The Scottish Civil Justice Council has today outlined the next steps in reviewing its policies on protecting individuals, communities and charities from excessive legal costs when pursuing an environmental action in the courts.

An initial public consultation last year sought views on extending the availability of Protective Expenses Orders (PEOs) beyond the Court of Session into Sheriff Courts, and the Sheriff Appeal Court, for individuals, communities and charities when taking environmental actions under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

At its December meeting the Council reviewed its wider strategy for complying with the Aarhus Convention and decided to take a revised proposal forward. The intention in making that change is to now extend the availability of cost protection to cover all actions that challenge an act or omission regarding the law relating to the environment, except for multi-party actions.

As this constitutes a material change to the previous proposal the Council will now consult again on the proposed new rules. That consultation is expected to be opened for comment from June this year.

Notes to Editors

1. The current Protective Expenses Order Rules (SSI 2018/348 and SSI 2024/196) are available online via the legislation.gov.uk website

2. The Aarhus Strategy paper and the minutes of the December 2025 SCJC meeting are available online via the meetings page on the Councils website:https://www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk/council/meetings 

3. Today’s Consultation Response paper and all other papers from the 2025 Public Consultation are available online via the consultations page on the Councils website: https://www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk/consultations/scjc-consultations/extending-the-availability-of-protective-expenses-ordersT

4.The decisions taken will assist the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) in their role of monitoring compliance with the Aarhus Convention: https://unece.org/environment-policy/public-participation/aarhus-convention/introduction