Die Unbeachtlichkeit von Verfahrensfehlern im deutschen Umweltrecht

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Paragraph 4 of the German Environmental Appeals Act (UmwRG) allows to challenge administrative decisions in the field of environmental law for breaches of procedural law without the requirement to proof that the procedural error had an influence on the content of the decision. The regulation, differing from the general provision on procedural errors in paragraph 46 of the Administrative Procedures Act, refers to the obligations set by the UN/ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) and its EC transformation acts such as the EC directive 2003/35/EC regarding public participation. Both the Aarhus Convention and EC environmental law require strict sanctions for breaches of procedural regulations in the area of environmental law, whereas in German law procedural errors, pursuant to paragraph 46 of the Administrative Procedures Act, remain widely without any consequences when it comes to a formal review of administrative decisions. The thesis aims to prove the necessity of a fundamental change in the scope of judicial review of the procedural legality of environmental decisions. By an analysis of the treatment of procedural errors in German administrative law, followed by a detailed examination of the obligations arising from the Aarhus Convention and the directive 2003/35/EC, the study shows that the implementation of the Aarhus Convention into national law requires an adjustment of paragraph 46 of the Administrative Procedures Act, which has not yet found termination with the initiation of paragraph 4 of the Environmental Appeals Act.