Uczestnictwo stowarzyszeń zajmujących się ochroną przyrody w postępowaniach nawiązujących w świetle judykatury Sądu Konstytucyjnego Republiki Czeskiej
Participation of nature protection associations in follow-up proceedings in the light of the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with development of the legal regulation of public participation, specifically of ecological associations dealing with nature and landscape protection, in proceedings in which the public interest in nature and landscape protection may be affected. Typically, this concerns the permitting of construction projects in the landscape. The article’s author shows that the originally broad concept of public participation in proceedings under Nature and Landscape Protection Act and under other laws from the environmental law system has gradually become limited by the legislators. The alleged limitation of the right of public participation was recently also addressed by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. By a very close vote (8 : 7), it approved the legislation limiting public participation in administrative proceedings following proceedings under the Nature and Landscape Protection Act. In the text, the author discussed the different opinions on this ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. Thus, the article aims to present observations de lege lata (using the so-called follow-up proceedings as a case study) regarding access to justice in environmental matters for environmental organizations from the perspective of the Czech legal system. It can be an interesting contribution to the discussion on EU-wide challenges in this matter, inter alia, because the article provides an in-depth legal context that may be useful for comparative purposes.

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