Environmental NGOs and Access to Justice: Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention and the EU Courts Perspective

The paper examines, in the light of the most recent case-law, the problem of standing before the EU judiciary for the environmental NGOs. The combination of the EU primary legislation (art. 263 TFEU) and secondary legislation implementing the Aarhus Convention (Reg. 1367/2006) results, in fact, in a narrowing of the scope of access to justice, in violation of the Convention provisions. A change in the EU courts interpretation of art. 263 TFEU is called for to grant compliance to the Convention (signed by the European Community as well as its Member States) and put an end to longstanding litigation at international level