The right to clean air as a special form of the right to environmental protection – international and national regulations

Abstract

The paper is an attempt to present the issue of the right to clean air and its regulation in the legal system at the international, regional and domestic level. Modern society shows an increasing awareness of the environment, and thus expects public authorities to take appropriate steps to regulate this issue. It should be noted that the UN and the European Union have played a particularly important role in this process. Both organizations have created a number of acts, affecting the discussed topic in direct as well as indirect ways. What is more, the paper focuses on both the right to a clean environment and the right to clean air, emphasizing the differences between these concepts, as well as discussing their impact on the development of legislation. What is additionally very important from the perspective of the presented issue is also the jurisprudence of Polish courts in this area and the position adopted by the jurisprudence without recognizing the right to clean air as a subjective right belonging to each individual, but belonging to the whole society, ipso facto closing the way for citizens to obtain satisfaction of claims for the state's inability to maintain the set air standards.