First National Report on Aarhus Convention Implementation

The Republic of Croatia has been a party to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Official Gazette – International Treaties 01/07), i.e., the Aarhus Convention, since 27 March 2007 and has the obligation, under the Convention, to prepare its first National Report on Aarhus Convention implementation and to submit it to the Convention Secretariat.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction, in co-operation with the Working Group for Report Preparation (consisting of representatives of the relevant Ministries and other public administration bodies) coordinated preparation of the Draft Report. Such Draft Report was made available to the public and civil organisations through the web site of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction, and a public debate was held at the premises of the “Tribina grada Zagreba” in Zagreb in March 2009. Representatives of the Working Group, several NGO’s and journalists attended the debate.

Comments and suggestions received during the public insight and public debate were accepted and, according to the provisions of the Convention, the Report was abbreviated and translated into English (one of the official languages of the Convention).

The First National Report on Aarhus Convention Implementation was submitted to the Convention Secretariat, UNECE, Geneva, on 14 May 2009, and was accepted by it.

Report on Aarhus Convention Implementation (pdf)