Workshop A2J-EARL: Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

Next Wednesday 29th January 2020, from 9:00 to 15:00, the second Workshop on Access to Justice in Environmental Matters of the LIFE A2J-EARL Project will be held at the Madrid Bar Association (ICAM).

The International Institute for Law and the Environment (IIDMA) is organizing, together with the ICAM, the second workshop within the framework of the A2J-EARL Project on Access to Justice in Environmental Matters “Training on Access to Justice for Professionals in the Legal Sector”, partly financed by the European Commission’s LIFE + Programme.

IIDMA is the organization responsible for the development in Spain of the A2J-EARL Project, with the aim to promote the appropiate application and implementation of European Union (EU) environmental law through effective access to justice in 8 member states (Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). The Project will end next July 2020, after three years in which several actions have been developed at national and European level.

In April 2018, the presentation of the A2J-EARL Project in Spain took place at the European Commission Representation in Madrid, followed by a first workshop in June 2019, aimed at environmental lawyers, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), teachers and law students.

The second workshop, scheduled for the end of January, will address an extensive programme focused on three panels specialized on the pillars of the Aarhus Convention (1998): access to environmental information, public participation in environmental matters and, finally, access to justice in the environmental matters. The workshop is aimed at professionals in the legal sector interested in studying in-depth issues related to the regulatory and jurisprudential framework concerning access to environmental justice, as well as the exercise of this right in practice.

Among the different activities already developed within the A2J-EARL Project, the elaboration of a Toolkit – Practical Guide on Access to Justice in Spain by IIDMA, in collaboration with the environmental law organization ClientEarth (EC), is included.

Likewise, a Guide on Access to Justice in the European Union has been published for lawyers, members of the judiciary, public authorities and NGOs to assist them in the correct application and compliance with the rules applicable to access to justice in environmental matters.

In addition to this, various information and experience exchange tools are available to the public: a Database of Environmental Lawyers in the EU, a Digital Information Platform on Access to Justice in Estonia, Hungary and Poland, as well as a monthly Newsletter with legal and jurisprudential developments on Access to Justice at national and EU level.