ABOUT J&E

MEMBERS *  MISSION * FOCUS * EQAULITY * ACTIVITIES *  WORK METHODS

J&E was established informally in 2003 and subsequently incorporated in September 2004. J&E currently has six  members and six associate members. Full members of J&E are:

Associated members:je-countries-map-2008

Mission ?

Justice & Environment is a non-governmental, non-partisan and independent association  of public interest environmental law organisations, based in the EU member states. J&E aims to use law to protect people, the environment and nature. Our primary goal is to ensure the implementation and enforcement of the EU legislation through the use of European law and exchange of information.


J&E Focus ?

Recent rounds of EU enlargement has brought significant pressures to European citizens. With the transposition of the Acquis communautaire, a tremendous amount of new legislation has been brought in to countries with developing but still young democratic traditions. Citizens from new Member States all too often find that public institutions do not act in the true public interest, preventing these same citizens from defending their rights and the environment. Such cases frequently concern development projects, many of them utilizing tax payers money in the form of EU funds or state incentives. Cases involving the conflict between rapid economic growth and environmental values or rights of local citizens are the focus of the J&E.

J&E is sure that for any policy, not just environmental, correct interpretation and implementation of the law is a key issue. The EU has put in place policies which safeguard the rights of its citizens, and NGOs have a key role in ensuring that the state correctly performs its duties. These transposition and implementation issues are relevant to every EU Member State. By working on these issues, J&E is best seen as a legal, not environmental, NGO.

Equal opportunities and non discrimination ?

The policy is part of the J&E internal rules and is binding for the association. The association is non – discriminatory and encourages equal opportunity and gender mainstreaming within the network. The Association actively strives for equal involvement of all individuals, regardless of gender, race, colour, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, national origin, age or disability in the entire association; this includes the members of the advisory board, executive committee, and working groups; among the coordinators; and the participants of the annual general meeting and in events and activities organised by the association (such as training sessions, discussions, email conferences, etc.). In case of un-balanced representation in above mentioned bodies and activities of the association there will be an action plan formulated in which the issue is solved as soon as possible and feasible. The general assembly is responsible to monitor the implementation of this rule.

Activities ?

Justice & Environment works on the EU and national levels Internationally, J&E focuses on implementation and transposition of horizontal legal issues. The strong grass roots contacts of our members encouraged J&E to concentrate on horizontal problems with the Aarhus Convention and related legislation, Environmental impact assessment, Environmental Liability, pollution, Natura 2000, Transport and organisational capacity. We often find synergies between these fields. The structure of J&E, the scope of our members’ activities and our legal experience in the area of EU environmental law, provide added value and allow us to examine these issues from a broad perspective.
J&E adds real benefit to the public knowledge of EU law. The network has a unique ability to analyse and evaluate the implementation of the environmental acquis in EU Member States. We provide an expert, comparative perspective in identifying and assessing gaps in the implementation of existing EU environmental provisions. J&E also evaluates the impact that new EU environmental provisions can have on Member States given the specific characteristics of their legal systems, economic development and natural environment. Our work provides a public record of information not otherwise available, in the form of legal analysis, case studies, position papers and subsequent communication of this message to decision makers.
J&E cooperates with the Green 10. As a legal specialist, J&E fills a niche in providing hard evidence for the lobbying efforts of EU level environmental NGOs. Organisations such as the EEB, Bankwatch, T&E and Birdlife International need this information for their lobbying efforts. The information flow is two way: J&E also receives information from the Green 10 on the current issues in EU policy development and lawmaking, enabling us to keep up with the state of the play. J&E then re-distributes this information to network members.

At the national level, J&E aims to make governments more accountable for their actions. A problem faced by our members is the difficulty that national level NGOs have in resolving implementation issues. This was one of the primary reasons for the formation of J&E to actively support and boost the effectiveness of the work of J&E members.

Members of J&E are national experts in environmental law. All are experienced with their national legal systems and the challenges faced by their respective NGO communities. Members share many similarities: they serve as environmental law “service points� for the environmental movement in their home countries, most are active in influencing national legislation and all provide educational activities for environmental NGOs and other stakeholders. J&E members are rightly distinct and all benefit from exchange of their experience.

J&E provides direct financial support to its members, allowing them to litigate, lobby and educate for positive change. Ongoing internal capacity building helps members develop expertise in EU environmental law and progressively incorporate further aspects of EU law into their agenda on the national level. National activities give substance and specific outputs for our work on international level, which reciprocally strengthens capacities of the network and its members.

What we do in detail ?

Analysis -For each country, where J&E members are active we research the situation concerning legal implementation, application and enforcement of the issue and relevant related EC directives. By comparing EU law to national law, we understand the legal mechanisms used for implementation to determine their efficiency in protecting the environment.

Collecting case studies -We compile collections of major national cases to portray the situation in the region, where J&E members are active – legal issues, legal tools used and outcomes establishing change. J&E understands whether there is good or bad application of the law on a country by country basis

Compiling joint position papers -Based on the above analysis and case studies, we prepare position papers presenting deficiencies in each of our countries and propose the solutions. These position papers are disseminated to governments of J&E members, to the European Commission and to organizations operating on the EU level (see discussion and education below).

Strategic complaint -We identify (a) legal case(s) that best represents the deficiencies in the implementation and/or application of the issue relevant EC directives, which thus might be suitable to present as a strategic complaint with the relevant authorities, including with the European Commission.

Discussion and education -J&E members hold events, both internally and externally, to share information and build capacity. J&E will open stakeholdersâ dialogue with representatives of other NGOs, both those operating on the EU level and grass roots NGOs with experience in application of the relevant issue. We will take special care to include representatives of NGOs from the Western Balkans, Bulgaria, and Romania in addition to those from Member States.

Outreach -For all of the above mentioned activities we use J&E’s existing web site and the sites of the members in national languages and electronic conference to spread the information among NGOs, and the expert and general public. Publications use a cost and environmentally sensitive combination of print and electronic formats.

Needs Analysis -For some topics we cover only needs analysis to map out requirements for future work.

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