IEEP Senior Fellow Marc Pallemaerts addressed a high-level conference on the controversial issue of access to justice for environmental NGOs in Fulda on 23 June. Marc’s presentation concentrated on Belgium’s experience with the implementation of Directive 2003/35/EC and access to administrative and judicial review procedures for NGOs under Belgian law. The conference was organised by the Independent Institute for Environmental Concerns (UfU) and Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) in the light of the German government’s preparing to submit draft legislation to the Bundestag to transpose Directive 2003/35/EC and at the same time pave the way for Germany’s long-overdue ratification of the Aarhus Convention. You can find out more about the conference from the UfU website: www.ufu.de.