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PROPOSED LAW NO. 21 /X

Exhibition of Motives

With Law No. 65/93, of August 26 amended by Laws No. 8/95, of March 29 and para.

94/99, of July 16, which transposes to the domestic legal order Directive n.

90 /313/CEE of the Council of June 7, 1990 on the freedom of access to the

information on the environment, the process of change in the mode has been realized

how public authorities view the right of public access to information.

More recently, Directive No 2003 /4/CE, of the European Parliament and of the Council,

of January 28, 2003, in the wake of the Aarhus Convention concerning access to

information, public participation in the decision process, and access to justice in

environmental matter, comes to extend the right of access currently in force by revoking the

Directive No 90 /313/CEE.

Thus, it becomes necessary to proceed to the transposition of Directive No 2003 /4/CE into the

internal legal order, having chosen to create a specific regime for access to the

environment information, partially repealing Law No. 65/93, as regards

this matter. This option is based on the fact of the scheme for access to information

on environment to be more comprehensive and permissive that the general regime of access to

administrative documents.

Notwithstanding, it was understood that the constant legal regime of Law No. 65/93, applies

sutively in anything that is not provided for in the proposed law, specifically

with regard to the intervention and competences of the Access to Documents Commission

Administrative as an independent body.

Environmental nongovernmental organizations have been heard

The consultation of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities was triggered.

Thus:

Under the terms of the paragraph d) of Article 197 (1) of the Constitution, the Government presents to the

Assembly of the Republic, the following proposed law:

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Article 1.

Scope and object

This Law regulates access to information on the environment, in the possession of authorities

public or held on your behalf and sets the conditions for your exercise,

transposing, to the internal legal order to Directive No 2003 /4/CE of Parliament

European and of the Council of January 28, 2003 on public access to the

information on the environment and repealing Council Directive No 90 /313/CEE.

Article 2.

Objectives

This Law shall have its objectives:

a) Ensure the right of access to information on environment held by the

public authorities or on their behalf;

b) Ensuring that information on the environment is disseminated and made available to

public;

c) Promoting access to information through the use of technologies

telematics and / or electronic.

Article 3.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Law, it is understood by:

a) "Public authority",

i) The government or other bodies of the central public administration, regional or

place, as well as the own governing bodies of the Regions

Autonomas, including advisory bodies;

ii) Any natural or legal person who has responsibilities or

exercise public administrative functions related to the environment

or that pay public services related to the environment under the

control of an organism or authority referred to in the previous subparagraph,

specifically public companies.

b) Information on environment ", any information, in written form, visual,

sound, electronic or any other material form, concerning:

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i) To the state of the elements of the environment, such as air and atmosphere, water, the

soil, the land, the landscape and the areas of natural interest, including the

wetlands, the littoral and marine areas, biological diversity and

its components, including the genetically modified organisms,

and the interaction between such elements;

ii) To factors such as substances, energy, noise, radiation or the

waste, including radioactive waste, emissions, discharges and

other releases to the environment, which affect or may affect the

elements of the environment referred to in the preceding paragraph;

iii) To political, legislative and administrative measures, specifically,

plans, programmes, environmental agreements and actions that affect or may

affect the elements or factors referred to in subparagraphs i) and ii) , well

as measures or actions aimed at protege-los;

iv) To reports on the implementation of environmental legislation;

v) The cost / benefit analysis and other analyses and economic scenarios

used in the context of the measures and activities referred to in the sub-paragraph

iii) ;

vi) To the state of health and safety of people, including contamination

of the food chain, when this is relevant, the living conditions, the

places of cultural interest and constructions, as far as they are or

may be affected by the state of the elements of the environment referred to

in the subparagraph i) , or, through such elements, by any of the factors

or measures referred to in subparagraphs ii) and iii) .

c) "Information held by a public authority", any information on the

environment in the possession of a public authority and which has been drawn up or

received by the said authority;

d) "Information held on behalf of a public authority", the information on

environment materially maintained by a natural or legal person by

account of a public authority;

e) "Public", one or more natural or legal persons, associations, groups

and representative organizations, specifically organizations not

environmental government.

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f) "Applicant" means any natural or legal person who requests information

about the environment.

Article 4.

Measures to be adopted by the public authorities

1-The right of access to environmental information is ensured by the public authorities

which must for the purpose:

a) Making available to the public lists with the designation of public authorities;

b) Making available to the public lists or records of environment information in the

possession of the public authorities or held on behalf of the public authorities

or indication where the information is accessible;

c) Designate, in each public authority, the responsible for the information and

disclose to the public their identity;

d) Create and maintain facilities for consultation of information;

e) Informing the public about the right of access to information and providing support in the

exercise of that right;

f) Adopt procedures that guarantee the uniformization of information on

environment in such a way as to ensure accurate, up-to-date and comparable information.

2-The measures referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be adopted, where applicable,

with recourse to electronic means.

Article 5.

Dissemination of information

1-Public authorities collect and arrange for information about environment in their

possession or held on your behalf, within the scope of your assignments and ensure your

dissemination to the public in an active and systematic manner, through, inter alia,

telematic and / or electronic technologies, when available.

2-Public authorities shall ensure that the information referred to in the number

previous to be progressively available in electronic databases

easily accessible to the public through public telecommunications networks,

specifically through the creation of links to sites of the interne t.

3-A information referred to in this article shall be updated and shall include, by the

less:

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a) Texts of treaties, conventions or international agreements, of the legislation

national and community on the environment or with it related;

b) Policies, plans and programmes concerning the environment;

c) Reports on the implementation of the instruments referred to in the previous paragraphs;

d) National report on the state of the environment;

e) Data or summaries of the data resulting from the monitoring of activities that

affect or may affect the environment;

f) Licences and permits with significant impact on the environment, agreements

on environment, or reference to where such information may be

requested or obtained;

g) Studies of environmental impact and risk assessments concerning elements

environmental mentioned in the sub-paragraph i) of the paragraph b) of Article 3, or

reference to the place where such information may be requested or obtained.

4-The national report on the state of the environment includes information on the

quality of the environment and the pressures on it exerted and is published annually.

5-Public authorities must ensure that, in the event of an imminent threat to the

human health or the environment, caused by human action or by phenomena

natural, be disclosed immediately all information in the possession of the

public authorities or arrested on their behalf, which enable populations in

risk taking measures to prevent or reduce the damage arising from that threat.

6-The disclosure of the information applies to the basics of dismissals of the

application for access to information set out by this Law.

Article 6.

Right of access to information on environment

1-Public authorities are obliged to make available to the applicant information

on environment in your possession or held in your name, without the applicant having to

justify your interest.

2-For the purposes of the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the applicant shall submit the application

of information in writing, of which they build the essential elements to the identification

of the same, as well as its name, address and signature.

3-Access to environmental information can still be carried out through consultation

together with the public authority.

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Article 7.

Information on measurement procedures

The public authorities, when requested, provide the environment information

referred to in subparagraph i) of the paragraph b) of Article 3 of this Law, indicating, when

available, where information on the measurement procedures can be obtained,

including methods of analysis, sampling and prior treatment of samples

used for the collection of the information, or reference to the standard procedure

used in the collection.

Article 8.

Deficiency of the application

If the application is formulated in generic terms, within the maximum time of ten working days,

Counted from the date of receipt, the public authority invites and assists the applicant to

formulate it in a precise way, by providing in particular information about the

use of the records referred to in Article 4.

Article 9.

Deadline for provision of the information

1-A information on environment is made available to the applicant, the most quickly

possible, at the following deadlines:

a) Within a maximum of ten working days whenever the application has per object

information that the public authority, within the framework of the respective assignments and

by legal determination, must have treated and collated;

b) Within the maximum of one month in the remaining cases.

2-In exceptional cases, if the volume or the complexity of the information the

justify, the time limits referred to in the preceding paragraph may be extended, until the

maximum of two months, the applicant shall be informed of that fact with

indication of the respective grounds, within the maximum of ten working days.

3-The time limits provided for in this Article shall be counted from the date of receipt of the

request by the public authority.

Article 10.

Form of provision of the information

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1-A The public authority shall make available the information on environment in the form or

format requested by the applicant, except if:

a) The information already publicly available in another form or

format easily accessible to the applicant, particularly in the terms of the

article 5;

b) The public authority considers it reasonable to make the information available under another

shape or format, and in such a case, they shall communicate the reasons why it does so.

2-The reasons for the refusal to make full or partial provision of the information, under the

form or format requests, they must be communicated to the applicant within the maximum period

of ten working days, counted from the date of receipt of the application.

3-For the purposes of the provisions of this Article public authorities shall ensure

that the information about environment in your possession or held in your name is maintained

under easily reproducible and accessible forms or formats through networks of

telecommunications of data or other electronic means.

Article 11.

Dismissing the request for access to information

1-Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 8 the request for access to information on

environment can be undue when the requested information is not nor should

be in the possession of the public authority or are not detained on behalf of the authority

public to whom the application is directed.

2-When the application refers to ongoing procedures, to documents and data

incomplete or internal communications, access is deferred until the taking of

decision or the filing of the case.

3-When the application refers to internal communications, it is deinjured when the interest

public underlying the disclosure of the information prevails.

4-In the case provided for in paragraph 1, when the public authority has knowledge that the

information is in the possession of another public authority, or is held in its name,

shall, immediately, refer the application to that authority and inform the applicant.

5-If an application is referred to the ongoing procedure, the public authority refers it to the

Coordinating Authority of the procedure, which informs the applicant of the deadline

foreseeable for its completion, as well as the statutory provisions laid down in the

respective procedure relating to access to information.

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6-The request for access to information may still be undue if the disclosure of that

information impair:

a) The confidentiality of the process or information in the possession or held in

name of public authorities, when such confidentiality is planned

in the law;

b) International relations, public security or national defence;

c) The secret of justice;

d) The confidentiality of commercial or industrial information, whenever

such confidentiality is provided for in national or community legislation

to protect a legitimate economic interest, as well as the public interest

in maintaining statistical confidentiality or fiscal secrecy;

e) The intellectual property rights;

f) The confidentiality of personal data and / or files relating to a person

singular in the terms of the applicable law;

g) The interests or the protection of those who have voluntarily provided the

information, without it being or comes to be legally obliged to do so,

except if that person has authorized the disclosure of that information;

h) The protection of the environment to which the information is concerned, specifically the

location of protected species.

7-The fundamentals of rejection referred to in points to ), d), f), g) and h) of the number

previous may not be relied upon when the request for information is incited on

emissions to the environment.

8-The fundamentals of improper set out in this article shall be

interpreted narrowly by the public authorities, weighing the interest

public served by the disclosure of the information and the protected interests that

substantiate the undue.

Article 12.

Partial indeferral

The information about environment in the possession of the public authorities or held in their name

is partly made available whenever it is possible to expunge the information

covered by Article 11 (2) and (6).

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Article 13º

Notification of the improper

Within ten working days counted from the receipt of the application, the applicant is notified

in writing of the total or partial dismissal of the request for information, exposing the

grounds for the rejection as well as the information on the mechanisms of

imputation provided for in this Law.

Article 14.

Means of impugning

1-The applicant who considers that his / her request for information has been ignored,

unduly dismissed, wholly or partially, that obtained an answer

inadequate or that it has not been given compliance with this Act, may challenge the

legality of the decision, act or omission in the general terms of law.

2-The applicant may still complain to the Access to Documents Commission

Administrative (CADA), under the terms and deadlines set out in Law No. 65/93, 26 of

August, with the amendments introduced by the Laws No. 8/95, of March 29 and para.

94/99, of July 16.

3. The third parties, aggrieved by the disclosure of information, may also appeal to the

means of imputation provided for in the preceding paragraphs.

Article 15.

Access Committee on Administrative Documents

1-Compete à CADAzelar for the fulfilment of the standards set out in this Law.

2-In cases of doubt about the application of this Law, it is up to CADA to give advice

on access to information on environment, the solicitation of the applicant or the

public authority, pursuant to Law No. 65/93, of August 26 with the amendments

introduced by Laws No 8/95 of March 29 and No 94/99 of July 16.

Article 16.

Fees

1-Access to any such records or public lists drawn up and kept on the terms

of the points a) and b) of Article 4 (1) and the consultation of the information to which the

n Article 6 (3) is free of charge.

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2-Public authorities may charge a fee for the provision of information

on the environment, in accordance with Article 12 (2) of Law No 65/93, 26 of

August with the amendments introduced by the Laws No 8/95 of March 29 and para.

94/99, of July 16.

3-The non-governmental organizations of environment and equiparance covered by the

Law No. 35/98 of July 18 shall enjoy a reduction of 50% in the payment of the

fees due for access to information on the environment.

4-Public authorities affix in visible place the table of fees, as well as

information on exemption, reduction or waiver of payment.

Article 17.

Report

1-The Institute of the Environment prepares until February 15, 2009, a Report on the

application of this Law, and shall for the purpose of consulting the EACH.

2-The Report referred to in the preceding paragraph is submitted to the European Commission by 15

of August 2009.

Article 18.

Subsidiary legislation

In everything that is not specially regulated by this Law applies

subsidiary Act No. 65/93 of August 26, with the amendments introduced by the

Laws No 8/95 of March 29 and No 94/99 of July 16 regulating access to

documents from the administration.

Article 19.

Amendment to Law No. 65/93 of August 26

Article 2 of the Law No. 65/93 of August 26, as amended, is amended

conferred by Law No. 8/95 of March 29, and by Law No. 94/99 of July 16, which

is replaced by the following:

" Article 2.

[...]

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1. This Law regulates access to documents relating to activities

developed by the entities referred to in Article 3, without prejudice to the

provisions of the legislation on access to information in respect of

environment.

2. [...] "

Article 20.

Abrogation standard

Article 3 (2) of Law No. 65/93 of August 26, with the amendments, is repealed.

introduced by Laws No 8/95 of March 29 and No 94/99 of July 16.

Seen and approved in Council of Ministers of June 23, 2005

The Prime Minister

The Minister of the Presidency

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs