Peticioni i drejtohet: Petitionsausschuss des Europäischen Parlaments

In the opinion of the petitioner, the Commission is not fully insistent on the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Austria. She states that she has lodged a complaint against a planned change of land use. However, she says that the Upper Austria Spatial Planning Act does not allow judicial review of the land use change; yet Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention, according to the petitioner, requires a judicial review of environmentally relevant decisions, such as changes of land use. The petitioner states that, although Austria entered a reservation against implementation of Article 9(3), the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled in a judgment that a Member State is free to determine arrangements for an administrative or judicial review procedure, but that it must be ensured that the possibility of a review procedure is available to the public concerned. The petitioner calls for action to ensure that, in connection with spatial planning procedures, the Aarhus Convention is implemented in accordance with EU law.