The European Environment Agency (EEA) – environmental information and monitoring

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EC) No 401/2009 on the European Environment Agency and the European Environment Information and Observation Network

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

The regulation sets out the aims and objectives of the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet). This enables them to provide information in support of the formulation of European Union (EU) environment policy.

KEY POINTS

The EEA is an EU decentralised agency. Its objective is to provide objective, reliable and comparable information to enable environmental protection and improvement and support sustainable development so that:

measures are taken to protect the environment;
the results of those measures are assessed;
the public is kept informed about the state of the environment;
EU Member States and EU institutions have the necessary technical and scientific support.

It has the following principal tasks:

to collect, process and analyse data to provide the EU with the objective information necessary for effective environmental policies;
to assist in the monitoring and implementation of environmental measures;
to collate, assess and disseminate data on the state of the environment to the general public;
to ensure that data are comparable throughout Europe;
to promote the incorporation of EU data into international monitoring programmes such as those of the United Nations;
to stimulate the development of methods of assessing the cost of damage to the environment and the costs of preventive, protection and restoration policies;
to stimulate the exchange of information on the best technologies available for preventing or reducing damage to the environment;
to publish a report on the state of, trends in and prospects for the environment every 5 years.

The data covered include:

air pollution and noise pollution;
water and marine environment;
the state of the soil and of biodiversity – ecosystems;
land use and natural resources;
circular economy, resource efficiency and waste;
chemicals;
Europe’s seas and coasts;
climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The EEA Management Board includes one representative from each of its 32 member countries (27 Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey), two from the European Commission and two scientific experts appointed by the European Parliament. An executive director is responsible for day-to-day management.

The EEA cooperates with other EU and international bodies, such as the EU’s statistical office and the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organization.

Eionet, coordinated by the EEA, is the EU’s information network on environmental issues and consists of the EEA’s 32 member countries and six cooperating countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia).

Regulation (EU) 2021/1119, the European Climate Law (see summary), added a further article (Article 10a) to Regulation (EC) No 401/2009 establishing a European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. The Advisory Board comprises 15 independent senior scientific experts covering a broad range of relevant disciplines. The members of the Advisory Board are designated for 4 years by the EEA’s Management Board, following an open and rigorous selection procedure. The members are appointed in a personal capacity and selected on the basis of their scientific excellence, broad expertise and professional experience.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 10 June 2009.

Regulation (EC) No 401/2009 codified and replaced Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 and its subsequent amendments.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

About us (European Environment Agency)
European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet portal).

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EC) No 401/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the European Environment Agency and the European Environment Information and Observation Network (Codified version) (OJ L 126, 21.5.2009, pp. 13–22).

Successive amendments to Regulation (EC) No 401/2009 have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

last update 19.04.2023