The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee has rejected an attempt by the UK Government to have ERCS’s complaint about the Scottish Civil Justice Council declared inadmissible.
The Committee investigates breaches of the Aarhus Convention – an international treaty that enshrines our rights to access information, public participation in decision-making and access justice on the environment.
ERCS’s complaint, submitted in March, argues that the Scottish Civil Justice Council breached Article 8 of the Aarhus Convention which requires ‘effective public participation’ in the making of environmental laws. There had been no public participation in the preparation of the 2024 rules on Protective Expenses Orders, which are used to cap the cost of taking environmental cases to court.
The Committee considered ERCS’s complaint at their open session on 2-5 June. At the open session, the UK attempted to argue that the complaint was inadmissible. It was revealed that the UK had made submissions to the Committee to contest the complaint’s admissibility, without giving any notice to ERCS. ERCS had contacted the UK’s representative twice in May to ask for details of the UK’s position in advance of the open session, but no information was provided.
The Committee found the communication is admissible on a preliminary basis and will next require the UK to respond in writing. This case follows Scotland’s decade-long breach with the Aarhus Convention’s access to justice requirements.
Dr Ben Christman, ERCS Legal Director, said:
“The way we make decisions matters. Public participation is a critical part of creating fair and functional environmental laws.
“The Scottish Civil Justice Council failed to consult the public and, predictably, went on to produce legal expenses rules that do not comply with the Aarhus Convention’s requirements.
“We were glad to see that the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee saw through the UK’s bad faith attempts to knock out our complaint at the first stage. We hope that the UK will now respond to our concerns seriously.”
