Participatory and Procedural Rights in Environmental Matters

Article 191 TFEU provides that EU environmental policy should be based on the prevention principle. The prevention principle suggests that an action is taken before a known risk has materialized, in order to avoid its negative effects. Air Quality Directive 2008/50/EC took account of the prevention principle, as it required the elaboration of short-term action plans when alert thresholds risked being exceeded, requesting further to inform the public and thereby inviting it to act prudently - making the limit value for PM_2.5 to be preceded by a five-year target value, asking Member States to take cost-effective measures by adapting existing programs and adopting new plans for reaching the target values, and requesting even more cost-effective measures, before the target values for ozone concentrations were reached.

In contrast to that, Noise Directive 2002/49/EC paid little attention to the prevention principle. It could have fixed a minimum noise level - for hot points or generally - and then ask Member States to develop noise reduction action plans, where values were reached or exceeded. The chosen approach to request noise action plans at hot points, independently of the actual noise level, bears the risk of being of limited usefulness. Moreover, as no limit values were fixed at all, public has no parameter at hand against which it could assess its specific situation and ask for preventive measures.