The right to environmental information as a technique for the protection of the environment

By analyzing legal documents and case law the author has tried to show how the right to environmental information can be used as a technique for the protection of the environment, given the wide and numerous possibilities its provisions cast upon the entire society. Despite these obvious possibilities, the exceptions from the general rule of free access, are defined widely, and are so numerous that it is a real danger of public authorities abusing these exceptions, thus annihilating positive effects of the existence of such a right. Therefore, access to justice is an irreplaceable complementary right, since for the effective use of the right of access to environmental information, it shows itself as an inevitable remedy. As for the situation regarding the legal system in the Republic of Serbia, while the real results of the effectiveness of this right in the protection of the environment have yet to happen in future, it is important that most of the basic legal documents dealing with provisions on the access to environmental information have created a good basis for the judicial system to build upon.