Economic and Electronic Barriers of the Access to

Economic and Electronic Barriers of the Access to Information and Public Participation in Environmental Matters Prof. JUDr. Milan DAMOHORSKÝ, Dr. Sc. Environmental Law Department Faculty of Law, Charles University, Prague

Contents of the Presentation • • • 2 Introduction Aarhus Convention and the Czech Legal Regulation Economic Barriers Electronic Barriers Recommendations and Conclusions 02/10/2015 Rencontres: 20 ans de coopération entre Université Paris II et l´Université Charles de Prague

Introduction • Aarhus Convention and it’s enforcement from theoretical and practical point of view. • Problems with the AC enforcement from the legal, economic and electronic point of view. • The three pillars of the AC. • Role of the NGOs, municipality and state. 3 02/10/2015 Rencontres: 20 ans de coopération entre Université Paris II et l´Université Charles de Prague

Aarhus Convention and the Czech Legal Regulation Czech Republic – access to the Aarhus Convention Main sources of the legal regulation Constitutional Charter of the Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Act on Environmental Information Act on Nature and Landscape Protection and some others 4 02/10/2015 Rencontres: 20 ans de coopération entre Université Paris II et l´Université Charles de Prague

Economic Barriers • Costs of the Access to information • Costs of the Access to justice • Environmental information - only mail, copying and paper costs, no costs of the working time of the staffs. • General information access - the same and the costs of the working time of the staffs. 5 02/10/2015 Rencontres: 20 ans de coopération entre Université Paris II et l´Université Charles de Prague

Electronic Barriers • Advantages : - fast and simple access even from home, - low costs for the operator and the state, - free access for everybody from any place of the Globe • Disadvantages : - bad (good) timing of the internet placing, - technical limits of access and participation, - anonymity and invisibility 6 02/10/2015 Rencontres: 20 ans de coopération entre Université Paris II et l´Université Charles de Prague

Recommendations and Conclusions • Fundamental decisions paralely in the mass media and paper form. • Diversification of the forms towards according the seriousness of the case (two or three levels). • Greater engagement of the profesional (environmetal) lawyers. • Evaluation not only environmental, legal and economic consequences, but even sociological and psychological aspects of decision making. • Simplification of the procedure. 7 02/10/2015 Rencontres: 20 ans de coopération entre Université Paris II et l´Université Charles de Prague

Thank You for Your Attention. damohors@prf. cuni. cz 8 02/10/2015 Rencontres: 20 ans de coopération entre Université Paris II et l´Université Charles de Prague