The EU Directive that guarantees to the public better access to information in the environmental field came into force on 14 February. The Directive is part of the correct application of the Aarhus Convention of 1988 by which for the first time the public was granted the triple right of access to information, of being involved in the legislative process and of obtaining compensation in the case of violation of the safeguards prescribed by the legislation. But it goes further: it incorporates the concept of “right” of access to information (instead of the vaguer “freedom of access”), obliges member states to proceed to a wider definition of environmental information, reduces from two to one month the maximum time granted to the public authorities to furnish the information requested by the public and “specifies the circumstances in which the public authorities can reject the request” (on the basis of the principle that there must be complete transparency when the general interest takes precedence over the interest protected by confidentiality”). The Directive can be consulted on the website http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment
