The European Environment Agency

The European Environment Agency was established as a legal entity on 30 October 1993. It was established under- Council Regulation No. 1210/90 (OJ No. L 120/1). The Agency has a role in collecting, processing and analysing environmental information which may be disseminated throughout the Community. Technically the Agency is not one of the Community's institutions under the 'I'reaties.

The Agency's first Executive, Director Senor Domingo Jimenez-Beltran was appointed in 1994. The Agency aims to provide EC institutions and Member States with information to enable them to take measures to protect the environment. This will permit an assessment of information and the dissemination of information to the public. There is a Management Board with a Scientific Committee. The Agency's tasks include establishing and coordinating an Environmental Information and Observation Network, the collection of data on a comparable basis throughout Member States, to promote the broad dissemination of information about Europe's environment and to provide the application of environmental forecasting.

The Agency is also intended to act as an exchange for- the best available technologies (see: ENDS Report 240, January 1995, p.22). The Agency intends to develop guidelines for assessing and drawing up indicators for the environment in a number of priority economic sectors. There will also be an important. policy role for the Agency. This is likely to be contentions as in the past there has been resistance to a European Environmental Inspectorate. The Agency is expected to be confined to the question of implementation to discover if Member States have implemented environmental laws. Areas that are likely to be included in the Agency's remit are criteria for awarding eco-labels, the rise and transfer of environmentally friendly technologies within the Community and in developing countries, and establishing environmental impact assessment of projects.

The state of the environment in 46 European countries is reviewed in one of the first reports from the new Agency published in 1995 (see: Europe's Environment 1993: The Dobris Assessment. HMSO, 1995). It is expected that there will be a series of reports published every three years monitoring the environment within Europe.

The Agency has divided its work on certain projects among consortia or research groups throughout the Community. Awarding such research contracts is often a point of contention among Member States, who wish to favour their own national research organisations. The likely success of the Agency will depend on its willingness and success at setting arid initiating its own agenda and not becoming a delegated body for the various EC institutions or the Member States. One danger is that the sheer magnitude of the task may disable the Agency from effective action. Another. difficulty is that dissemination of environmental information has the potential to bring the Agency into conflict with interested groups throughout the Community. Competing tasks within the Agency will require careful consideration of the priority to be given to its various roles.