Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.30925/zpfsr.39.1.9
HARMONIZATION OF CROATIAN LEGISLATION WITH EU LAW IN THE FIELD OF WATER PROTECTION WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE
Lana Ofak
orcid.org/0000-0001-7585-6370
; University of Zagreb Law Faculty, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The legal protection of water is a field of law with the highest number of
initiated infringement proceedings against EU member states related to violations of environmental law. In addition, the European State of Environment Report – State and Outlook in 2015 determined that EU member states were far from having healthy aquatic ecosystems, and the target of achieving a good status by 2015 was reached by only half of surface water bodies. This paper will analyse certain aspects of legal protection of water which EU Member States are obliged to provide under the Water Framework Directive. This paper will examine the compatibility of Croatian legislation with the provisions of the Water Framework Directive and the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), as interpreted by the Court of Justice in Judgments
C-461/13 Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland ("Weser") and C-664/15
Protect Natur-, Arten- und Landschaftschutz Umweltorganisation. The paper will also
offer some solutions for harmonizing Croatian legislation with the provisions of the
Water Framework Directive and the Aarhus Convention.
Keywords
Water Framework Directive; Aarhus Convention; Water Act; Environmental Protection Act; Case Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union
Hrčak ID:
199755
URI
Publication date:
9.4.2018.
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