Editorial note

The European Environment Agency (EEA – www.eea.eu.int), which is based in Copenhagen, is aimed at providing the Community and the Member States with objective, reliable and comparable information at the European level to enable environmental protection measures to be taken, to assess the results of such measures, and to ensure that the public is properly informed about the state of the environment (Article 1). The Agency co-ordinates the European environment network and records, collates and assesses data on the state of the environment (Article 2). In addition, the Agency is to provide the Community and individual Member States with objective information necessary to frame and implement effective environmental policies; assist the monitoring of environmental measures; ensure that environmental data at the European level are comparable; promote the incorporation of European environmental information into international environmental monitoring programmes; publish a report on the state, trends and prospects for the environment; stimulate the development of environmental forecasting; etc. (Article 2(i) to (xiii)). Agency activity is to include assessment of the pressures on, and quality and sensitivity of, the environment, and to be directed to certain priority areas (Article 3(1) and (2)). The Agency is an autonomous legal entity run by a management board, an Executive Director and a scientific committee (Articles 7–10), which is open to countries that are not EC members (Article 19).