The Aarhus Convention, which entered into force in October 2001, has to date been ratified or acceded to by 26 European countries. In South Eastern Europe (SEE), the convention was ratified first by FYR Macedonia in 1999, followed by Romania in 2000, Albania in 2001, and Bulgaria in 2003. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro have not signed it, but have shown interest in acceding to it. The Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs funded, and the REC helped to implement, a project to Support Developing Strategies for the Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in South Eastern Europe. Carried out between April 2000 and December 2003, the initiative relied on the cooperation of ministries of the environment and non-governmental organisations from the six mentioned countries, as well as from Kosovo, which is under UN interim administration. Through a regional framework and a combination of national and local activities, the project helped SEE officials to develop an implementation strategy via a transparent and participatory process. The project also supported capacity building to enable government officials and NGOs to more efficiently implement the Aarhus Convention. The project was carried out within the Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme for South Eastern Europe (REReP), part of the Stability Pact.

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