The possibility in the instant case of resorting to other mechanisms to ensure effective access to justice is not a form of legal aid.

(b) improving the public participation and providing for provisions on access to justice within Council Directives 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EC.

The generally recognised right to access to justice is also reaffirmed by Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

(5) On 25 June 1998 the Community signed the UN/ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Arhus Convention).

Legal aid is regarded as appropriate when it allows the recipient effective access to justice under the conditions laid down in this Directive.

The purpose of this Directive is to improve access to justice in cross-border disputes by establishing minimum common rules relating to legal aid in such disputes.

(23) The data should be disseminated taking into account the UN/ECE 1998 Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters (Aarhus Convention) and relevant Community provisions on access to environmental information.

Council Directive 2002/8/EC of 27 January 2003 to improve access to justice in cross-border disputes by establishing minimum common rules relating to legal aid for such disputes

This Directive seeks to promote the application of legal aid in cross-border disputes for persons who lack sufficient resources where aid is necessary to secure effective access to justice.

If pre-litigation advice is offered, the benefit of further legal aid may be refused or cancelled on grounds related to the merits of the case in so far as access to justice is guaranteed.

The complexity of and differences between the legal systems of the Member States and the costs inherent in the cross-border dimension of a dispute should not preclude access to justice.

What constitutes a sufficient interest and impairment of a right shall be determined by the Member States, consistently with the objective of giving the public concerned wide access to justice.

Neither the lack of resources of a litigant, whether acting as claimant or as defendant, nor the difficulties flowing from a dispute's cross-border dimension should be allowed to hamper effective access to justice.

Natural persons involved in a dispute covered by this Directive shall be entitled to receive appropriate legal aid in order to ensure their effective access to justice in accordance with the conditions laid down in this Directive.

Member States should be allowed to reject applications for legal aid in respect of manifestly unfounded actions or on grounds related to the merits of the case in so far as pre-litigation advice is offered and access to justice is guaranteed.

Member States shall grant legal aid to persons referred to in Article 3(1) who are partly or totally unable to meet the costs of proceedings referred to in Article 3(2) as a result of their economic situation, in order to ensure their effective access to justice.

Directive 2003/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending with regard to public participation and access to justice Council Directives 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EC

This Convention shall not affect the application of Article 23 of the Convention on civil procedure of 17 July 1905, Article 24 of the Convention on civil procedure of March 1954 or Article 13 of the Convention on international access to justice of 25 October 1980 between the Member States parties to these Conventions.

This Regulation shall not affect the application of Article 23 of the Convention on Civil Procedure of 17 July 1905, Article 24 of the Convention on Civil Procedure of 1 March 1954 or Article 13 of the Convention on International Access to Justice of 25 October 1980 between the Member States Parties to these Conventions.

Provision for access to environmental information and to justice and for public participation in policy-making will be important to the success of the Programme.

ensuring access to information, participation and justice through early ratification of the Aarhus Convention f) by the Community and by Member States;

The purpose of this notice is to ensure compatibility between current administrative practice regarding access to the file and the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the Court of First Instance, in particular the 'Soda-ash` cases (1).

When depositing its instruments of accession, the acceding Member State shall indicate which of its highest Courts has, or shall have, the right to ask the Court of Justice to give preliminary rulings on questions of interpretation in accordance with Article 2 (1) (a).

The European Council also concluded that it will review the situation relating to any outstanding disputes, in particular concerning the repercussions on the accession process and in order to promote their settlement through the International Court of Justice, at the latest by the end of 2004.

REALISING that according to point 48 of the Action plan of the Council and the Commission of 3 December 1998 on how best to implement the provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam on an area of freedom, security and justice fn, there is a need to examine whether and how the European Police Office (Europol) could have access to the Customs Information System,

With the entry into force of the Treaty concerning the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union, the new official languages, namely Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Slovak and Slovene, should be added to the list of languages of the case provided for in Article 29(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice of the European Communities,

(1) With the entry into force of the Treaty concerning the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union, the number of Judges comprising the Court of Justice will rise from 15 to 25, in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 221 of the Treaty establishing the European Community and with the first paragraph of Article 137 of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community.

ensuring legal certainty and improving access to justice;

safety, security and access to justice for all through reform of police, judiciary and penal systems,

and improve access to justice, while guaranteeing the professionalism and independence of the judicial systems; and

It is accordingly necessary for the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters to promote access to justice.

to improve information to the public on access to justice, judicial cooperation and the legal systems of the Member States in civil matters.

improving the public participation and providing for provisions on access to justice within Council Directives 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EC.

On 25 June 1998 the Community signed the UN/ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Arhus Convention).

On 25 June 1998 the European Community signed the UN/ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters ("the Aarhus Convention").

The data should be disseminated taking into account the UN/ECE 1998 Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters (Aarhus Convention) and relevant Community provisions on access to environmental information.

whereas the Commission published on 14 February 1996 a plan of action on consumer access to justice and the settlement of consumer disputes in the internal market;

This Directive shall be without prejudice to any provisions of national law which regulate access to justice and those which require that administrative review procedures be exhausted prior to recourse to judicial proceedings.

At its meeting in Tampere on 15 and 16 October 1999 , the European Council called for the drawing-up of minimum standards on the protection of the victims of crime, in particular on crime victims' access to justice and their rights to compensation for damages, including legal costs.

the establishment and maintenance of an information system for the public on judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters in the European Union, relevant Community and international instruments and the domestic law of the Member States, with particular reference to access to justice.

The information sheets shall be devoted by way of priority to questions relating to access to justice in the Member States and shall include information on the procedures for bringing cases in the courts and for obtaining legal aid, without prejudice to other Community initiatives, to which the Network shall have the fullest regard.

The objectives of the proposed action, namely to improve effective judicial cooperation between the Member States and effective access to justice for persons engaging in cross-border litigation cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore by reason of the scale or effects of the action be better achieved at Community level,

sustainable and equitable development involving, inter alia, access to productive resources, essential services and justice;

ensuring access to information, participation and justice through early ratification of the Aarhus Convention(7) by the Community and by Member States;

Nevertheless, in order to ensure the smooth operation of the justice system, Member States may lay down specific rules for access to supreme courts, such as the use of specialist lawyers.

Whereas, as the Court of Justice has held, Articles 128 and 7 of the Treaty prohibit any discrimination between nationals of the Member States as regards access to vocational training in the Community;

Whereas to ensure the smooth operation of the justice system Member States should be allowed, by means of specific rules, to reserve access to their highest courts to specialist lawyers, without hindering the integration of Member States' lawyers fulfilling the necessary requirements;

Whereas, following the Judgment of the Court of Justice of 22 May 1985 in Case 13/83 (4) and the conclusions adopted on 28 and 29 June 1985 by the European Council on the Commission communication on the completion of the internal market, on 21 June 1988 the Council adopted Regulation (EEC) No 1841/88 (5) amending Regulation (EEC) No 3164/76 on access to the market in the international carriage of goods by road (6);

Whereas compatibility should be ensured between the Commission's current administrative practices and the case-law of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance of the European Communities in accordance with the Commission notice on the internal rules of procedure for processing requests for access to the file in cases pursuant to Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty, Articles 65 and 66 of the ECSC Treaty and Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (11);

With the entry into force of the Treaty concerning the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union(1), the new official languages, namely Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Slovak and Slovene, should be added to the list of languages of the case provided for in Article 29(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice of the European Communities,