Information and Advisory Note Number 12 Back to menu

The European Environment Agency - the UK perspective

1. Introduction

1.1 The European Environment Agency (EEA) was formally established in October 1993 and is based in Copenhagen. It is independent of the European Commission and has been created to provide objective, reliable and comparable information for those concerned with the implementation and further development of European environmental policy and to ensure that the public is properly informed about the state of the environment.

1.2 The legal basis for the establishment of the European Environment Agency is the Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1210/90 of 7th May 1990.

1.3 The mission entrusted to the EEA by the Regulation is to supply information to all those concerned with the implementation and further orientation of the European Union's environmental policy.

2. Membership of the Agency

2.1 There are currently 17 countries participating in the work of the Agency; the 15 Member states of the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom), plus Norway and Iceland.

2.2 Further countries, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe, have expressed a keen interest in becoming involved.

3. Management Organisation

3.1 The Management Board was established in December 1993. it is composed of one representative appointed by each of the 17 member countries, two scientific personalities designated by the European Parliament and two representatives of the European Commission. The Chairman of the Board is Mr Derek Osborn formerly Director-General, Environment Protection, Department of the Environment. The representative for the UK is Mrs Hilary Hillier, Head of Environmental Protection Statistics, DoE. The main tasks of the Management Board are to appoint the Executive Director, to adopt and adjust the budget and to adopt the Work Programmes - one covering the first five years (Multi-annual) and one highlighting the tasks within it for the current year (Annual).

The Scientific Committee was established to assist the Management Board and the Executive Director on scientific matters concerning the Agency's activity. The members are particularly qualified in the environmental field, and are appointed by the Management Board. The Committee is chaired by Professor Philippe Bourdeau and has 9 full members and 5 alternate members. The UK representative is Dr Eileen Buttle, formerly of the Natural Environment Research Council. The Scientific Committee's tasks include assistance to the Executive Director with the preparation of the Muitiannual and Annual Work Programme, and assistance in the selection of the Topic Centres (see Section 8).

3.2 The Executive Director and the Agency offices are based in Copenhagen. The Executive Director is Mr Domingo Jimenez Beltran, who was selected by the Board via open recruitment procedures. His 5-year appointment was made in June 1994.

3.3 The remaining personnel of the Agency number approximately 45, in addition to which there are approximately 10 national experts, seconded from the Member states, and consultants on short-term contracts.

3.4 An organisation chart of the European Environment Agency is attached at Annex 1.

3.5 Under Regulation 1210/90, a review was to be held two years after the location of the Agency had been decided, i.e. October 1995. However, as it was considered too early to assess the Agency's achievements, the review has now been postponed to 1997.

4. The EEA Goals and Locus

4.1 The main goals of the EEA are:-

to produce objective, reliable and comparable information for those concerned with framing, implementing and further developing European environmental policy, and for the wider European public;
to give support to the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament in identifying, preparing and evaluating suitable environmental measures, guidelines and legislation;
to co-ordinate the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET) and publish a report on the state of Europe's Environment every three years;
to liaise with other relevant national, regional and global environmental programmes and institutes.

4.2 The principal areas of activity shall, as far as possible, include all elements enabling the Agency to describe the present and foreseeable state of the environment from the following points of view:

the quality of the environment;
the pressures on the environment;
the sensitivity of the environment.

4.3 The EEA shall furnish information which can be directly used in the implementation of Community environmental policy. Priority will
be given initially to the following areas of work, which were selected from a wider range:

air quality and atmospheric emissions;
water quality, water pollutants and water resources;
the state of the soil, of fauna and flora, and of biotopes;
land use and natural resources use;
waste management;
noise emissions;
chemical substances hazardous to the environment;
coastal protection.

5. The Work Programme

5.1 The Multi-annual and Annual Work Programmes are tools for scoping and scheduling activities designed to translate the EEA's mission and aims into useful outcomes, by way of programmes and projects tailored to strategic goals, such as those set by the Fifth EC Environmental Action Programme.

5.2 The Multi-annual Work Programme (MAWP) for the period 1994 - 99 was adopted at the end of 1994. It contains 10 programme areas, subdivided into 93 individual projects. The final text was produced in two parts, Multiannual Work Programme 1994 -1999, EEA/031/94, and Reference Document of the Multiannual Work Programme (mid-1994 -mid-1999). EEA/052/94.

5.3 The 10 programme areas are:-

Dissemination and pooling of existing information and know-how.
Periodical reports on the state of the environment.
Guidelines for reports/ assessments/data processing of special interest at European level.
Media oriented monitoring: Assessment of the state and trends of the environment.
Source oriented monitoring: Assessment of pressures.
Integrated environmental assessment: Problems, geographic areas and sectors.
Scenarios for environmental improvement.
Instruments and challenges for environmental policy development and implementation.
Capacity building in the functions of EEA and EIONET (see below).
Exchange and dissemination of information: Publications, seminars, conferences, education.

5.4 The 10 programme areas are then expanded into detailed projects under the Annual and Multi-annual Work Programmes. There are 93 projects described in the MAWP.

6. How does the EEA carry out the Work Programme?

6.1 The Agency has a number of partners to help in the implementation of the Work Programme. These may be divided into two groups:- external resources, such as the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET), and the European Topic Centres (ETCs); and other working partners, such as the European Commission Services, Eurostat, Joint Research Centre (JRC), international organisations and third countries, which are not members of the European Union.

7. External Resources: the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET)

7.1 The Network consists of the European Environment Agency, and a large number of other organisations from all 17 countries, who will be involved with one or several of the tasks within the Work Programme. The partner organisations in the EIONET are divided into three types:-

7.1.1 National Focal Points (NFP): in charge of co-operation with the EEA and national co-ordination activities related to the
EEA work programme. The UK National Focal Point is the Department of the Environment, Division of Environmental Protection Statistics. A UK Newsletter is published by them.

7.1.2 Main Component Elements (MCE): consists of institutions/organisations within the national networks, which at a national level are regular collectors and suppliers of environmental data and/or possess relevant knowledge regarding environmental science, monitoring or modelling.

7.1.3 National Reference Centres (NRC): institutions/organisations which may also be among the MCE's and may be nominated by Member States to play a role in technical coordination within their countries and cooperate with the EEA on specific themes.

7.2 A full list of the UK members of EIONET is attached at Annex 2.

8. The European Topic Centres

The Topic Centres are organisations which have been contracted by the EEA to execute tasks identified in the Work Programme They were selected by means of a competitive exercise, and number seven so far. Each Topic Centre is itself a consortium of several different organisations in several countries, with one organisation acting as Lead. The first five Topic Centres were nominated in December 1994; the other two in 1995. See table below for UK involvements.

8.1 The European Topic Centres (ETC), through the activities of the lead organisation and their collaborating institutions, provide one of the main vehicles for capacity building. Following the guiding principles of the Agency, this is to be accomplished primarily through co-operation whereby new programme development takes advantage of existing facilities by creation of a pan-European network. Each Topic Centre may be required to complete more than one task. The tasks are identified by codes, e.g. MN2 represents a project within the Nature Conservation Topic Centre, on the state and trends of biodiversity in Europe.

9. Other Working Partners

9.1 In addition to the Topic Centres and the EIONET, Regulation 1210/90 also sets out guidelines for co-operation with the other main working partners of the European Environment Agency. The partners are:-

9.1.1 European Commission Services: the Regulation establishes that the Agency shall provide information support to and co-operate with the Commission Services, in particular Directorate General XI Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection, and also with other Directorates General.

9.1.2 The Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat): the Regulation makes provisions for work sharing between the EEA and Eurostat, based on the optimal use of expertise and mutual access to data. The task of Eurostat is to provide the Commission and all the citizens of Europe, via the European statistical system, with the statistical information that is essential for understanding European society and for taking decisions.

9.1.3 Joint Research Centre (JRC): the Regulation provides that JRC will supply scientific and technical support to the EEA. The JRC is a European scientific and technical research centre established by the Commission of the European Communities. There are eight different institutes, each with its own focus of expertise, sited at 5 locations in the European Union.

9.1.4 International Organisations: the Regulation encourages co-operation with international organisations. Indeed the work
programmes of most international organisations and international conventions contain an element of data collection and production of information, which would correspond in many instances to parts of the EEA Work Programme. Work-sharing will therefore have to be concluded between the EEA and the organisations concerned.

10. Publications by EEA to date

10.1 Europe's Environment: the Dobris Assessment (1995)
The state of the environment report which the European Commission was called upon to prepare at the request of the Pan-European Conference of Environment Ministers which took place at Dobris Castle, in Czechoslovakia, in 1991.

10.2 European Environmental Monographs Series:-

European Rivers and Lakes - Assessment of Their Environmental State (monograph)
Environment and Health in Europe: Overview and Main European Issues.

10.3 Annual Reports, Work Programmes and brochures (available from EEA address below)

Annual Report 1994
Multiannual Work Programme 1994 -1999, EEA/031/94, and Reference Document of the Multiannual Work Programme (mid-1994 - mid-1999), EEA/052/94.
Newsletter

11. Further information:

11.1 In the first instance, SNH staff may contact the Author Christine Turner, European Liaison Officer, International and Biodiversity Branch, Research and Advisory Services Directorate, Scottish Natural Heritage, 2 Anderson Place, Edinburgh EH6 5NP.

11.2 Other enquiries may be addressed to:-

11.2.1 UK National Focal Point: Environmental Protection Statistics, Room A104, Romney House, 43 Marsham Street, London SW1P 3PY.

11.2.2 European Environment Agency. Kongens Nytorv 6, DK-1050 Copenhagen K.

Annex 2

UK participating institutions in EIONET
(bold text denotes special relevance to SNH)

NATIONAL REFERENCE CENTRES

ADAS
British Geological Survey (BGS)
Building Research Establishment (BRE)
Countryside Commission
Forestry Commission
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP)
Institute of Hydrology
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE)
Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
MAFF Fisheries Laboratory
Marine Conservation Society
Meteorological Office (and Hadley Centre)
National Environmental Technology Centre
(NETCEN)
National Rivers Authority (NRA)
Ordnance Survey (OS)
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Soil Survey and Land Research Centre (SSLRC)
WRc plc

MAIN COMPONENT ELEMENTS

Aberdeen Research Consortium
ADAS
British Geological Survey (BGS)
British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC)
British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)
Building Research Establishment (BRE)
Countryside Commission
Countryside Council for Wales (CCW)
English Nature
Forestry Commission
Geological Survey of Northern Ireland
Her Majesty's Industrial Pollution Inspectorate
(HMIPI)
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP)
Institute of Arable Crops Research (IACR)
Institute of Freshwater Ecology (IFE)
Institute of Hydrology
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE)
Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
MAFF Fisheries Laboratory
Marine Conservation Society
Meteorological Office (and Hadley Centre)
National Environmental Technology Centre
(NETCEN)
National Rivers Authority (NRA)
Ordnance Survey (OS)
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
(RSPB)
Scottish Natural Heritage
Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU)
Soil Survey and Land Research Centre (SSLRC)
University of Ulster
Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
World Wide Fund for Nature
WRc pic

EXPERTISE POOL

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Central Science Laboratory
Centre for Analytical Research in the Environment (CARE). Imperial College
Centre for Environmental and Waste Management, Paisley University
Centre for Environmental Control and Waste Management, Imperial College

Centre for Environmental Management Studies, (CEMS), University of Strathclyde
Centre for Land Use and Water Resources, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE)
Centre for the Study of Environmental Change (CSEC), Lancaster University
Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia
Defence Research Agency
Dept of Civil Engineering, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Division of Environmental Sciences, University of Hertfordshire
Dunstaffhage Marine Laboratory
Earth Observation Sciences Ltd
Edinburgh Radiation Consultants
Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford Environmental Resources Management (ERM)
HR Wallingford Ltd
HSE Research and Laboratory Services Division
Hunting Land and Environment
Imperial College
Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)
Institute for Grassland and Environmental
Research
Institute of Environmental Policy and Analysis,
University of Huddersfield Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon
Laboratory (IOSDL)
Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR)
Institute of Wastes Management (IWM)
James Rennell Centre for Ocean Circulation
Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC)
LARRMACC
London Research Centre
Monitoring and Assessment Research Centre
Mott MacDonald
National Association of Waste Regulation Officers
National Physical Laboratory
National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB)
National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC)
NEL Campus
NERC Unit for Thematic Information Systems
NERC Remote Sensing Applications Development Unit
Nottingham Trent University
The Open University (OU)
Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory
Queen's University Belfast
Robens institute, University of Surrey
Scottish Agricultural College
Scottish Agricultural Science Agency
Scottish Agricultural Statistics Service (SASS)
Scottish Crop Research Institute
Silsoe Research Institute
Smith System Engineering Ltd
South East Institute of Public Health
South East Regional Research Laboratory
(SERRL), Birkbeck College
TBV Science
Transport Research Laboratory (TRL)
Unit of Vegetation Science, Lancaster University
University of Cambridge Committee for Interdisciplinary
Environmental Studies
University of Edinburgh
Vega Group pic
World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC)
W S Atkins Environment
Wye College

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