Court agrees that Ministry for the Environment’s site does not comply

On 30 August the Kyiv District Administrative Court issued its judgment over the civil suit brought by the civic organization Environment – People – Law [EPL] against the Ministry for Environmental Protection regarding the latter’s official website.

EPL had referred to the norms of the Aarhus Convention regarding active circulation of environmental information and norms of current legislation on providing environmental information, as well as on the work of official websites of central State bodies.

EPL pointed to the lack of information about the basic functions of the structural subdivisions of the Ministry, about the types and scope of environmental information, about international agreements on environmental protection, as well as reports on how these are being implemented, and about state targeted programmes. It also complained of the lack of free public access to national reports on the state of the environment or any lists and registers being kept, for example, lists of polluter enterprises, texts, permit documentation in the relevant sphere and a lot more.

The court agreed that the Ministry was not complying with the law.

Using new features from the Code of Administration Justice, it bound the Ministry within a month from the moment the ruling came into force, to provide the court with a report regarding its implementation of the ruling.

From information at:  http://epl.org.ua/novini/anons/backPid/393/article/3035/