First meeting of the Task Force on Access to Information under the Aarhus Convention

The first meeting of the Task Force on Access to Information took place in Geneva (Palais des Nations, Salle VIII) on 7 and 8 February 2013.

At this meeting, the Task Force agreed on possible priorities for future work to facilitate public access to environmental information. Furthermore, delegates shared experiences in the effective use of electronic information tools in the Convention`s implementation and exchanged information on the relevant capacity building initiatives at the regional, subregional and national levels. The recent activities of other international forums relevant to the matter of public access to environmental information were also presented and discussed.
 
The meeting of the Task Force featured an international workshop “Environmental information on products: making public access work” that addressed needs, challenges and good practices regarding accessibility of environmental information on products. The workshop provided a platform for discussion on the way forward in this area and the participants agreed on specific issues to be addressed in the future work of the Task Force.