Annual EELF Conference 2016
Procedural Environmental Rights: Principle X
in Theory and Practice
 
14-16 September 2016
Wrocław, Poland

The organizers are inviting submission of abstracts for presentations at the Conference. Presentations shall focus on the conference theme and address one of the following thematic clusters and subthemes. The subthemes indicated below mark particular interest areas, but they are not exhaustive and presentations addressing other issues under any of the thematic cluster are also welcome.

Thematic Clusters and Subthemes

1. Procedural environmental rights and participatory democracy

1. Theoretical foundations for participatory democracy and role of the public in environmental protection
2. Procedural environmental rights and right to environment
3. Procedural environmental rights and rule of law

2. Procedural environmental rights in international law

1. Principle X of the Rio Declaration and its role in international law
2. Procedural environmental rights in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Court of Human Rights and other international tribunals
3. Procedural environmental rights in the transboundary context
4. Procedural environmental rights at global level
5. Towards new Principle X instrument for LAC Region
6. Implementation of UN Bali Guidelines in practice

3. Access to environmental information

1. Relation between legislations on access to environmental information and general legislations on access to public information
2. Access to information and secrets: exceptions from the obligation to disclose environmental information
3. Approach to weighing the interests when applying exceptions

4. Public participation

1. Procedural arrangements for public participation in the environmental decision making, such as: requirements regarding methods to effectively inform the public, and to ensure effective public access to the files of the case;
2. Specificity of public participation requirements in case of various decision-making processes;
3. Approach to the requirement to give the public the possibility to participate early in the environmental decision-making procedures when all options are open;
4. Place of EIA procedure and public participation in the multi-stage (tiered) decision making process and in the one-stop shop decision-making process
5. Reasonable timeframes for public participation;
6. Persons entitled to participate in the environmental decision making and having standing in environmental cases - definition and scope of the notions of: the public and the public concerned,

5. Access to justice

1. Rights-based vs. interest-based approach
2. Scope of review (procedural and substantive legality)
3. Criteria for standing
4. Towards a new UE instrument on access to justice
5. Access to justice at EU level - Plaumann test and the Aarhus Convention

6. Procedural environmental rights: cross-cutting issues

1. Procedural environmental rights: who is entitled and who is obliged
2. Status and procedural rights of environmental NGOs
3. Procedural environmental rights and non-discrimination principle
4. Procedural environmental rights and non-regression principle
5. Procedural environmental rights and environmental assessments
6. Procedural environmental rights and decision-making procedures related to GMOs

The Conference is open for presentations addressing procedural environmental rights from various points of view and for participants with various background (not only for legal scholars and practitioners but also for scholars and practitioners in related areas). Presentations providing results of comparative studies or multidisciplinary research, including results of sociological surveys related to practical implementation of procedural environmental rights are particularly welcome.

We hereby invite scholars and practitioners to submit abstracts for papers to be presented at the Conference. Abstracts shall be written in English, not exceed 500 words, indicate the precise topic of the proposed paper and the related thematic cluster (see above), and consist of a short description of the content of the contribution and up to three main thesis. Abstracts, together with a short biography of max. 150 words should be sent to magda.bar@jjb.com.pl by 30th April 2016.

Abstracts will be reviewed on a rolling basis, as received, with a final decision to be provided by 30 May 2016.