guaranteeing the right of public access to environmental information received or produced by ►M1  Union ◄ institutions or bodies and held by them, and by setting out the basic terms and conditions of, and practical arrangements for, the exercise of that right;

ensuring that environmental information is progressively made available and disseminated to the public in order to achieve its widest possible systematic availability and dissemination. To that end, the use, in particular, of computer telecommunication and/or electronic technology, where available, shall be promoted;

providing for public participation concerning plans and programmes relating to the environment;

granting access to justice in environmental matters at ►M1  Union ◄ level under the conditions laid down by this Regulation.

‘applicant’ means any natural or legal person requesting environmental information;

‘the public’ means one or more natural or legal persons, and associations, organisations or groups of such persons;

‘ ►M1  Union ◄ institution or body’ means any public institution, body, office or agency established by, or on the basis of, ►M1  TFEU ◄ except when acting in a judicial or legislative capacity. However, the provisions under Title II shall apply to  ►M1  Union ◄ institutions or bodies acting in a legislative capacity;

‘environmental information’ means any information in written, visual, aural, electronic or any other material form on:

‘plans and programmes relating to the environment’ means plans and programmes,

General environmental action programmes shall also be considered as plans and programmes relating to the environment.

This definition shall not include financial or budget plans and programmes, namely those laying down how particular projects or activities should be financed or those related to the proposed annual budgets, internal work programmes of a ►M1  Union ◄ institution or body, or emergency plans and programmes designed for the sole purpose of civil protection;

‘environmental law’ means ►M1  Union ◄ legislation which, irrespective of its legal basis, contributes to the pursuit of the objectives of ►M1  Union ◄ policy on the environment as set out in ►M1  TFEU ◄ : preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment, protecting human health, the prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources, and promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems;

‘administrative act’ means any non-legislative act adopted by a Union institution or body, which has legal and external effects and contains provisions that may contravene environmental law within the meaning of point (f) of Article 2(1);

‘administrative omission’ means any failure of a Union institution or body to adopt a non-legislative act which has legal and external effects, where such failure may contravene environmental law within the meaning of point (f) of Article 2(1).

Articles 81, 82, 86 and 87 of ►M1  TFEU ◄ (competition rules);

Articles 226 and 228 of ►M1  TFEU ◄ (infringement proceedings);

Article 195 of ►M1  TFEU ◄ (Ombudsman proceedings);

Article 280 of ►M1  TFEU ◄ (OLAF proceedings).

texts of international treaties, conventions or agreements, and of ►M1  Union ◄ legislation on the environment or relating to it, and of policies, plans and programmes relating to the environment;

progress reports on the implementation of the items referred to under (a) where prepared or held in electronic form by ►M1  Union ◄ institutions or bodies;

steps taken in proceedings for infringements of ►M1  Union ◄ law from the stage of the reasoned opinion pursuant to Article 226(1) of ►M1  TFEU ◄ ;

reports on the state of the environment as referred to in paragraph 4;

data or summaries of data derived from the monitoring of activities affecting, or likely to affect, the environment;

authorisations with a significant impact on the environment, and environmental agreements, or a reference to the place where such information can be requested or accessed;

environmental impact studies and risk assessments concerning environmental elements, or a reference to the place where such information can be requested or accessed.

the draft proposal, where available;

the environmental information or assessment relevant to the plan or programme under preparation, where available; and

practical arrangements for participation, including:

it is an independent non-profit-making legal person in accordance with a Member State's national law or practice;

it has the primary stated objective of promoting environmental protection in the context of environmental law;

it has existed for more than two years and is actively pursuing the objective referred to under (b);

the subject matter in respect of which the request for internal review is made is covered by its objective and activities.

they shall demonstrate impairment of their rights caused by the alleged contravention of Union environmental law and that they are directly affected by such impairment in comparison with the public at large; or

they shall demonstrate a sufficient public interest and that the request is supported by at least 4 000 members of the public residing or established in at least five Member States, with at least 250 members of the public coming from each of those Member States.

In the cases referred to in the first subparagraph, the members of the public shall be represented by a non-governmental organisation which meets the criteria set out in paragraph 1 or by a lawyer authorised to practise before a court of a Member State. That non-governmental organisation or lawyer shall cooperate with the Union institution or body concerned in order to establish that the quantitative conditions in point (b) of the first subparagraph are met, where applicable, and shall provide further evidence thereof upon request.