Abstract

The municipal environmental protection action addresses the question of whether and to what extent municipalities can enforce environmental protection concerns in court. German law does not recognize it in principle. The study showed that although supranational law does not currently require that municipalities be granted the same legal protection options as environmental associations, the Swiss legal system uses the municipal environmental protection action, there called environmental protection complaint, to effectuate environmental protection. Two Swiss models have been identified. The first model contains special legal rights of appeal of municipalities that are linked to their potential impact, so that a general link between environmental impairment and the municipal territory is sufficient. The second model contains the right of appeal created by case law, which allows municipalities to assert the protection of their inhabitants from emissions as well as local natural resources via the right of appeal designed for private individuals, if the community is concretely affected by the environmental impairment as a whole, which is mainly the case if the environmental impact is caused by the municipalities. This is the case, above all, if the project to be assessed has such a significant impact that all or at least a large part of its population is affected.

If the second Swiss model is to be introduced in Germany via Section 42 (2) 2nd Vari. VwGO, then a link to the guarantee of self-government is preferable. The use of the figure of procuratorial law is, however, worth considering if the Union jurisdiction should further expand the possibilities for municipal actions in the event of violations of EU environmental law.