Recital 2

(2) The Aarhus Convention, ratified by the European Community on 17 February 2005 by Council Decision 2005/370/EC (5), recognises that increased public access to environmental information and the dissemination of such information contribute to a greater awareness of environmental matters, a free exchange of views, more effective participation by the public in environmental decision-making and, ultimately, to a better environment. Moreover, the Aarhus Convention recognises the right to protect the confidentiality of personal data and/or files relating to a natural person, where that person has not consented to the disclosure of the information to the public, where such confidentiality is provided for in national law. Where Union law requires that commercial or industrial information be kept confidential to protect a legitimate economic interest, that confidentiality should be safeguarded.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-07 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.