Participation of the public in decision-making procedures from the viewpoint of Czech, European and international law

- 86 - PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING IN CZECH LAW, EC LAW AND INTERNATIONAL LAW The purpose of my thesis is to provide an outline of the most important international, EC and Czech regulation of public participation in decision-making and to analyse its main requirements. Public participation is an important principle that ensures the public to assert the right to live in an environment adequate to health and well-being and to fulfil its duty to protect the environment according to the shared responsibility principle. From another point of view, one of the characteristics of democracy is a functioning civil society where anyone can protect the environment as a public interest and public participation is an effective way to do that. Public participation in decision-making also enhances the quality and implementation of decisions that contributes to better public administration. The thesis is composed of four chapters. The first chapter is introductory and it deals with the concept of public participation and its importance in modern democracies. The second chapter concentrates on the international regulation of public participation. On the international level, the most important source of law is the Aarhus Convention. It regulates public participation in environmental decision-making together with..