The eighth meeting of the Task Force on Access to Information was held in Geneva on 9 - 10 November 2023.
The Task Force featured an international workshop “Advancing public access to environment-related product information: challenges and opportunities” (see tab below) that was organized in cooperation with the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) , UNEP and ONE Planet Network and European Environment Agency. The workshop considered challenges and opportunities in advancing public access to environment-related product information, including legal and policy developments, the use of product passports and other digital tools, means to encourage operators to inform the public and measures against greenwashing. The workshop provided an opportunity to share experiences of public authorities, civil society, private sector, academia, international organisations and other stakeholders in this area.
Furthermore, the meeting of the Task Force promoted the exchange of case studies, good practices and challenges and consider recent and upcoming developments in relation to strengthening public access to environmental information. In particular, the Task Force discussed (a) the scope of environmental information in accordance with article 2 (3) of the Convention; (b) access to information on emissions into the environment; and (c) the provision of information to the public authorities by third parties both routinely and in case of an imminent threat to human health or the environment. The Task Force took stock of the use of the updated Recommendations on electronic information tools and activities of other relevant international forums.
For further information, please read the following UNECE article "Promoting digital access to information in support of green and circular economy".
Case studies
Participants may wish to submit new or updated case studies on electronic information tools (see the template and other details from https://unece.org/env/pp/eit-case-studies ) in electronic form to the secretariat (public.participation[at]un.org) prior to the meeting.
Aarhus Clearinghouse national nodes
Representatives of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention are also kindly invited to inform about the establishment or the update of the national nodes for the Aarhus Clearinghouse mechanisms in accordance with decision VII/1: https://aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org/national-nodes