Karolina Karpus

Legal protection of landscape in Poland in the light of the Act of 24 April 2015 amending certain acts in relation to strengthening landscape protection instruments

Landscape as an element of the environment is the subject of legal protection. However, the Polish legislator had a number of problems defining the notion of ‘landscape’. As a result, landscape was subject to dispersed, inconsistent and uncoordinated protection. The new Act of 24 April 2015 aimed to help the Polish legislator to provide more effective protection of that natural element, i.e. landscape. The aim of this work is to present the new legal situation. However, because of the enormous scope of new regulations, the analysis shows above all the changes introduced by the Act of 2004 on Nature Conservation, the Act of 2003 on Spatial Planning and Management, and the Act of 2003 on Monuments Protection and Maintenance. The analysis is preceded by a brief description of landscape protection in Poland in the period before the new legal regulations came into force.

Sprawozdanie z konferencji „Chronić chronione”, Toruń dnia 12 sierpnia 2014 r.

On 12 August 2014, the conference “To protect the protected” took place in Torun. The conference was organized by the Union of Landscape Parks of Poland and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in cooperation with the Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Torun. This event provided a forum for the exchange of views on legal and practical aspects of landscape protection in Poland. In particular, the most discussed issue was the bill of the new Polish provisions on the protection of landscape.

Dostęp do wymiaru sprawiedliwości w partycypacji społecznej w ochronie środowiska w świetle wyroku TS UE z dnia 15 stycznia 2013 r. w sprawie C-416/10 – komentarz

Celem opracowania jest analiza i ocena znaczenia wyroku TE UE w sprawie C-416/10 dotyczącego dostepu do sprawiedliwości w ramach partycypacji spolecznej w ochronie środowiska. W pierwszej cześci komentarza ujete zostaly najwazniejsze tezy uzasadnienia tego wyroku. W cześci drugiej przedstawiona zostala analiza art. 9 ust. 2 w zw. z art. 6 konwencji z Aarhus odnośnie interpretacji do zakresu legitymacji czynnej „zainteresowanej spoleczności” i uzyskania tzw. ochrony tymczasowej.

Pojęcie „»niedyskryminacyjnego ze względu na koszty« charakteru postępowań sądowych” w świetle wyroku TS UE z dnia 13 lutego 2014 r. w sprawie C-530/11 – komentarz

Case C-530/11 European Commission v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerns the access to justice in environmental matters (the third pillar of the Aarhus Convention). The main issue in this case was the concept of “»not prohibitively expensive« judicial proceeding” in environmental matters. This condition is applied to the judicial proceedings,in which the members of society are the applicants, acting in environmental protection interest. In the judgement, the CJEU presented its interpretation of this condition in favour of the parties of such proceedings. The CJEU analysed the requirements of the EU standard for the costs in judicial proceedings whenever such a proceeding can be qualified as a “proceeding in environmental matters” under the third pillar of the Aarhus Convention. High costs are a hindrance for the members of society in their participation in environmental matters, which weakens social control in the name of this public interest. In the CJEU view, the costs should not create a barrier in access to justice in such judicial proceedings. Consequently, the legislators of Member States have to review the national measures in that regard in order to ensure their consistency with this EU standard for judicial proceedings in environmental matters.

Glosa do wyroku Naczelnego Sądu Administracyjnego z dnia 15 maja 2012 r., sygn. II OSK 356/12

Glosa do wyroku Naczelnego Sądu Administracyjnego z dnia 15 maja 2012 r., sygn. II OSK 356/12

Implementation of directive 2008/50/EC of 21 May 2008 on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe in Polish environmental law

Implementation of directive 2008/50/EC of 21 May 2008 on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe in Polish environmental law