clearer regulatory standards, increased judicial scrutiny, and integration of international environmental principles into national legal frameworks.

This article presents a comprehensive study of international legal standards ensuring the right of access to justice in cases involving the protection of the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of military personnel and conscripts, with particular emphasis on their application in administrative proceedings. The analysis is based on the examination of key international instruments, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, the 1998 Aarhus Convention, the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as the provisions of international humanitarian law, such as the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocol I. The article reveals the essence of the right of access to justice as an integral element of the rule of law. Special attention is paid to the interpretation of this right by international bodies, including the UN Human Rights Committee (General Comment No. 32), the European Court of Human Rights, the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The study examines the specific application of international standards to military personnel and conscripts, taking into account their unique legal status related to the performance of duties to defend state sovereignty, as well as the challenges arising during the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine. The article also focuses on the need to adapt judicial procedures for persons with disabilities, particularly war veterans who have suffered physical or psychological injuries. It substantiates the importance of implementing the principle of «effective access» to justice, as provided for by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, through the introduction of procedural accommodations such as remote hearings, simplified appeal procedures, and legal assistance mechanisms. Based on the analysis, the article formulates conclusions regarding the universal nature of international legal standards on access to justice, their adaptation to the needs of military personnel and conscripts, and the necessity of improving administrative proceedings in Ukraine.

This article investigates the tensions between public participation and its three-pillar structure and the development of nuclear energy taking into account the specific characteristics of the energy source. The approach is a mixed one- using a doctrinal analysis of the texts of the Aarhus and Espoo Conventions, zooming in also on case-law from the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee and the Espoo Implementation Committee as well as using a socio-legal approach to public participation. This paper finds four main areas where there are tensions between public participation and nuclear energy development, namely: transparency, identifying the public concerned (especially in a transboundary context), early commencement of the participation procedures, and taking due account of the outcomes of the participation procedure.