A Sud Ecologia e Cooperazione Odv ETS v Italy

On August 4, 2023, environmental justice NGO A Sud Ecologia e Cooperazione (A Sud) filed a communication against Italy with the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. A Sud alleges that Italy has not fulfilled its obligations under the Aarhus Convention when updating its National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) – under Regulation (EU) December 11, No. 2018/1999 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, each EU Member State has to notify the European Commission an integrated NECP by December 31, 2019, and subsequently by January 1, 2029 and every ten years thereafter. A Sud argued that Italy violated Articles 7, taken in conjunction with Article 6 paras 2,3,4,8 of the Convention by failing to provide timely and adequate public information and participation at an early stage in the process of adopting the updated Italian NECP proposal, which was allegedly communicated to the European Commission without consideration of public opinion. According to A Sud, Italy would have also breached Articles 3 and 5 of the Convention, because it did not set up a website or electronic database dedicated to the NECP with all the relevant documents available in order to provide public information and participation. During the Compliance Committee's 18th meeting held between September 19 - 22, 2023, the Committee, having heard the views of both the communicant and the Party concerned, noted that “Italy’s updated national energy and climate plan is currently still in draft form and will yet undergo a strategic environmental assessment procedure, including public participation, prior to the submission of the final updated plan to the European Commission in June 2024”. Accordingly, the Committee determined the communication to be inadmissible (for being incompatible with decision I/7, since the preparation of the updated plan had not yet been completed).