Public Participation in Decision-Making

Provisions on public participation in decision-making by the European institutions can be found in Title III of the Aarhus Regulation. Public participation is open to natural or legal persons, associations of these. It concerns the preparation, modification or review of plans or programmes relating to the environment (Article 9(1) of the Aarhus Regulation). There is a wide definition of plans and programmes relating to the environment (Article 2(1)(e) of the Aarhus Regulation) that is greatly narrowed down by the last paragraph of that provision. According to it, financial/budget plans are not included in the scope of the Title on public participation.

The European institutions and bodies, as well as the national authorities, are under an obligation to inform the public of various proposals and the possibility of public participation. They also have a duty to take an accurate account of the results of the public participation. NB: the last information obligation is formulated differently for the Member States and the EU. Only the Member States have to inform the public of the public participation process, whereas EU institutions must inform the public of the public participation. This allows the Member States to only inform the public of the procedure followed (time-limits etc.) and not of the actual impact the public consultation has had.