The Congress of Deputies has approved the Law regulating the rights to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters. This represents a significant advance in our democratic system, as it will reduce the defencelessness of citizens in the face of decisions that affect the environment and, therefore, their health and quality of life.

With this new legal text, Spanish legislation is adapted to the Aarhus Convention, which obliges signatory States – including Spain – to guarantee public participation in decision-making that affects the environment, while ensuring citizens the rights of access to environmental information, as well as to justice in this matter.

In terms of access to information, the Law recognizes the right of citizens to request environmental information and to be attended to by the public authorities with greater demands in terms of the time and content of the response with respect to current legislation. It also imposes the obligation on public administrations to disseminate all information that may be relevant to citizens, without the need to be required to do so.

The text also guarantees the participation of citizens in public decision-making processes, providing sufficient time for the preparation of proposals, and establishing the obligation of the administrations to take into account the observations presented. In addition, express recognition is granted to Non-Governmental Organizations to participate as holders of collective interests in administrative procedures with an impact on the environment.

With regard to access to justice, the text recognizes the right of the public to challenge administrative decisions that violate their rights to information and participation in environmental matters. Popular action in favour of NGOs and non-profit persons, whose purposes include the defence of the environment, is expressly recognised to challenge any violation of the environmental legal system attributable to a public authority, as well as to denounce any omission attributable to a public administration that involves a breach of environmental legislation.