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Strategy for integrating the environment into the single market
Strategy for integrating the environment into the single market
Strategy for integrating the environment into the single market
This summary has been archived and will not be updated, because the summarised document is no longer in force or does not reflect the current situation.
Strategy for integrating the environment into the single market
The European Union has established a set of measures and proposed guidelines aimed at developing the synergies between the single market and Community environmental policy.
ACT
Communication of 8 June 1999 from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: Single Market and Environment [COM(99) 263 final - not published in the Official Journal].
SUMMARY
Environmental standards are often perceived as barriers to market access (strict technical standards), just as open markets are frequently seen as a threat to the quality of the environment.
The Amsterdam Treaty has reinforced the principle of integrating environmental requirements into other policies since this is the key to promoting sustainable development (Article 6 of the Treaty establishing the European Community). The Community must therefore seek a coherent approach enabling it to pursue the objectives of the Treaty as regards both the single market and the environment, whilst also honouring its international obligations.
One of the targets set in the action plan for the single market was to deliver a single market for the benefit of all citizens, in which environmental protection would play an important role. The Commission considers it essential to reinforce the synergies between the single market and environmental policies, with the aid of a series of measures on public procurement, State aid, standardisation, financial reporting and eco-labelling.
The Community must also use economic instruments such as taxes (environmental taxes and charges) that can be an appropriate way of implementing the "polluter pays" principle.
The Commission has proposed a series of measures that could be taken to integrate environmental objectives more fully into various areas of the single market:
Background
At its summit meeting in Cardiff the European Council called on all relevant formations of the Council to establish their own strategies for giving effect to the general principle of integrating environmental policy into all other Union policies. In Cardiff the focus was mainly on energy, transport and agriculture.
Continuing along the same lines, in Vienna the European Council extended this process to three other fields - the internal market, industry and development.
RELATED ACTS
Council report of 30 May 2001 to the Gothenburg European Council on a strategy for integrating environmental protection and sustainable development into internal market policy.
With this report, the Council approved the strategy to ensure that environmental concerns are taken into account in future internal market developments. This strategy draws mainly on the following points:
Communication of 15 May 2001 from the Commission: A Sustainable Europe for a Better World: A European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development (Commission's proposal to the Gothenburg European Council) [COM(2001) 264 - not published in the Official Journal]
Last updated: 07.10.2005