1. The European Ombudsman and the Aarhus Convention
Presentation at the 4th meeting of the Aarhus Convention Task Force on Access to Justice, Geneva,
7-8 February 2011

2. What is an ombudsman? An external mechanism …
… which is independent and impartial…
… with power to investigate and report…
… on complaints against public authorities.
No power to make legally binding decisions
7 February 2011

3. The European Ombudsman
Established by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993
The European Parliament elects the Ombudsman
7 February 2011

4. P. Nikiforos Diamandouros

5. Reporting and independence
Annual and special reports are presented to the European Parliament
“The Ombudsman shall be completely independent in the performance of his duties. In the performance of those duties he shall neither seek nor take instructions from any Government, institution, body, office or entity”
7 February 2011

6. Investigations Investigates “maladministration” – includes illegality
… at the European Union level (institutions, bodies, offices and agencies)
… with the exception of the Court of Justice in its judicial role
Aims to achieve win-win outcomes
Cannot deal with matters that are, or have been, before a court
7 February 2011

7. Who may complain?
Any citizen of the Union or any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State
The Ombudsman may also investigate on his own initiative
2008 Memorandum of Understanding with the European Investment Bank: the own-initiative power is used to deal with complaints from non-citizens residing outside the EU
There is no requirement to be personally affected: public interest complaints are possible
7 February 2011

8. The Ombudsman’s powers
To see all the documents
To require officials to answer questions
To make recommendations
To publicise his findings
7 February 2011

9. The Ombudsman and Aarhus
Regulation 1367/2006 (Aarhus Regulation)
Regulation 1049/2001 (The general Regulation on access to documents held by EU institutions)
Commission Decisions 2008/50/EC and 2008/401/EC, Euratom
NB: the Commission's role as “guardian of the Treaties” includes enforcement of Directives 85/337/EEC, 2003/4/EC and 2003/35/EC
7 February 2011

10. Public participation and internal review
No cases yet concerning specifically the Aarhus Regulation or the Commission Decisions. For comparison, see:
Consultation on Citizenship (406/2008)
Roaming services (3617/2006)
European Bio-fuels Technology Platform (1152/2008/DK - ongoing)
7 February 2011

11. Infringement complaints based on the Aarhus Directive
Implementation by Lithuania (1628/2008)
Vienna airport (1532/2008) and c.f. Barcelona high-speed rail link (244/2006)
Case 0049/2011/AN (ongoing)
7 February 2011

12. Access to documents and information
Pontevedra Estuary (443/2008)
Granadilla (355/2007)
Framework Agreement with Tajikistan (2145/2009)
Drift nets (1861/2009/AN - ongoing)
Bulgarian and Romanian nuclear power plants (2335/2008/VIK and 127/2010/VIK – ongoing)
7 February 2011

13. Limits of the Ombudsman’s role
Judicial activity is excluded
‘Maladministration’ does not encompass review of the validity of EU legislation
7 February 2011