Greater access to environment information pushed by London Euro-MP

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 31st May 2002

The European Parliament in Brussels voted yesterday to give people new and wide-ranging rights of access to environmental information.

Speaking in the chamber of the European Parliament on behalf of its civil liberties committee, Sarah Ludford argued forcefully for a substantial strengthening of the right of access to environmental information from public authorities and companies, such as the privatised utilities.

The MEP wants the information to be available on the Internet to make it easier to access; and has successfully lobbied for any charge for the information to be limited to the cost of its reproduction (e.g. printing), thereby excluding costs such as the staff time involved.

She commented: "Many people are concerned about, say, pollution in a local river, sewage pollution near beaches, or the impact of electricity pylons. The European Parliament is right to insist that this information must be made readily available to people. If they have nothing to hide, companies should be more than happy to help."

The draft EU law will next be considered by European environment ministers.