GOVERNMENT CLOSES CONSULTATION ON COSTS REGIME

摘要

ELM has reported on the changes in the last few years to the costs regime in environmental cases [ see ELM August 2014 issue. Prior to 2013, if a claimant in an environmental claim required protection to his or her exposure to the adverse costs in a public law case (e.g. judicial review) or a private law case (e.g. nuisance), he would need to apply for a protective costs order with very little certainty or confidence in the outcome. Subsequently, smarting from the decision in C-260/11 Edwards v. Environment Agency [2013] 1 W.L.R. 2914 at the European Court of Justice and infraction proceedings brought against the UK ((C-530/11 European Commission v. UK [2014] 3 WLR 853) where the domestic costs regime was found to be at odds with the UNECE Aarhus Convention and European Directives, the Government introduced costs caps through amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) - r45.41-43 which provided and continues to provide an automatic costs caps of ￡5, 000 for an individual claimant or ￡10, 000 for an organisation or group in "Aarhus Convention claims".