CASE LAW ON THE PARTICIPATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS IN PROCEEDINGS FOR OFFENCES UNDER THE NATURE AND LANDSCAPE PROTECTION ACT
One of the evergreens of Czech environmental law has long been the legal regulation of public participation, specifically of environmental associations, in administrative proceedings concerning environmental protection. Let us just recall the legal regulation of participation under Act No. 100/2001 Coll., on Environmental Impact Assessment, Act No. 76/2002 Coll., on Integrated Prevention or Act No. 254/2001 Coll., on Water. However, the longest legal regulation of participation exists under Act No. 114/1992 Coll., on Nature and Landscape Protection, even though since 2018 in a limited form. On the whole, the case law of the courts on the participation of associations pursuant to Section 70 of the Act on Nature and Landscape Protection has already been established with regard to participation in administrative proceedings conducted pursuant to this Act, typically in proceedings on applications for exemptions from prohibited activities (for example, pursuant to Section 43 or Section 56 of the Act on Nature and Landscape Protection). In recent years, however, question marks have been raised as to whether environmental associations can also be parties to proceedings for offences under the terms of Section 70 of the Act. However, not in the sense that the association is an offender, but in the sense of whether the association can be a party to the proceedings with the offender.
The article analyses the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic, Case No. 2 As 371/2023-34 of 29 January 2025 and cites the key ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic of 18 December 2018, Case No. II ÚS 1685/17.
doc. JUDr. Vojtěch Stejskal, Ph.D.
Vojtěch Stejskal je docentem na Katedře práva životního prostředí Právnické fakulty Univerzity Karlovy.
