In our focus - Relex Law Firm

July 29, 2026

Access to Justice in Environmental Matters as Enforcement Mechanism: Commission Notice C/2026/4950

Environmental disputes rarely happen on a level playing field. Witnesses to environmental destruction, communities impacted by major projects, NGOs seeking to enforce environmental law often face the same recurring barriers: unclear procedures, prohibitive costs, uncertainty about who can sue, and delays that make legal protection largely meaningless. That is why the latest European Commission’s Notice […]...

July 17, 2026

The issuance of a logging permit does not imply that the logging is lawful

The issuance of a forest logging permit is not proof that the forest is being logged or has been logged lawfully. The Regional Administrative Court has heard the first case confirming that neither a logging permit issued by the State Forest Service nor approval granted by the Protected Areas Directorate automatically precludes the possibility of […]...

March 17, 2026

Translating the New Environmental Crime Directive into Habitat Protection

Directive (EU) 2024/1203, the new environmental crime directive, aims to establish minimum rules across EU for defining environmental criminal offences and imposing penalties in order to protect the environment. Provision of Article 3.2(q) underlines that any conduct which causes the deterioration of a habitat within a protected site, or the disturbance of animal species listed in Annex II, […]...

November 21, 2025

ReLex managing partner elected by consensus to Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee

The Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters elected by consensus attorney Rytis Satkauskas, nominated by the Environmental Coalition, as new member of the Compliance Committee. The Aarhus compliance mechanism is a non-judicial, consultative system established by the Aarhus Convention to review […]...

August 25, 2025

Forest marked for felling? The Aarhus Convention puts the power in people’s hands

1998 Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention) provides a legal framework that empowers communities by granting them rights to access environmental information, participate in environmental decision-making, and seek access to justice in environmental matters. Environmental sustainability needs involvement of all actors. The […]...

March 20, 2025

Logging permits are separable from the forest management project and can be challenged in court; interim protective measures must be imposed

In recent ReLex cases, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania overturned established court practice of rejecting challenges to the legality of logging permits based on their derivative nature, and confirmed the need for interim protective measures when the legality of such permits is questioned. While public opposition to increasing deforestation is quite visible, court practice […]...

January 20, 2025

Local communities – custodians of their cultural and natural heritage

Community involvement is crucial in the maintenance and protection of tangible and intangible heritage. The essential sense of ownership cannot be achieved without taking into consideration community needs and ensuring effective participation. By today‘s order the Regional Administrative Court has granted temporary protection to modern architecture building whose listing as immovable cultural heritage has been […]...

February 09, 2023

Community protest is not a law. “Rockhopper” award pushes for balance between environment interests an investment protection

The EU announced yesterday plans for joint withdrawal form Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), ending the last dramatic efforts to reform it. ECT was blamed for threatening the autonomy of the EU law and distorting climate goals throug fossil fuel investments. This marks the beginning of the end of the saga of the single most invoked investment agreement that gave legal basis for […]...

December 01, 2022

International Court of Justice reaffirms the importance of international customary law in environment disputes

In its latest Judgement of 1 December 2022 in dispute over the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala (Chile v. Bolivia) the Court acknowledged the position of the parties that a river crossing their borders is considered as an international watercourse and is governed in its entirety by customary international law on […]...