Key Benefits:
The Prime Minister,
On the report of the Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development,
Given the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Information Environmental justice in Aarhus dated 25 June 1998, published by Decree No. 2002-1187 of 12 September 2002;
Given the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, signed at Espoo on 25 February 1991, published by Decree No. 2001-1176 of 5 December 2001;
Having regard to Council Directive 85 /337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment
Directive 2003 /4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90 /313/EEC;
Having regard to Council Directive 2003 /35/EC of 26 May 2003 Providing for public participation in the preparation of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending, as regards public participation in access to justice, Council Directives 85 /337/EEC and 96 /61/EC ;
Given the code of the environment, in particular its book Ier;
In view of the law n ° 78-753 of 17 July 1978, as amended concerning various measures to improve relations between the administration and the public and various administrative provisions, Social and fiscal policy;
In view of Act No. 2005-1319 of 26 October 2005 laying down various provisions for adaptation to Community law in the field of the environment;
Having regard to Decree No. 77-1133 of 21 September 1977, as amended, for the application of Law No. 76-663 of 19 July 1976 on installations classified for the protection of the environment;
Given the decree n ° 2004-936 of 30 August 2004 establishing a service with national competence in the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development And the dissolution of the national public establishment named " French Institute of the Environment " ;
In view of Decree No. 2005-1755 of 30 December 2005 on the freedom of access to administrative documents and the re-use of public information, taken for the purposes of Law No. 78-753 of 17 July 1978;
In view of the opinion of the Administrative Records Access Board as of March 30, 2006;
The Council of State (Public Works Section) heard,
Decorated:
Chapter II of Title II of the book Ier of the Environment Code (regulatory part) is amended as follows:
I.-Article R. 122-4 of the Environment Code is Replaced by the following:
" Art. R. 122-4. -Are not subject to the impact assessment procedure the maintenance work and major repairs, regardless of the works or arrangements to which they relate. The modernisation and reinforcement work referred to in Article R. 122-5 shall be subject to an impact study only when they exceed the thresholds laid down in Article R. 122-8. "
II. -The first two paragraphs of III of Article R. 122-11 are replaced by the following:
" III. -Where it finds that a project is likely to have a significant impact on the environment of another State, member of the European Union or party to the Convention of 25 February 1991 on the assessment of environmental impact in a Signed in Espoo, or when it is seized by the State affected by the project, the competent authority shall without delay notify it of the order for the opening of the public inquiry and shall transmit to it a copy of the investigation file. The non-technical summary of the impact study referred to in Article R. 122-3 of Article R. 122-3 and the indication of the way in which the public inquiry is part of the administrative procedure shall be translated, if necessary, into the language of the State concerned, the costs Being at the expense of the petitioner or the contractor. The notification of the initiation of the investigation also sets out the period of time available to the authorities of that State to demonstrate their intention to participate in the public inquiry. The public inquiry cannot begin before this time limit expires.
" The Minister for Foreign Affairs shall be informed in advance by the competent authority. If it is a territorial community, it forwards the case to the prefect. "
III. -Article R. 122-12 is replaced by the following:
" Art. R. 122-12. -I.-In the absence of a public inquiry or equivalent procedure for consulting the public provided for in a particular text and before any decision to authorise, approve or carry out works or works requiring a study An impact statement or an impact statement of which the State or one of its public establishments is the owner, the latter shall make available to the public a file containing the impact statement or the notice of impact and, where appropriate, the application Authorisation, the indication of the competent authorities to take the decision and those of the persons to whom information on the project may be obtained. For a period of one month for an impact study and 15 days for an impact notice, the public will be made available under the following conditions:
" 1 ° The owner publishes a notice that fixes:
" (a) The date on which the record referred to in paragraph 1 is made available to the public and the length of time during which it can be consulted;
" (b) The places, days and times when the public may become aware of the file and make observations on an open register for that
. 2 ° The notice referred to in 1 ° shall be published by posters in the municipalities concerned. Where the project involves an impact assessment, the notice shall also be published in two newspapers broadcast in the département, at least eight days before the date on which the impact assessment is made available to the public. Where the impact statement relates to an operation of national significance, the notice shall be published in two national broadcast
. 3 ° The owner shall take stock of the making available to the public and shall keep it available to the public in accordance with procedures which he determines. When the project is subject to authorisation or approval, this balance sheet shall be sent to the competent authority.
" II. -Where the works are undertaken on behalf of the national defence services, the Minister responsible for the defence shall organise the information and public consultation in accordance with arrangements which are compatible with the secrecy of the national defence. It is up to it to preserve. "
Chapter III of Title II of the book Ier of the Environment Code (regulatory part) is amended as follows:
I.-Article R. 123-6 is thus amended:
1 ° The I is completed by an 8 ° thus written :
" 8 ° Where they are made compulsory by a legislative or regulatory text, the opinions issued by an administrative authority on the proposed operation. "
2 ° 2 ° of II is thus written:
" 2 ° The parts referred to in 2 °, 7 ° and 8 ° of the I above. "
II. -Article R. 123-13 is completed by the 6 ° to 9 ° thus written:
" 6 ° If the project has been the subject of an impact statement or an impact statement under the conditions laid down in Articles R. 122-1 to R. 122-16, the reference to the presence of that document in the investigation file;
" 7 ° Information that, where appropriate, the public investigation file is transmitted to another state;
" 8 ° The identity of the competent authority to make the authorization or approval decision and the nature thereof;
" 9 ° The identity of the person responsible for the project or the authority to which information may be requested. "
III. -Article R. 123-24 is replaced by the following:
" Art. R. 123-24. -The public inquiry shall be conducted in accordance with R. 123-9, R. 123-13, R. 123-16, R. 123-17, R. 123-20, R. 123-21 and R. 123-22, as well as in accordance with the provisions of this section. Sections R. 123-10, R. 123-11 and R. 123-12 relating to the remuneration of the investigating commissioner apply subject to R. 123-38. "
IV. -Article R. 123-28 is replaced by the following:
" Art. R. 123-28. -Failing bilateral agreements by providing otherwise, the costs of the investigation, including the compensation of the investigating commissioners and members of the commission of inquiry, possible costs of translation and the costs incurred by the Making available to the investigating commissioner or the commission of inquiry the material resources necessary for the organisation and conduct of the investigation procedure shall be taken over by the State. "
Chapter IV of Title II of Book I of the Environment Code (Regulatory Party) is replaced by the following:
" Chapter IV
"Right of access to environmental information
" Art. R. 124-1. -I.-The public authority having a request for environmental information shall be required to give an express decision within one month of receipt of the
. This period shall be extended to two months when the volume or complexity of the information requested justifies it. Within a period of one month from the date of receipt of the request, the public authority shall inform its author of the extension of the deadline and shall indicate the reasons for the
. II. -Where the request is formulated in too general terms, the public authority may reject it only after having invited its author to specify it within a time limit which it determines. It shall inform the applicant of the existence of the directories or lists of categories of information referred to in Article L. 124-7 and the means to access them.
" III. -Where the request relates to information which it does not hold, the public authority shall forward it to the public authority which may hold the information and shall notify the person concerned within one
. Art. R. 124-2. -The person responsible for access to administrative documents designated pursuant to Article 24 of Act No. 78-753 of 17 July 1978 is responsible for access to information relating to the environment. Those of the public authorities referred to in Article L. 124-3 to which Article 42 of Decree No. 2005-1755 of 30 December 2005 concerning freedom of access to administrative documents and the re-use of information does not apply Public means a person who is responsible for access to information about the environment they own or who is held on their behalf. They shall inform the public by any appropriate means.
" Art. R. 124-3. -I.-The person responsible for access to environmental information is responsible, in this capacity:
" 1 ° receive requests for access to environmental information, as well as any claims, and ensure their processing;
" 2 ° Ensure liaison between the designated public authority and the Administrative Records Access Commission.
" II. -It may also be responsible for establishing an annual review of requests for access to information relating to the environment which it submits to the public authority which has designated it and which it sends to the Committee on Access to Documents Administrative.
" Art. R. 124-4. -I.-For the implementation of the obligations incumbent upon them under Article L. 124-7, public authorities shall, inter alia, make available to the public a list of services, bodies, public establishments or persons Under their authority, on behalf of or under the control of public service missions in relation to the environment. This list includes the following information:
" (a) The name or name, followed, if any, by the acronym and address of the services, bodies, public institutions or persons concerned;
" (b) The nature and purpose of the mission;
" (c) The categories of environment information held.
" II. -The public authorities shall inform the Minister responsible for the environment (Institut français de l' environnement) and the Committee on Access to Administrative Documents of the establishment of these lists and the directories referred to in Article L. 124-7.
" Art. R. 124-5. -I.-Must be publicly disseminated within the meaning of Article L. 124-8 categories of information relating to the following environment:
1 ° Treaties, conventions and international agreements, as well as Community, national, regional and local legislation concerning or related to the environment;
" 2 ° Plans and programmes and documents defining public policies relating to the environment;
" 3 ° The reports drawn up by the public authorities or on their behalf relating to the state of implementation of the texts and actions mentioned at 1 ° and 2 ° when these reports are prepared or kept in electronic form by the Public authorities;
" 4 ° Reports prepared by public authorities on the state of the environment;
" 5 ° Data or summaries of data collected by public authorities as part of the monitoring of activities having or likely to have an impact on the environment;
" 6. Authorizations that have a significant impact on the environment and environmental agreements;
" 7 ° Environmental impact assessments and risk assessments concerning the environmental elements referred to in Article L. 124-2.
" II. -The information mentioned in the I which has not been published in the Official Journal of the French Republic or the European Union or under the conditions laid down in Articles 29 to 33 of Decree No 2005-1755 of 30 December 2005 concerning freedom Access to administrative documents and the re-use of public information shall be published in electronic form by 31 December 2008 at the
. The dissemination of the information referred to in the 6 ° and 7 ° of the I may consist of the indication of the places where the public can read it. "
The Minister responsible for the environment shall prepare a report on the implementation of the measures taken pursuant to Article 3. This report shall be communicated to the European Commission by 14 August 2009 at the latest.
Articles R. 124-1 to R. 124-5 of the Environment Code apply to Mayotte.
The decree of 21 September 1977 referred to above is amended as follows:
I.-After the seventh paragraph of Article 5, the following paragraphs are inserted:
" 5 ° The presence of an impact statement in the investigation file;
" 6 ° The transmission, if any, of the public investigation file to another State;
" 7 ° The identity of the competent authority to make the authorization or approval decision and the nature thereof;
" 8 ° The identity of the person responsible for the project or the authority to which information may be requested. "
II. Article 9-1 shall be replaced by the following:
" Art. 9-1. -The Prefect shall implement the provisions of Article R. 222-11 of the Environment
: 1 ° Where the perimeter defined in the seventh paragraph of Article 5 includes a crossborder commune;
" 2 ° Where the project is likely to have a significant impact in another State or where the authorities of that State so request. "
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development and the Minister for Overseas Affairs shall each have responsibility for the execution of this Decree, which shall be published In the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done at Paris, 22 May 2006.
Dominique de Villepin
By the Prime Minister:
Minister of Ecology
and Sustainable Development,
Nelly Olin
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Philippe Douste-Blazy
The Minister for Overseas Affairs,
François
Baroin
