1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COUNCILREGULATION(EEC)No1210/90
of7May1990
ontheestablishmentoftheEuropeanEnvironmentAgencyandtheEuropeanenvironmentinfor-
mationandobservationnetwork
(OJ L 120, 11.5.1990, p. 1)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Regulation (EC) No 933/1999 of 29 April 1999 L 117 1 5.5.1999
►M2Regulation (EC) No 1641/2003 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 22 July 2003L 245 1 29.9.2003
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COUNCILREGULATION(EEC)No1210/90
of7May1990
ontheestablishmentoftheEuropeanEnvironmentAgencyandthe
Europeanenvironmentinformationandobservationnetwork
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 130s thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (3),
Whereas the Treaty provides for the development and implementation
of a Community policy on the environment, and lays down the objec-tives and principles which should govern such policy;
Whereas environmental protection requirements shall be a component
of the Community's other policies;
Whereas, according to Article 130r of the Treaty, in preparing its
action relating to the environment the Community shall take account,inter alia, of the available scientific and technical data;
Whereas, in accordance with Decision 85/338/EEC (
4), the Commission
has undertaken a work programme concerning an experimental projectfor gathering, coordinating and ensuring the consistency of information
on the state of the environment and natural resources in the Commu-
nity; whereas it is now appropriate to take the necessary decisionsregarding a permanent environmental information and observationsystem;
Whereas collection, processing and analysis of environmental data at
European level are necessary in order to provide objective, reliable
and comparable information which will enable the Community andthe Member States to take the requisite measures to protect the envir-onment, to assess the results of such measures and to ensure that thepublic is properly informed about the state of the environment;
Whereas there already exist in the Community and the Member States
facilities providing such information and services;
Whereas they should form the basis for setting upa Europ ean environ-
ment information and observation network which would be coordinatedat Community level by a European Environment Agency;
Whereas the Agency should cooperate with existing structures at
Community level to enable the Commission to ensure full application
of Community legislation on the environment;
Whereas the status and structure of such an Agency should correspond
to the objective character of the results it is intended to produce andallow it to carry out its functions in close cooperation with the existing
national and international facilities;
Whereas the Agency should be granted legal autonomy while main-
taining close links with the Community institutions and the MemberStates;
Whereas it is desirable to provide for the Agency to be open to other
countries which share the concern of the Community and the Member
States for the objectives of the Agency under agreements to beconcluded between them and the Community;1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 2
(1) OJ No C 217, 23. 8. 1989, p. 7.
(2) OJ No C 96, 17. 4. 1990.
(3) OJ No C 56, 7. 3. 1990, p. 20.
(4) OJ No L 176, 6. 7. 1985, p. 14.
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Whereas this Regulation should be reviewed after two years, with a
view to deciding on further tasks for the Agency,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. This Regulation establishes the European Environment Agency
and aims at the setting-upof a Europ ean environment information andobservation network.
2. To achieve the aims of environmental protection and improve-
ment laid down by the Treaty and by successive Community action
programmes on the environment, as well as of sustainable develop-
ment, the objective shall be to provide the Community and theMember States with:
— objective, reliable and comparable information at European level
enabling them to take the requisite measures to protect the environ-ment, to assess the results of such measures and to ensure that thepublic is properly informed about the state of the environment,
— to that end, the necessary technical and scientific support.
Article 2
For the purposes of achieving the objective set out in Article 1, the
tasks of the Agency shall be:
(i) to establish, in cooperation with the Member States, and coordi-
nate the network referred to in Article 4. In this context, theAgency shall be responsible for the collection, processing and
analysis of data, in particular in the fields referred to in Article
3. It shall also be responsible for continuing the work startedunder Decision 85/338/EEC;
(ii) — to provide the Community and the Member States with the
objective information necessary for framing and imple-
menting sound and effective environmental policies; to that
end, in particular to provide the Commission with the infor-mation that it needs to be able to carry out successfully itstasks of identifying, preparing and evaluating measures andlegislation in the field of the environment;
— to assist the monitoring of environmental measures through
appropriate support for reporting requirements (including
through involvement in the development of questionnaires,
the processing of reports from Member States and the distri-bution of results), in accordance with its multiannual work-programme and with the aim of coordinating reporting;
— to advise individual Member States, upon their request and
where this is consistent with the Agency's annual work-programme, on the development, establishment and expansion
of their systems for the monitoring of environmental
measures, provided such activities do not endanger the fulfil-ment of the other tasks established by this Article. Suchadvice may also include peer reviews by experts at thespecific request of Member States;
(iii) to record, collate and assess data on the state of the environment,
to draw up expert reports on the quality, sensitivity and pressures
on the environment within the territory of the Community, to
provide uniform assessment criteria for environmental data to beapplied in all Member States, to develop further and maintain areference centre of information on the environment. TheCommission shall use this information in its task of ensuring theimplementation of Community legislation on the environment;1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 3
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(iv) to helpensure that environmental data at Europ ean level are
comparable and, if necessary, to encourage by appropriate meansimproved harmonization of methods of measurement;
(v) to promote the incorporation of European environmental informa-
tion into international environment monitoring programmes suchas those established by the United Nations and its specializedagencies;
(vi) to publish a report on the state of, trends in and prospects for the
environment every five years, supplemented by indicator reports
focusing upon specific issues;
(vii) to stimulate the development and application of environmental
forecasting techniques so that adequate preventive measures can
be taken in good time;
(viii) to stimulate the development of methods of assessing the cost of
damage to the environment and the costs of environmentalpreventive, protection and restoration policies;
(ix) to stimulate the exchange of information on the best technolo-
gies available for preventing or reducing damage to theenvironment;
(x) to cooperate with the bodies and programmes referred to in
Article 15;
(xi) to ensure the broad dissemination of reliable and comparable
environmental information, in particular on the state of the envir-onment, to the general public and, to this end, to promote the use
of new telematics technology for this purpose;
(xii) to support the Commission in the process of exchange of infor-
mation on the development of Environmental Assessmentmethodologies and best practice;
(xiii) to assist the Commission in the diffusion of information on the
results of relevant environmental research and in a form whichcan best assist policy development.
Article 3
1. The principal areas of activity of the Agency shall, as far as
possible, include all elements enabling it to gather the informationmaking it possible to describe the present and foreseeable state of theenvironment from the following points of view:
(i) the quality of the environment;
(ii) the pressures on the environment;
(iii) the sensitivity of the environment;
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M1including placing these in the context of sustainable devel-
opment. ◄
2. The Agency shall furnish information which can be directly used
in the implementation of Community environmental policy.
Priority will be given to the following areas of work:
— air quality and atmospheric emissions,
— water quality, pollutants and water resources,— the state of the soil, of the fauna and flora, and of biotopes,— land use and natural resources,— waste management,— noise emissions,— chemical substances which are hazardous for the environment,
— coastal and marine protection.
In particular, transfrontier, plurinational and global phenomena shall be
covered.1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 4
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The socioeconomic dimension shall also be taken into account.
3. The Agency may also cooperate in the exchange of information
with other bodies, including with the IMPEL network.
In its activities the Agency shall avoid duplicating the existing activ-
ities of other institutions and bodies.
Article 4
1. The network shall comprise:
— the main component elements of the national information networks,
— the national focal points,— the topic centres.
2. To enable the network to be set upas rap idly and as efficiently as
possible, the Member States shall, within six months of the entry into
force of this Regulation, inform the Agency of the main component
elements of their national environment information networks, espe-cially in the priority areas referred to in Article 3 (2), including anyinstitution which in their judgement could contribute to the work ofthe Agency, taking into account the need to ensure the fullest possiblegeographical coverage of their territory.
Member States shall keepthe Agency informed of the main comp onent
elements of their national environment information networks. MemberStates shall, as appropriate, cooperate with the Agency and contributeto the work of the European environment information and observation
network in accordance with the work programme of the Agency by
collecting, collating and analysing data nationwide. Member Statesmay also join to cooperate in these activities at a transnational level.
3. Member States may in particular designate from among the insti-
tutions referred to in paragraph 2 or other organizations established in
their territory a ‘national focal point’ for coordinating and/or transmit-ting the information to be supplied at national level to the Agency andto the institutions or bodies forming part of the network including thetopic centres referred to in paragraph 4.
4. Member States may also, within the period laid down in para-
graph 2, identify the institutions or other organizations established in
their territory which could be specifically entrusted with the task ofcooperating with the Agency as regards certain topics of particularinterest. An institution thus identified should be in a position toconclude an agreement with the Agency to act as a topic centre of thenetwork for specific tasks ►
M1 ◄. These centres shall
cooperate with other institutions which form part of the network.
5. Within six months of receiving the information referred to in
paragraph 2, the Agency shall confirm the main elements of thenetwork on the basis of a decision by the management board and thearrangements referred to in Article 5.
The topic centres shall be designated by the management board as
defined in Article 8(1), for a period not exceeding the duration ofeach multiannual work programme as referred to in Article 8(4). Eachdesignation may, however, be renewed.
6. The allocation of specific tasks to the topic centres shall appear in
the Agency's multiannual work programme mentioned in Article 8 (4).
7. In the light in particular of the multiannual work programme, the
Agency shall periodically re-examine the component elements of thenetwork as referred to in paragraph 2 and shall make such changes as1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 5
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may be decided on by the management board, taking account of any
new designations made by the Member States.
Article 5
The Agency may agree with the institutions or bodies which form part
of the network, as referred to in Article 4, upon the necessary arrange-ments, in particular contracts, for successfully carrying out the taskswhich it may entrust to them. A Member State may provide, as regardsthe national institutions or organizations in its territory, that sucharrangements with the Agency shall be made in agreement with the
national focal point.
Article 6
1. Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding access to European Parlia-ment, Council and Commission documents(
1) shall apply to
documents held by the Agency.
2. The Management Board shall adopt the practical arrangements for
implementing Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 within six months afterthe entry into force of Regulation (EC) No 1641/2003 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2003 amending Council
Regulation (EC) No 1210/90 on the establishment of the EuropeanEnvironment Agency and the European Environment Information andObservation Network (
2).
3. Decisions taken by the Agency pursuant to Article 8 of Regula-
tion (EC) No 1049/2001 may form the subject of a complaint to theOmbudsman or of an action before the Court of Justice, under theconditions laid down in Articles 195 and 230 of the EC Treaty respec-
tively;
Article 7
The Agency shall have legal personality. It shall enjoy in all the
Member States the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legalpersons under their laws.
Article 8
1. The Agency shall have a management board consisting of one
representative of each Member State and two representatives of the
Commission. In addition, there may be one representative of each other
country which participates in the Agency, in accordance with the rele-vant. provisions.
In addition, the European Parliament shall designate, as members of the
management board, two scientific personalities particularly qualified in
the field of environmental protection, who shall be chosen on the basisof the personal contribution they are likely to make to the Agency'swork.
Each member of the management board may be represented by an
alternate member.
2. The management board shall elect its chairman from among its
members for a period of three years and shall adopt its rules of proce-dure. Each member of the management board shall have a vote.
The management board shall elect a bureau to which it may delegate
executive decisions, according to the rules that it shall adopt.1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 6
(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
(2) OJ L 245, 29.9.2003, p. 1.▼M2
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3. Decisions of the management board shall require for their adop-
tion a two-thirds majority of the members of the board.
4. The management board shall adopt a multiannual work-
programme based on the priority areas referred to in Article 3(2), usingas its basis a draft submitted by the Executive Director referred to inArticle 9, after consulting the scientific committee, referred to in
Article 10, and receiving the Commission's opinion. The multiannual
work-programme shall, without prejudice to the annual Communitybudgetary procedure, include a multiannual budget estimate.
5. Under the multiannual programme, the management board shall
each year adopt the Agency's work programme on the basis of a draft
submitted by the Executive Director after consulting the scientific
committee and receiving the Commission's opinion. The programmemay be adjusted in the course of the year by the same procedure.
6. The Management Board shall adopt the annual report on the
Agency's activities and forward it by 15 June at the latest to the
European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Audi-tors and the Member States.
7. The Agency shall forward annually to the budgetary authority all
information relevant to the outcome of the evaluation procedures.
Article 9
1. The Agency shall be headed by an Executive Director appointed
by the management board on a proposal from the Commission for a
period of five years, which shall be renewable. The Executive Directorshall be the legal representative of the Agency. He shall be responsible:
— for the proper preparation and execution of the decisions and
programmes adopted by the management board,
— for the day-to-day administration of the Agency,
— for the performance of the tasks defined in Articles 12 and 13,
— for the preparation and publication of the reports specified in
Article 2 (vi),
— for all staff matters, for the performance of the tasks referred to in
Article 8(4) and (5).
He shall obtain the opinion of the scientific committee, referred to inArticle 10, for the purposes of recruitment of the Agency's scientificstaff.
2. The Executive Director shall be accountable to the management
board for his activities.
Article 10
1. The management board and the Executive Director shall be
assisted by a scientific committee which shall deliver an opinion where
provided for in this Regulation and on any scientific matter concerning
the Agency's activity which the management board or the ExecutiveDirector may submit to it.
The opinions of the scientific committee shall be published.
2. The scientific committee shall be made upof members p articu-
larly qualified in the field of the environment, designated by themanagement board for a term of four years renewable once, takinginto account, inter alia, the scientific areas which need to be repre-1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 7
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sented in the committee in order to assist the Agency in its areas of
activity. It shall function as determined by the rules of procedureprovided for in Article 8(2).
Article 11
1. Estimates shall be drawn upof all the Agency's revenue and
expenditure for each financial year, which shall correspond to thecalendar year, and shall be entered in the Agency's budget.
2. The revenue and expenditure shown in the budget shall be in
balance.
3. The revenue of the Agency shall, without prejudice to other
resources, consist of a subsidy from the Community entered in the
general budget of the European Communities and payments forservices rendered.
4. The expenditure of the Agency shall include, inter alia, staff
remuneration, administrative and infrastructure expenses, operating
costs and expenditure relating to contracts concluded with institutionsor bodies forming part of the network and with third parties.
Article 12
1. Each year the Management Board, on the basis of a draft drawn
upby the Executive Director, shall p roduce a statement of estimates of
revenue and expenditure of the Agency for the following financial
year. This statement of estimates, which shall include a draft establish-ment plan, shall be forwarded by the Management Board to theCommission by 31 March at the latest.
2. The statement of estimates shall be forwarded by the Commission
to the European Parliament and the Council (hereinafter referred to asthe budgetary authority) together with the preliminary draft generalbudget of the European Union.
3. On the basis of the statement of estimates, the Commission shall
enter in the preliminary draft general budget of the European Union theestimates it deems necessary for the establishment plan and the amountof the subsidy to be charged to the general budget, which it shall placebefore the budgetary authority in accordance with Article 272 of the
Treaty.
4. The budgetary authority shall authorise the appropriations for the
subsidy to the Agency.
The budgetary authority shall adopt the establishment plan for the
Agency.
5. The budget shall be adopted by the Management Board. It shall
become final following final adoption of the general budget of the
European Union. Where appropriate, it shall be adjusted accordingly.
6. The Management Board shall, as soon as possible, notify the
budgetary authority of its intention to implement any project which
may have significant financial implications for the funding of the
budget, in particular any projects relating to property such as the rentalor purchase of buildings. It shall inform the Commission thereof.
Where a branch of the budgetary authority has notified its intention to
deliver an opinion, it shall forward its opinion to the Management
Board within a period of six weeks after the date of notification ofthe project.
Article 13
1. The Executive Director shall implement the budget of the
Agency.
2. By 1 March at the latest following each financial year, the
Agency's accounting officer shall communicate the provisional1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 8
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accounts to the Commission's accounting officer together with a report
on the budgetary and financial management for that financial year. TheCommission's accounting officer shall consolidate the provisional
accounts of the institutions and decentralised bodies in accordance
with Article 128 of the general Financial Regulation.
3. By 31 March at the latest following each financial year, the
Commission's accounting officer shall forward the Agency's provisional
accounts to the Court of Auditors, together with a report on thebudgetary and financial management for that financial year. The reporton the budgetary and financial management for the financial year shallalso be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Council.
4. On receipt of the Court of Auditors' observations on the Agency's
provisional accounts under Article 129 of the general Financial Regula-tion, the Executive Director shall draw upthe Agency's final accountsunder his own responsibility and submit them to the ManagementBoard for an opinion.
5. The Management Board shall deliver an opinion on the Agency's
final accounts.
6. The Executive Director shall, by 1 July at the latest following
each financial year, forward the final accounts to the European Parlia-ment, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, togetherwith the Management Board's opinion.
7. The final accounts shall be published.
8. The Executive Director shall send the Court of Auditors a reply
to its observations by 30 September at the latest. He shall also sendthis reply to the Management Board.
9. The Executive Director shall submit to the European Parliament,
at the latter's request, all information necessary for the smooth applica-tion of the discharge procedure for the financial year in question, aslaid down in Article 146(3) of the general Financial Regulation.
10. The European Parliament, on a recommendation from the
Council acting by a qualified majority, shall, before 30 April of yearN + 2, give a discharge to the Executive Director in respect of theimplementation of the budget for year N.
Article 14
The financial rules applicable to the Agency shall be adopted by the
Management Board after the Commission has been consulted. They
may not depart from Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/
2002 of 19 November 2002 on the framework Financial Regulation forthe bodies referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC,Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to thegeneral budget of the European Communities (
1) unless such departure
is specifically required for the Agency's operation and the Commission
has given its prior consent.
Article 15
1. The Agency shall actively seek the cooperation of other Commu-
nity bodies and programmes, and notably the Joint Research Centre,the Statistical Office and the Community's environmental research and
development programmes. In particular:
— cooperation with the Joint Research Centre shall include the tasks
set out in the Annex under A,
— coordination with the Statistical Office of the European Commu-
nities (Eurostat) and the statistical programme of the EuropeanCommunities will follow the guidelines outlined in the Annexunder B.1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 9
(1) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72; corrigendum in OJ L 2, 7.1.2003, p. 39.▼B
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2. The Agency shall also cooperate actively with other bodies such
as the European Space Agency, the Organization for Economic Coop-eration and Development, the Council of Europe and the International
Energy Agency as well as the United Nations and its specialized agen-
cies, particularly the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),the World Meteorological Organization and the International AtomicEnergy Authority.
2a. The Agency may cooperate in areas of common interest with
those institutions in countries which are not members of the EuropeanCommunities which can provide data, information and expertise, meth-odologies of data collection, analysis and assessment which are of
mutual interest and which are necessary for the successful completion
of the Agency's work.
3. The cooperation referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 2a must in
particular take account of the need to avoid any duplication of effort.
Article 16
The Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European
Communities shall apply to the Agency.
Article 17
The staff of the Agency shall be subject to the Regulations and Rules
applicable to officials and other servants of the European Communities.
The Agency shall exercise in respect of its staff the powers devolved to
the Appointing Authority.
The management board shall, in agreement with the Commission,
adopt the appropriate implementing rules.
Article 18
1. The contractual liability of the Agency shall be governed by the
law applicable to the contract in question. The Court of Justice of theEuropean Communities shall have jurisdiction to give judgmentpursuant to an arbitration clause contained in a contract concluded by
the Agency.
2. In the case of non-contractual liability, the Agency shall, in
accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the
Member States, make good any damage caused by the Agency or its
servants in the performance of their duties.
The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction in disputes relating to
compensation for any such damage.
3. The personal liability of servants towards the Agency shall be
governed by the provisions applying to the staff of the Agency.
Article 19
The Agency is open to countries which are not members of the
European Communities but which share the concern of the Commu-nities and the Member States for the objectives of the Agency under
agreements concluded between them and the Community following
the procedure in Article 228 of the Treaty.
Article 20
1. The Agency shall conduct an evaluation of its performance and
efficiency before 15 September 1999 and submit a report to themanagement board, the Commission, the Council and the EuropeanParliament.
2. Not later than 31 December 2003, on the basis of a report from
the Commission, the Council shall review the progress of, and tasks1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 10
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undertaken by, the Agency in relation to the Community's overall
policy on the environment.
Article 21
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that on
which the competent authorities have decided the seat of the
Agency (1).
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 11
(1) The date of entry into force of the Regulation shall be published in the Offi-
cial Journal.▼B
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ANNEX
A.CooperationwiththeJointResearchCentre
— Harmonization of environmental measurement methods (1).
— Intercalibration of instruments (1).
— Standardization of data formats.— Development of new environmental measurement methods and instru-
ments.
— Other tasks as agreed between the Excutive Director of the Agency and
the Director-General of the Joint Research Centre.
B.CooperationwithEurostat
1. The Agency will use, as far as possible, information collected via the
official Community statistical services. These result from the work of
Eurostat and the national statistical services in collecting, validating and
disseminating social and economic statistics, including national accounts
and related information. In particular, the Agency will make use of work
done by Eurostat and the national statistical offices under Decision 94/
808/EEC (
2), covering statistics on (a) human activities resulting in pres-
sure on the environment and (b) societal and economic responses to such
pressures.
2. The statistical programme in the field of the environment will be agreed
between the Executive Director of the Agency and the Director-General
of Eurostat and will be submitted for approval to the management board
of the Agency and the Statistical Programme Committee.
3. The statistical programme shall be conceived and implemented within the
framework established by the international statistical bodies, such as the
UN Statistical Commission, the Conference of European Statisticians and
the OECD.1990R1210 — EN — 01.10.2003 — 002.001 — 12
(1) Cooperation in these areas shall also take account of the work carried out by the
Community Bureau of Reference.
(2) Council Decision 94/808/EEC of 15 December 1994 adopting a four-year development
programme (1994 to 1997) relating to the environmental component of Community
statistics (OJ L 328, 20.12.1994, p. 58).▼M1
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