Access to justice update from ClientEarth and Justice and Environment

Editorial

The battle for collective redress
The European Parliament and Council are currently debating the fate of a directive proposal which would permit victims of corporate harm to bring a collective challenge to the courts – a form of European class action. Read the editorial by Sebastian Bechtel.

Our Analysis

Court of Justice of the EU condemns French court for failing to make preliminary reference
For the first time in infringement proceedings, the CJEU has ruled that a national court, the French Conseil d’Etat, breached EU law for not making a preliminary reference regarding the interpretation of EU law in accordance with Article 267 TFEU. Read the full analysis by Anne Friel.

Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention remains a dead letter in the European Union legal order
The Court of Justice of the EU has ruled that the Commission was right to reject a request for internal review from the NGO Mellifera regarding the authorisation of glyphosate. Read the full analysis by Anaïs Berthier.

The Urgenda Climate Case and Access to Justice for environmental NGOs in the Netherlands
On 9 October, the Hague Court of Appeal upheld the historic judgement of the District Court in Urgenda’s Climate Case of 2015. Read the full analysis by Maria Jolie Veder.

Court of Justice decides that Irish courts must ensure that court costs are not prohibitive
The Court of Justice of the EU has held that, in judicial procedures based on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, national courts must interpret procedural law consistently with the requirement that proceedings must not be prohibitively expensive. Read the full analysis by Sebastian Bechtel.

ClientEarth standing in Nord Stream 2 development permits cases
ClientEarth has taken legal action against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline extension, a project to build and operate a new twin pipeline from Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. Read the full analysis by Boleslaw Matuszewski. 
This article is part of the Visegrad Fund to further improve access to justice in central Europe

Updates

Upcoming Access to justice events in Hungary and France
Two major events on Access to justice will be held before the end of the year in Hungary and France, as part of the ATOJ-EARL project.

Our project website is now available in French!
Check out our French page here! Pour visiter notre page en français, cliquez ici !

The Project

Access to justice is a fundamental means through which citizens and NGOs can support the implementation and enforcement of laws and policies to protect the environment.

The goal of this ATOJ-EARL project is to achieve  "Access to justice for a greener Europe". It strives to enhance access to justice in environmental matters by providing information, training and support for the judiciary, public authorities and lawyers of eight European member states.

ClientEarth and Justice and Environment are implementing this project with the financial support of the European Commission's LIFE instrument.