Collective Actions of Environmental Organisations
New Study "Collective actions of environmental organisations in the field of nature conservation and environmental law - developments between 2007 and 2010"
.JPG)
Environmental organisations can challenge state authorities´ acts and decisions in court via collective actions. In their empirical study for the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU), Berlin, in cooperation with the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, analyse to what extent environmental organisations in Germany made use of their right to collective actions in the field of nature conservation and environmental law.
The study focuses on the developments between 2007 and 2010 and could relate to UfU´s previous study on the same topic for the years 2002 and 2006.
As a basis, the study details the legal provisions that guarantee the right to collective action for environmental organisations and their requirements. Predominantly, collective actions were filed on the grounds of the Bundesnaturschutzgesetz, i.e. the Federal Nature Conservation Act. Some collective actions were based on special nature conservation acts of a specific federal state or on the Umwelt-Rechtsbehelfsgesetz (Law on supplementary provisions governing actions in environmental matters under Directive 2003/35/EC) which is in force since 2006.
The study relies on the same methodical approach as the previous study from 2006. Based on research via the relevant data bases on german jurisdiction and - where possible - also on interviews of environmental organisations, the total numbers of collective actions filed by environmental organisations and the share of succesful litigation were dertermined and compared to the previous study´s results as well as to the results of regular, non-environmental law suits.
Alltogether, between 2007 and 2010 there were 100 collective actions and 191 judicial proceedings originated by environmental organisations in Germany. Compared to the period of 2002-2006, the number of collective actions per year went slightly down (25 actions per year vs. 27 actions per year respectively). The share of collective actions compared to numbers of regular actions before administrative courts is marginal.
Between 2007 and 2010, environmental organisations succeded with their claims in 42,5% of the cases, which is about the same quota as during the previous period of 2002-2006 with 40%. Compared to the success rate of regular actions before administrative courts which is 10% on average, collective actions of environmental organisations were by far more successful.
