EEC FOURTH ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PROGRAMME ( 1987 - 1992 )

18.3. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/3
II
(Preparatory Acts)
COMMISSION
Draft for a resolution of the Council of the European Communities on the continuation and
implementation of a European Community policy and action programme on the environment
(1987-1992)
(COM(86) 48 5 final
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 15 October 1986)
(87/C 70/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Coal and Steel Community,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Atomic Energy Community,
Having regard to the draft from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament,
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
Whereas the declaration of the Council of the European
Communities and of the representatives of the
Governments of the Member States, meeting within the
Council, of 22 November 1973 (*) calls for the
implementation of a European Communities programme
of action on the environment;
Whereas the action programme was extended and
supplemented for the period 1977 to 1986 by the
resolutions of the Council and the representative of the
Governments of the Member States, meeting within the
Council, of 17 May 1977 (2) and of 7 February 1983 (3).
Whereas the tasks of the European Communities are laid
down in the Treaties establishing the Communities;
Whereas in particular, in accordance with Article 2 of
the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, part of the latter's task is to promote
throughout the Community a harmonious development
of economic activities and a continuous and balanced
expansion, which, even in changed economic circum-
stances, is inconceivable without making the most
economic use possible of the natural resources offered by
the environment and without improving the quality of
life and the protection of the environment;
Whereas, consequently, the improvement of the quality
of life and making the most economical use possible of
the natural resources offered by the environment are
among the fundamental tasks of the European Economic
Community; whereas a Community environment policy
would help accomplish this purpose;
Whereas the Single European Act lays down that the
objectives of a Community policy for the environment
are to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the
environment, to contribute towards protecting human
health, and to ensure a prudent and rational utilization
of natural resources, that it provides that action taken by
the Community relating to the environment shall be
based on the principles that preventive action should be
taken, that envionmental damage should as a priority be
rectified at source, and that the polluter should pay and
that in preparing its action relating to the environment,
the Community shall take account of available scientific
and technical data, environmental conditions in the
various regions of the Community, the potential benefits,
and costs of action or of lack of action, and the
economic and social development of the Community as a
whole and the balanced development of its regions;
Whereas it is necessary to avoid the adoption by the
Member States of divergent measures likely to produce
economic and competition distortions in the Common
Market;
0) OJ No C 112, 20. 12. 1973, p. 1.
(*) O J N o C 139, 13.6. 1977.
(J) OJ No C 46, 17. 2. 1983.
Whereas account should be taken of the economic and
social aspects of environment policy, and particularly of
No C 70/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
its potential to contribute to the easing of current
economic problems, especially unemployment;
Whereas the objectives and principles of Community
environment policy, confirmed by the Council in its
declaration of 22 November 1973 and reconfirmed in the
Council Resolutions of 17 May 1977 and 7 February
1983, remain valid;
Whereas the programme of action on the environment of
22 November 1973, as extended and supplemented on 17
May 1977 and 7 February 1983 is still valid; whereas it
should be updated, further implemented and
supplemented for the period 1987 to 1991 by new tasks
which prove to be necessary;
Whereas, in particular, in addition to the projects
already initiated, especially in the field of pollution
reduction, making the most economic use possible of the
natural resources offered by the environment requires
that the preventive side of the environment policy should
be strengthened in the framework of an overall strategy
and that environment considerations be integrated into
the other economic, industrial, agricultural, regional and
social policies implemented by the Community and by its
Member States;
Whereas harmonized environmental standards are, in
many areas, necessary for the completion of the internal
market;
Whereas it is necessary to this end that environmental
standards should be set on the basis of high levels of
protection;
Whereas such an approach can promote innovation and
the creation of new economic opportunities both within
the Community and for exports;
Whereas, in these ways and others, environmental
protection policy can contribute to improved economic
growth and to job creation;
Whereas the European Year of the Environment, which
begins on 21 March 1987, offers a unique opportunity
for promoting the changes of attitude and for launching
the initial actions necessary to give practical effect to
these perceptions;
APPROVES the general approach of the action
programme annexed hereto;
DECLARES that it is important for Community actions to
be carried out particularly in the following areas:
(a) the progressive development and implementation of
strict environmental standards;
(b) the integration of the environmental dimension into
other policies;
(c) the wider use of environmental impact assessment
procedures;
(d) the stricter implementation of the 'polluter pays
principle' and its wider application to cover both
upstream and downstream costs as well as the costs
of respecting environmental requirements relating
to products and processes;
(e) reduction of pullution and nuisance if possible at
source, in the context of an approach which seeks
to prevent the transfer of pollution from one part of
the environment to another, in particular in the
following areas:
— combating atmospheric pollution,
— combating fresh-water and marine pollution,
— combating pollution of the soil;
(f) in this context, the increased use of multi-media
analyses to assess the overall pollution risks of
dangerous substances and to identify the most
effective and cost-effective control measures;
(g) noise pollution and particularly noise pollution
caused by means of transport;
(h) dangerous chemical substances and preparations;
(i) environmental protection aspects of biotechnology;
(j) environmental protection aspects of strengthened
Community action in relation to nuclear instal-
lations;
(k) the development of improved management in
relation to wastes of all kinds, including reduction
of quantities, treatment, recycling and re-use; and
increased attention, in particular to toxic and
dangerous and radioactive wastes, including the
transfrontier transport of such wastes;
(1) encouraging the development of clean technology;
(m) combating transfrontier pollution;
(n) the protection of areas of importance to the
Community which are particularly sensitive
environmentally and other measures for the
protection of nature;
(o) the overall and integrated environmental protection
of the Mediterranean region, taking account of all
the above aspects and paying particular attention to
the specific aspects of that region when giving
practical application to the action programme;
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/5
(p) combatting erosion and improving water supply and
management;
(q) guidelines for the development of more efficient
and cost-effective, economic, and job-creating
instruments to promote actions in the above areas;
(r) active participation in the activities of international
organizations concerned with environmental
protection;
(s) cooperation with developing countries on environ-
mental matters, particularly as regards questions of
desertification and tropical forests.
URGES the Commission to pay special attention to the
need for greater attention to the implementation,
application and practical effects of Community
legislation.
UNDERTAKES to act on these proposals wherever
possible within nine months of the date on which they
are submitted by the Commission or, as the case may be,
of the date on which the opinions of the European Par-
liament and of the Economic and Social Committee are
submitted.
UNDERTAKES to make available the financial resources
necessar for the implementation of this resolution and
the action programme attached thereto in accordance
with the usual procedures.
No C 70/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
ANNEX
EEC FOURTH ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PROGRAMME
(1987-1992)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 7
2. General policy orientations
2.1. Amendments to the Treaty of Rome 8
2.2. Implementation of Community Directives 9
2.3. Integration with other Community policies 10
2.4. Economic and employment aspects 15
2.5. Economic instruments 16
2.6. Information and education 16
3. Approaches to the prevention and control of pollution
3.1. General Principles 18
3.2. Multi-media pollution controls 19
3.3. Substance-orientated controls 20
3.4. Source-oriented controls 20
3.5. Product standards, emission limits and environmental quality objectives and standards . . . . 21
3.6. Conclusions to be drawn 22
4. Action in specific sectors
4.1. Atmospheric pollution 22
4.2. Fresh and sea water 24
4.3. Chemicals 26
4.4. Biotechnology 27
4.5. Noise 29
4.6. Nuclear safety 29
5. Management of environmental resources
5.1. Conservation of nature and natural resources 30
5.2. Protection of the soil 32
5.3. Waste management 33
5.4. Urban areas, coastal and mountain zones 35
6. Research 36
7. Action at international level
7.1. Action within international organizations and with third countries 37
7.2. Cooperation with developing countries on environmental matters 38
8. European year of the environment 40
9. Conclusions 41
Annex 1: Objectives and principles of a Community environment policy 41
Annex 2: Environment provisions of new Treaty 44
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/7
FOURTH ENVIRONMENT ACTION PROGRAMME
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. The Community's First Environmental Action Programme adopted in 1973 ('), having spelled out
the objectives and principles of environment policy, went on to list a large number of essentially remedial
actions that were seen to be necessary at Community level. The objectives and principles remain valid (2)
and some of the specific actions remain to be completed, but meanwhile the Community's approach to
environmental protection has evolved very considerably.
1.2. The Second Environmental Action Programme adopted in 1977 essentially updated and extended
the First but by 1983, when the Third Environmental Action Programme came to be adopted, the progress
in policy thinking and in the approach to environmental protection had already become clear. The
preventive approach — i.e. an approach requiring economic and social developments to be undertaken in
such a way as to avoid the creation of environmental problems — had become central. The resources of
the environment were recognized as constituting the basis of, but also setting the limits to, further
economic and social development. Prevention was to be achieved through the integration of environmental
requirements into the planning and execution of actions in many economic and social sectors, and stress
was placed on prior environmental impact assessment as a crucial tool for ensuring such integration.
1.3. Now, as the Community adopts a Fourth Environmental Action Programme for the six-year period
1987-1992, the context has again changed. It is no longer seriously contested that environmental protection
policy has a central part to play in the whole corpus of Community policies and that environmental
protection needs to be taken into account as a fundamental factor when economic decisions are taken.
Continuing — and in many cases growing — problems of environmental deterioration have convinced the
Commission that the establishment of strict standards for environmental protection is no longer merely an
option; it has become essential. Moreover, the Commission is also convinced that, when account is taken
of the growing public demand for improved standards of environmental protection and for environmentally
friendly goods — both within the Community and worldwide — Community industry will not be suc-
cessful unless it increasingly gears itself towards the meeting of such standards and the production of such
goods. High standards of environmental protection have thus become an imperative — and an economic
imperative at that.
1.4. These new perceptions as to the importance and as to the role of environmental protection policy
for the Community have been strongly reinforced by two recent conclusions of the European Council
which, in a sense, provide the agenda and the terms of reference for the Commission's proposals for the
Community's Fourth Environmental Action Programme.
1.5. The first of these two conclusions was, of course, the decision of the European Council — on the
recommendation of the Intergovernmental Conference — to propose the inclusion in the amended Treaty
of Rome of a chapter on the environment. This decision plainly recognizes the need for a developed
Community environmental policy at the heart of the Community's other policies and sets out guidelines for
its content. It is particularly significant that, alone amongst the common policies included in the amended
Treaty, it will be laid down in relation to environment policy (Article 130R) that its requirements shall
constitute a component of other Community policies; and that in relation, in particular, to standards
established on the basis of Article 100A of the amended Treaty, it is laid down that Commission proposals
concerning, inter alia, environmental protection, will take, as a base, a high level of protection. The Article
also provides that national provisions applied in the name of environmental protection should not be used
as a means of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade between Member States. A copy
of the proposed Treaty modifications that are relevant to environment is set out in Annex 2 to this
programme.
C) OJNoC 112,20. 12. 1973.
O OJ No C 139, 13. 6. 1977, see Annex 1.
No C 70/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
1.6. The second conclusion of importance for environmental policy is the recognition by the European
Council in March 1985 (') that environmental protection policy can contribute to improved economic
growth and job creation. In the past environmental requirements have often been seen as merely imposing
regulations and costs on industry, agriculture, transport, etc. Now, in a worlds where higher environmental
standards are more and more being required, the achievement of such standards must increasingly be seen
as an essential element in the future economic success of the Community. The European Council went on
to affirm its determination to give policy the dimension of an essential component of the economic,
industrial, agricultural and social policies implemented by the Community and by its Member States.
1.7. This then is the agenda for and the orientation of the Community's Fourth Environmental Action
Programme. The challenge — which is also an opportunity — is to find the means of making further
progress in environmental policy in such a way that the economic and employment benefits foreseen by the
European Council can also be achieved.
2. GENERAL POLICY ORIENTATIONS
2.1. Amendments to the Treaty of Rome
2.1.1. The EEC Treaty, as it will be amended by the Single European Act, envisages the pursuit of
environment policy in two ways at Community level. First the Treaty will contain a specific chapter (Title
VII) on environment policy (Articles 130R to 130T), which fixes the objectives and principles of such
policy, in particular the necessity of preventive action which is placed side by side with the requirement of
protecting and improving the quality of the environment. Furthermore the Treaty will expressly stipulate
that the requirements of environment policy constitute a component part of the other Community policies.
2.1.2. In addition, the Treaty recognizes that environmental protection actions may be important for the
achievement of the internal market — a principal Community objective for the coming five years. It is
evident that environmental actions taken at Member State level alone might easily lead to new barriers to
intra-Community trade or distort competition. In this context it is noteworthy that Article 100A — which
deals with the adoption of measures of the approximation of the provisions laid down by law, regulation or
administrative action in Member States which have as their object the establishment or functioning of the
common market — not only lays down that such measures shall be adopted by qualified majority voting
but also provides that the Commission, in its proposals laid down in Article 100, paragraph 1, concerning
health, safety, environmental protection and consumer protection, will take as a base a high level of
protection.
2.1.3. The Commission intends to make full use of the provisions of the new Treaty, and in particular
Article 100A. It acknowledges the need to combine, by way of actions which effectively protect the
environment, two of the main objectives of the Treaty, i.e. the achievement of the internal market and the
development of a high level of environmental standards within the Community. The Commission is
moreover convinced that the development of high environmental standards is consistent with, and
sometimes necessary for, the protection and improvement of the future competitive position of Community
industry.
2.1.4. It is also important to note that Article DOB of the Single European Act places stress on the
promotion of economic and social cohesion within the Community and on the reduction of regional
disparities. Moreover, the chapter dealing with environment policy makes plain that the Community, in
preparing its action relating to the environment, is to take account inter alia of environmental conditions in
O 'The European Council considers that a Community environmental protection policy must be based on the following
considerations:
(i) having acknowledged that this policy can contribute to improved economic growth and job creation, it affirms its
determination to give this policy the dimension of an essential component of the economic, industrial, agricultural
and social policies implemented by the Community and by its Member States;
(ii) it acknowledges the need for the Member States to take coherent action in the Community framework to protect
the air, the sea and the soil, since isolated action is unlikely to prove effective and may even be harmful.
It requests the Council to expedite its proceedings and to make every effort, together with the Commission, to ensure
that the years to come are marked by significant progress in Community action for the protection of the environment
in Europe and throughout the world.
In this connection, the European Council has decided that 1987 will be designated "European Environment Year"/
Bulletin of the European Communities, March 1985.
18,3. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/9
the various regions of the Community; and of the economic and social development of the Community as
a whole and the balanced development of its regions. It is clear therefore that a particular importance will
attach, during the period of the Fourth Environmental Action Programme, to close cooperative action in
the implementation of the Community's environmental and regional policies. The Commission will take the
necessary steps to ensure that this occurs.
2.1.5. Actions to ensure the consolidation of Community environment policy with the Community's
other policies for which the amended Treaty calls, will be accompanied by a number of other actions of a
broad-ranging character during the next five years. Thus the Commission will carefully and critically assess
the policy pursued in the different environment sectors in order to check whether the experience of past
legislation and its implementation should suggest new strategies, why parts of the previous environment
action programmes have not been implemented, and what lessons can be learned from the past and used in
the future.
2.1.6. The Commission will re-assess the obligations of Member States under existing Directives to
report on the application of those Directives. To that end it will submit a proposal for a Directive which
will standardize and rationalize the general obligation to submit reports; and will link them more
effectively to the production, on a three-yearly cycle, of Community state of the environment reports. The
Commission also proposes to give greater publicity to reports on the different environmental Directives and
to Commission reports on the effects on the ground of Community environmental legislation.
2.1.7. Under the Information Agreement of 1973 (') Member States agreed to notify the Commission of
their intentions to introduce environmental legislation at national level. In view of the provisions of the
amended Treaty concerning both environment policy and the completion of the internal market by 1992,
which imply the necessity to elaborate any necessary Community-level, product-related environmental
standards on the same timescale, the Commission considers that the time has come to transform the Infor-
mation Agreement into a binding Community instrument. The Commission will accordingly submit a
proposal for a Directive to render obligatory the notification of proposed environmental legislation, in so
far as this is not already covered under the provisions of Directive 83/189/EEC (2) and thus make possible
a more systematic assessment of the necessity to take environmental action at Community level.
2.2. Implementation of Community Directives
2.2.1. The effective implementation of Community environmental legislation by all Member States will
be of primary importance for the Community.
2.2.2. The transposition of Community legislation into national law is usually achieved within a
reasonable time, although sometimes later than the dates laid down in the Directives; it is clear that the
new Member States, in particular, will have to make special efforts in the coming years. The Commission
has, however, in the past identified a considerable number of omissions and deviations in national laws,
sometimes of considerable importance, and has been obliged to initiate infringement procedures against
Member States, in order to bring national legislation into line with the requirements of Community law.
2.2.3. In the future the question of the transposition of Community Directives into national law is likely
to receive greater attention from the interested public, since the Commission has decided to allow public
access to its data base which stores information on the national legislation — whether specially adopted or
already in existence — which formally implements Community law.
2.2.4. Looking beyond the question of legal action, the further questions of the practical implementation
at national level of the requirements of Community legislation and its effectiveness in reality in improving
the quality of the environment, also both raise considerable problems.
2.2.5. In theory the Commission has the power to check whether Community acts and the national laws
which are based on them are actually fully complied with in practical terms at local or regional levels. This
power derives from Article 155 of the Treaty and, furthermore, from Articles in the individual Directives
which provide that Member States shall report to the Commission on the implementation of Directives.
However, national reports are not always submitted regularly and often do not give sufficient details to
allow the Commission to assess sufficiently will the practical implementation.
(') OJ No C 9, 15. 3. 1973; OJ No C 86, 20. 7. 1974.
O OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8.
No C 70/10 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
2.2.6. To address both of these aspects — i.e. formal legal compliance and practical implementation —
the Commission intends to intensify the dialogue with national (or, as the case may be, regional)
administrations from Member States so as to promote a more fully harmonized understanding of and
approach to both legal and practical questions concerning implementation; and to persuade them to ensure
the effective implementation of Community acts and the national laws based on them. Such discussions
might assist some administrations by enabling them to benefit from experience gained by administrations in
other Member States. They should also have the effect of avoiding, to the greatest extent possible, the
necessity for the Commission to resort to infringement procedures.
2.2.7. The Commission also intends to take further actions in order to promote both better compliance
with the requirements of Community environmental legislation and its more effective implementation.
These actions will include:
— an examination of the question whether, in appropriate cases, Community environment inspectors
should be appointed to work with national officials so as to ensure the harmonized and effective
implementation of Community law,
— better publicity for the Community's environment policy and its impact at local, regional and national
level, in order to increase public awareness of the need to protect the environment effectively,
— encouraging private persons, non-governmental organizations or local authorities to bring instances of
non-compliance or of inadequate compliance to the attention of the Commission, in order to have
remedial action started,
— organizing seminars, workshops and other forums which allow the exchange of experience among
interested persons and organizations as to how Community law is applied; and how effective it is in
improving the environment,
— initiating infringement procedures under Article 169 of the Treaty against Member States, in order to
ensure that Member States actually honour their obligations under Community law.
2.2.8. The Commission is convinced that complete and effective implementation of the Community
environment acts by all Member States is a matter of priority concern; and that it will lead to a
considerable improvement in the quality of the environment, contribute to better integration of national
environment policies and actions, and strengthen the cohesion of the Community. Therefore it will
consider implementation as a priority under the Fourth Environmental Action Programme.
2.3. Integration with other Community policies
2.3.1. Whilst it is true that there can be no sound environmental policy unless, at the same time, there is
progress on the economic and social front, it is equally true that there can be no lasting economic and
social progress unless environmental considerations are taken into account and are indeed seen as an
essential part of economic and social development. This has been clearly recognized by the European
Council when it affirmed its determination to give to environmental protection policy the dimension of an
essential component of the economic, industrial, agricultural and social policies implemented by the
Community and its Member States.
2.3.2. It will accordingly be a central part of the Commission's efforts during the period of the Fourth
Environmental Action Programme to make major progress towards the practical realization of this
objective — initially at the level of the Community's own policies and actions; secondly at the level of the
policies implemented by Member States; but as soon as possible in a more generalized way so that all
economic and social developments throughout the Community, whether undertaken by public or private
bodies or of a mixed character, would have environmental requirements built fully into their planning and
execution.
2.3.3. In relation to these broad-ranging initiatives an obvious priority will be given to projects and to
ensuring that the practical carrying into effect of developments of whatever kind, takes adequate account
of environmental requirements. But the Commission's concern will also be extended, as rapidly as possible,
to cover policies and policy statements; plans and their implementation; procedures; programmes
(including both their overall objectives and their sub-elements), as well as individual projects.
2.3.4. So far as concerns the Community's own policies a special importance already attaches to projects
and programmes financed from the structural funds and other Community funds. The recent establishment
of standing arrangements for the close coordination of operations under the aegis of all the structural
funds will clearly greatly assist in taking full account of environmental needs. Within the framework of
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/11
those coordination arrangements, the Commission is already working on the development of effective
internal procedures to ensure that environmental requirements are built into the processes of assessing and
approving proposals for all developments to be financed from such funds. These procedures will be based
closely on the content of the Directive on environmental impact assessment (85/337/EEC) (l). They will
also foresee the obligation to undertake environmental impact assessments in appropriate cases. Once these
procedures have been established in relation to the Community's own policies, the Commission will
consider the question of their wider application and will make appropriate proposals.
2.3.5. However, the environmental assessment of development proposals is not by itself sufficient to
ensure the adequate integration of environmental requirements into other policy areas. By way of illus-
trating the nature of the initiatives that need to be undertaken to ensure the full integration of these
requirements into the planning and execution of economic and social activity within the Community, the
following paragraphs indicate the Commission's intentions in relation to particular policy areas where, in
the Commission's view, specific actions are necessary.
2.3.6: Agriculture — Europe's much admired landscape has been formed and shaped by agriculture over
the centuries. However, the development of modern farming practices poses questions which require an
urgent response. Inappropriate land use damages landscapes' quality and areas of special interest for
conservation; misuse of chemicals and the uncontrolled disposal of agricultural wastes pollute water
supplies and damage wildlife. The Commission has already announced its initial proposals (following pub-
lication of its Green Paper on 'Perspectives for the Common Agricultural Policy' (*) and its subsequent
communication 'A Future for Community Agriculture' (5) to ensure that agricultural policy and practice in
the Community will do more to respect the environment and to conserve the priceless heritage of landscape
and species. They focus on measures 'to support agriculture in areas where it is essential for land use
planning, maintenance of the social balance and protection of the environment and landscape' and on the
needs 'to make farmers more aware of environmental issues'.
2.3.7. The Commission has also in COM(85) 750 made clear its view that to establish a proper balance
between agricultural development and the sometimes conflicting needs of conserving the natural
environment, a series of actions related in particular to the use of agro-chemicals, the treatment of agri-
cultural wastes and the conservation of species, habitats and landscapes is necessary. In relation to large-
scale agricultural and forestry projects and programmes the Commission has made plain on many occasions
in the past that it will require the use of environmental impact assessments. As indicated in the
Commission's recent communication to the Council on Community action in the forestry sector (*), an
increase in the forest area of the Community is desirable for a number of reasons, including the contri-
bution that this could make to environmental protection and improvement. On all these matters the
Commission will make appropriate proposals as soon as possible.
2.3.8. Moreover the systematic monitoring of forest die-back is an essential measure to accompany
measures to control atmospheric pollution; proposals on this (and also to control forest fires) have long
been before the Council; the Commission urges the need for their early adoption.
2.3.9. Industry — The integration of environmental considerations into industrial policy has to be seen in
a much wider context than pollution prevention or control and environmental impact assessment pro-
cedures. The siting and design of industrial installations; industry's choice of product and process; and its
approach to the management of its wastes, must all be influenced by environmental considerations. In turn,
the role of industry in generating the wealth which inter alia makes possible the necessary environmental
investments and improvements must be recognized.
2.3.10. It is the Commission's clear policy to develop proposals for environmental protection legislation
in close consultation with industry. A further objective is, whenever possible, to give advance warning of
likely changes in legislation laying down stricter environmental standards or requirements sufficiently far
ahead to give industry time to adjust and to enable the new standards to be taken into account in its
forward investment, policy and product planning.
(*) OJ No L 175, 6. 7. 1985.
O COM(85) 333, 13. 7. 1985.
(J) COM(85) 750, 18. 12. 1985.
(4) COM(86) 26, 31. 1. 1986.
No C 70/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 3. 87
2.3.11. Legislation, however, is not the whole story. It is clear that environmental standards will become
progressively stricter and that the public demand for improved environmental quality will grow. It is,
therefore, most important that industry should, on its own initiative and in its own interest, increasingly
take steps to integrate environmental considerations into its own policies and operating procedures and
practices. Many industrial companies have already taken important steps in this direction; and the same is
true of certain banks, insurance companies, etc. The necessary full integration of environmental
requirements into all economic and social activities will not, however, have been achieved until this
approach becomes generalized. To this end the Commission will, during the period of the Fourth Environ-
mental Action Programme, work in close consultation with industry in the development of suitable
guidelines and codes of practice, so as to encourage such an evolution as rapidly as possible.
2.3.12. In doing so it will be necessary to recognize that the need for increasingly strict standards poses
the greatest problems for the older industries that are involved in restructuring and have a lot of old plant.
By contrast some of the new industries which are replacing them involve innovative technologies which are,
by their very nature, less polluting and less environmentally troublesome than some of the old ones that
they replace. Moreover, some of the innovative techniques can be and are being used in environmental
management industries (such as pollution control equipment) thus bringing together improved environ-
mental management and technological innovation.
2.3.13. Whether or not it is easy for a particular industry to respond to the demand for stricter environ-
mental standards, the Commission is convinced that, overall, the competitivity of Community industry on
world markets in the 1990's will depend partly on its products reaching environmental standards at least as
high as those of competitors. If such progress is not made, then Community producers will lose market
share not only on international markets, but also on the internal market. Moreover it needs to be
recognized that pollution represents a waste of resources and is often linked with obsolete technologies.
On both these counts the imposition of ambitious environmental standards in the remainder of the 1980s,
which stimulate technological innovation in order to meet them, will protect markets and jobs in the long-
term. These developing standards will be real challenges for industry; but will offer real opportunities as
well.
2.3.14. Stricter environmental standards are likely to provide growth opportunities especially for small
and medium-sized enterprises. The Community has recognized the importance of such companies for
overall economic and employment growth in Europe. The very specific demands on product development,
innovation and manufacturing which result from higher environmental standards are likely to be met above
all by smaller firms which have the flexibility necessary to meet such demands. The resulting creation and
development of small and medium-sized enterprises will be a significant contribution to the European
economy in coming years. On the other hand, small and medium-sized enterprises cannot be exempted
from meeting increasingly severe environmental standards although they may find difficulty in doing so. In
some cases it may be necessary for the public authorities to assist these firms in carrying out the investment
required to meet such standards. At the same time it is incumbent on legislators, both at the Community
and national level, to consider the costs which legislation imposes on such enterprises. High environmental
standards should be achieved in the least bureaucratic and most cost-efficient way.
2.3.15.. Competition policy — In recognition of their importance in terms of the common European
interest, state aids designed to promote the protection of the environment have been authorized by the
Commission, under certain conditions, since 1974. The aim of allowing limited state aids for this purpose is
to promote the introduction of, and industrial adaptation to, regulations which ensure effective environ-
mental protection and to lead eventually to the promotion of the 'polluter pays' principle. The framework
governing approval of such aids expires on 31 December 1986 and the Commission is currently studying
the possibility of extending it.
2.3.16. Regional policy — One of the most important of the Community's policies is its regional
development policy which seeks to promote the economic development of those regions of the Community
that are less developed or are economically disadvantaged; and thus to promote economic convergence.
Many of the projects financed from the regional fund are relatively large-scale infrastructure projects;
many of the assisted areas contain environmentally important or sensitive zones, hence the integration of
environmental requirements into the planning and execution of regional development policies and
programmes (and of individual projects) is of particular importance. The procedures referred to in
paragraph 2.3.4 above should satisfactorily ensure such integration.
2.3.17. The interaction between regional policy and environmental policy goes further than this
essentially preventive aspect however. Amongst the less economically advanced areas of the Community
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/13
cases can arise in which necessary environmental improvements may be delayed because of their financial
impact on existing enterprises. In addition, public authorities in certain areas of the Community already
face economic problems — applying Community measures, especially in relation to the installation of basic
environmental infrastructure. In order to overcome these difficulties the Commission will make a proposal
for a Community programme, within the framework of the regional fund, which will have as its objective
to assist disadvantaged areas of the Community to implement Community environment Directives — thus
promoting both socio-economic development in such areas and Community environment policy. Further
reference to this intention, which was announced in COM(86) 76, is made in paragraphs 2.5.4 and 5.4.6
below. The Commission hopes to be able to put forward precise proposals during the first half of 1987. In
accordance with the framework of the Council's resolution of 17 February 1983, adopting the Third
Community Environmental Programme ('), the Commission intends to be guided, inter alia, by the need to
take account of the differing economic and ecological conditions and the differing structures in the
Community.
2.3.18. Energy — The production of energy is heavily dependent on the use of fossil fuels and thus
energy policy is inevitably concerned by atmospheric pollution issues. Environmental requirements in turn
affect energy costs and the competitive position as between different energy sources. The balanced pursuit
of environmental and energy policy objectives is therefore of special importance, as stated in the
Commission's recent communication on new Community energy objectives (2). Energy conservation and
alternative non-fossil energy sources will help improve air quality. Technologies exist that can achieve
significant reductions in polluting emissions from fossil fuel power-stations at reasonable costs; the
Commission's proposals for the reduction of emissions from large combustion installations (see section
4.1.4) took account of this.
2.3.19. The safe use of nuclear power in particular within the Community will certainly be fully
discussed in the course of the far-reaching review that is currently being undertaken as announced in the
Commission's communication to the Council on the follow-up to the recent accident at Chernobyl (3).
within the context of that review certain measures of an environmental protection character will be
examined and appropriate proposals made (see paragraphs 4.1.7, 4.2.2, 4.3.8, 5.3.7 and 7.1.6 (second
item)); they concern the possible applicability to nuclear installations of approaches developed in relation to
non-nuclear industry on emission standards and safety criteria: dumping of wastes at sea; and the transport
of dangerous materials (including nuclear materials).
2.3.20. Looking further ahead into the future it is clear that difficult problems could arise from the use
of fossil fuels if the build-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the 'Greenhouse effect' are shown
(as certain scientists fear) to have serious impacts on climate and agricultural productivity worldwide. In
case further scientific research should confirm the likelihood of such impacts, the Community should
already be thinking about possible responses and alternative energy strategies. The Commission will
continue its studies in this context.
2.3.21. In general therefore it is evident that all actions taken in the field of energy policy need to be
considered from an environmental as well as economic standpoint (and vice-versa). A degree of integration
has already been achieved but, as has been indicated, there may be real problems ahead. The management
of nuclear waste, which is the subject of a Community research programme, as well as of a Community
plan of action (1988-1992), remains a central issue of environmental concern. It will be necessary to
strengthen the Community policy by building on the results of work already in hand, particularly within
the framework of the Community's research programmes, with a view to developing clear orientations or
guidelines at Community level for the disposal of such waste.
2.3.22. Internal market— The completion of the internal market by 1992 is an established Community
commitment and one of the most important challenges facing the Community. The achievement of this
goal requires the active support and assistance of all other Community policies. In the field of environment
policy the main potential impact of the completion of the internal market will be in relation to product
(') OJ No C 46, 17. 2. 1983.
O COM(85) 245, 28. 5. 1986.
O COM(86) 327, 12. 6. 1986.
No C 70/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
standards. In important cases, national standards could differ widely, particularly on the protection of the
environment. It is essential in that case to seek at an early stage and at Community level any harmonization
of these standards which may be necessary for environmental reasons. The Single European Act lays down
that the approximation of laws on environmental protection will be based on a high level of protection (see
paragraph 1.5). The Commission will make appropriate proposals during the period of the Fourth Environ-
mental Action Programme between now and 1992.
2.3.23. Transport— The interaction of transport and the environment is a wide-ranging one. Transport,
in the widest sense, is at the root of many environmental issues (noise, air pollution, impact on landscape,
etc.), but it can also contribute directly and positively to the creation or improvement of certain
environments. Improved accessibility widens opportunities for people to experience and appreciate environ-
mentally important areas. On the other hand there is no doubt that badly planned transport links can be
very destructive of environmental quality. Improving the environmental acceptability of vehicles is
important and as is mentioned elsewhere action to this end is well in hand. Major transport infrastructure
links, however, require particular attention with a view to minimizing adverse environmental impacts and
maximizing benefits; in virtually all cases they will of course be subject to prior environmental impact
assessment under the terms of Directive 85/337/EEC. The Commission will ensure that increasing
attention is paid to all these interactions which will have a growing importance particularly given the new
impetus to develop the common transport policy.
2.3.24. Tourism — Similarly, the impact of tourism on the environment and vice-versa is a matter of
great concern, particularly having regard to the need to maintain and improve the quality of Europe's
natural and architectural heritage.
2.3.25. Social policy — The essential part played by environmental protection policy in the field of social
policy has to be recognized. There are numerous links especially in the field of worker protection, pro-
fessional education and general labour conditions. The whole field of training in environmental skills and
the extent to which environmental policies can generate employment (see paragraphs 2.4.6 and 2.4.7) are of
clear relevance to social policy. The execution of the social policy and environmental action programmes
have therefore to be coordinated as much as possible. New actions in the field of environmental protection
policy of considerable importance for social policy may need to be taken, especially concerning the
function and the status of those responsible in industrial plants for the correct application of environmental
protection regulations.
2.3.26. Consumer protection — Action in the field of consumer protection has a considerable potential to
build in the environmental dimension and thus to support Community environment policy. Programmes of
consumer education and information, some of them promoted via Community instruments, should concern
themselves with the environmental aspects of products and services as well as with consumer aspects. The
legitimate emphasis on product safety, e.g. in the field of cosmetics, also has an environmental dimension.
So too do such typical consumer interests as the quality of drinking water and the design and durability of
products. The Commission will take steps to ensure a closer coordination of policies in these areas.
2.3.27. Development cooperation — A special importance is attached to the integration of environmental
requirements into the Community's development programmes. This is so because so many of the Third
World's problems are in essence environmental problems; policies which very directly seek to protect and
improve the environment and to create the conditions for sustainable economic growth are therefore
essential if the problems of development are to be effectively tackled.
2.3.28. General — In general the Commission will seek to ensure that steps are taken to integrate
environmental requirements into the planning and execution of all economic, industrial, agricultural and
social policies, as required by the European Council conclusions referred to in paragraph 2.3.1. Initially, as
indicated in paragraph 2.3.2, emphasis will be placed on the Community's own policies; to this end the
Commission will develop internal procedures and practices to ensure that this integration of environmental
factors takes place routinely in relation to all other policy areas. The Commission will also work, during
the period of the Fourth Environmental Action Programme, on the development of guidance, procedures
and other tools that could contribute to a similar integration at the level of policies implemented by
Member States; and by both public and private economic operators.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/15
2.4. Economic and employment aspects of environmental policies and actions
2.4.1. Environmental measures are an integral component of the Community's economic activity,
because environmental protection improves the quality of life and safeguards natural resources, thus
permitting full realization of the benefits of economic acitivity, in the form of better patterns of economic
growth and employment, with consequent beneficial effects on the competitiveness of industry. The
Commission is, however, aware of the difficulties of drawing up a balance sheet of the positive and
negative economic and employment effects of environmental policies and actions. For such a balance sheet
to be valid it is essential that the benefits (as well as the costs) of environmental measures should be taken
fully into account in decision-making procedures, whether or not they are amenable to measurement in
money terms.
2.4.2. Against this background it is of great importance that the amendments to the Treaty of Rome
agreed by the Governments of Member States envisage inter alia that Community environment actions
shall take account of the potential benefits and costs of action or of lack of action. The Commission will
endeavour to develop methods of assessment which will facilitate this task and which will, so far as
possible, ensure the preparation of an adequate cost-benefit analysis as a basis for environmental proposals.
2.4.3. Such assessments will clearly have to take into account both short- and long-term effects. The
Commission, of course, recognizes that the economic gains from the pursuit of strict environmental
requirements may not be without cost in the short-term. In some cases therefore they may pose short-term
problems in terms of financing and competitivity. In other cases the rate of return on investment will be
such that there will be short-term economic (as well as environmental) gains. In yet other cases the short-
term costs of implementing environmental measures can be offset by longer term economic gains (if for
example there is a stimulus to the development and introduction of cost-saving technologies or a
competitive gain in markets with strict environmental regulations).
2.4.4. Even if the economic benefits to be derived from environmental measures can only be achieved in
the longer term, there may still be sound environmental and economic reasons why the necessary
investments should be undertaken. OECD has concluded that 'the benefits generated by environmental
measures (including the damage costs avoided) have generally been greater than their costs'. In all cases it
is essential that the damage costs of failing to take environmental action should be calculated and available
for comparison.
2.4.5. It is also important, however, to bear in mind that the short-term costs resulting from the intro-
duction of new environmental standards may have adverse effects on the competitiveness of certain
enterprises that have to comply with them. This calls for close attention not only to the type and levels of
environmental standards to be introduced but equally important to the timescale of implementation. The
Commission will therefore aim, in its development of environmental measures, to ensure that the objectives
and means are made clear to industry and that enterprises are allowed a reasonable time to adjust to the
new standards. Adjustment to new environmental standards can in some circumstances be facilitated by
financial support (see Section 2.5).
2.4.6. So far as concerns employment the Commission takes the clear view that a strengthened
environment policy will in general have positive effects on job creation through environmental infra-
structure and investment and through the manufacture of new products that are directly related to the
improvement of environmental quality. Even though in some cases when environmental regulations
increase industrial costs, there can be short-term negative impacts on employment, there is on the other
hand much evidence that, in the past, environmental policies have probably had a marginally positive
impact overall on employment. What is certain is that there are many environmental measures that can
have direct and indirect positive job-creating effects (such as those designed to tackle inner city decay or to
re-use derelict land or to repair landscape damage in areas of natural beauty) but which have hitherto been
quite inadequately used. In general, environmental measures should be structured in such a way that the
impact on employment is as positive as possible.
2.4.7. The Commission will accordingly shortly propose a five-year Community-wide programme of
'demonstration projects' in all Member States designed to demonstrate how environmental actions and the
implementation of environmental policies can generate jobs; and to create a large body of experience and
information on which industry and all Member States can draw in the future.
No C 70/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
2.5. Economic instruments
2.5.1. A variety of different measures and procedures can be used to improve or maintain environmental
quality. These, of course, include the legal regulation of products, processes, emissions and wastes; but
they also include various economic instruments (such as taxes, charges, state aids, tradeable discharge
permits); and agreements with polluters. The choice of the most appropriate instrument or instruments to
use in any particular case will depend on circumstances, the legal and administrative framework and on the
nature of the environmental problem being tackled.
2.5.2. The Community has an important role in the development of pollution control instruments of an
economic character; and in devising guidelines for their use in the implementation of Community
legislation. Any such measures must, of course, be used in ways which are consistent with the principles of
Community environmental policy — notably the 'polluter pays principle' and the preventive approach.
2.5.3. The 1975 recommendation on cost allocation (') provides for the use of charges, in circumstances
where this is deemed appropriate. The Commission intends to undertake further work in this area with a
view to developing the use of economic instruments in support of Community legislation. The 1975
recommendation also provides for state aids for pollution control measures when it is considered that
exceptions can be justified to the 'polluter pays principle'. Member States are permitted, under a
framework established by the Commission, to provide limited financial assistance to ease the introduction
of new pollution control regulations for plants already in existence; this framework expires on 31
December 1986 and the Commission is presently considering the desirability of extending it.
2.5.4. The Commission is also considering further provision for assistance towards pollution control
measures and will (see paragraph 2.3.16 above) make a proposal for a Community programme, within the
framework of the regional fund, to improve environmental infrastructure and to aid the implementation of
Community environment Directives in disadvantaged areas of the Community.
2.5.5. Finally the Commission intends to consider the scope for the better definition of responsibility in
the environmental field (including the possibility that the polluter should assume extended liability for
damage caused by products or processes); and to devote attention to the question of the coordination of
instruments where there are significant transboundary effects associated with product standards or trans-
frontier pollution.
2.5.6. More concretely the Commission intends to consider the use of economic instruments as a
possible means of implementing Community policy in the fields of air pollution (see Section 4.1), water
pollution (see Section 4.2), protection against noise (see Section 4.5), nature protection (see Section 5.1),
and waste management (see Section 5.3).
2.6. Information and education
2.6.1. Mention has been made of the need to render the whole process of regulation and application of
existing rules more transparent, particularly as far as public information is concerned. In this context it is
important to improve the opportunities given by national regulations to individuals and groups to defend
their rights or interests in administrative procedures. In the Commission's view particular attention needs to
be given to situations where access to information is an element for the better protection of man or the
environment, whether through the better application of regulations or otherwise. Comparable attention
needs to be given to access to information in cases of transfrontier pollution.
2.6.2. In the Commission's view it should be possible to devise ways of improving public access to the
information held by environmental authorities, whilst at the same time giving protection to information
which can legitimately be regarded as confidential. The Commission will study the need for, and
desirability of, a Community 'Freedom of Environmental Information Act' and will make appropriate
proposals.
2.6.3. Quite apart, however, from the question of establishing rights of access, there is no doubt that the
widespread diffusion of information on the environment and on environmental problems, policies and
programmes can powerfully support both the evolution and public acceptance of necessary environmental
measures. Not enough efforts have been made to this end, although it is important to note that a number
of Member States now regularly publish national 'State of the Environment' reports. The Commission for
its part will in future publish Community 'State of the Environment' reports on as three-yearly cycle
(') OJ No L 194, 25. 7. 1975.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/17
starting in 1987, drawing for this purpose on information supplied by Member States under the provisions
of Community Directives and on information available through the progressive development of the
Community Information System on the State of the Environment and on natural resources (CORINE) (')
(see paragraph 2.6.6 below).
2.6.4. More generally the Commission intends to review its whole approach to the diffusion of infor-
mation on environmental issues. Much more could be done to inform the public and thus influence public
opinion in favour of strict environmental policies. As indicated in Section 2.2 the Commission intends to
ensure the wider availability of information on the implementation of Community environmental
legislation. The Commission will also take steps to ensure that many more of the numerous reports on
scientific, technical and economic aspects that are prepared for the Commission's service in the course of
developing policy proposals (but which may be of wider interest) are published in appropriate ways. The
Commission is also supporting the launch of a new review on Community environmental policy and law. In
addition, in order to enhance the efficacity of the actions on information, the Commission will ensure a
better coordination between the Directorate-General for Information, Communication and Culture, and
other concerned services.
2.6.5. The European Year of the Environment (EYE) (see Section 8) — the central aim of which is to
convince every individual throughout the Community of the importance of the environment and thereby to
change attitudes (both of society and of individuals) to the need for strict standards of environmental
protection — offers both an opportunity and a challenge to improve dramatically on past performance in
putting across relevant information on environmental issues and problems — and to put it across in ways
that make it accessible to all elements in society; and that offers the chance of convincing them of the
necessity to commit themselves to action (both during EYE and beyond) to achieve practical improvements.
2.6.6. At the level of hard data on environmentally significant parameters, the Community information
system on the state of the environment (CORINE) will be of growing value and importance. The main
purpose of CORINE is to ensure the availability of a sound base of comparable environmental infor-
mation, to economic actors and decison-makers throughout the Community as an aid to the processes of
policy-making, implementation of legislation and integration of the environmental dimension in other
policy areas. The practical implementation of the CORINE programme is in hand and work on its
continuous development will be undertaken during the period of the Fourth Environmental Action
Programme. At the end of the phase of work covered by the Council Decision the Commission will report
to the Council and present proposals which will ensure the availability throughout the Community of a
wide range of up-to-date and comparable environmental and natural resource data, capable of being
presented in ways and combinations likely to be of the greatest assistance to decision-makers.
2.6.7. Simultaneously and with a view to complementing the information produced in the framework of
the CORINE programme, the Commission intends to reinforce the environmental component of the stat-
istical programme of the European Community; in this connection it is in particular proposed to develop
better information on the relationships between the economy and the environment.
2.6.8. Environmental education has a particular significance in strengthening public concern on environ-
mental matters. As already noted everybody has to acknowledge that he can contribute, by his own
behaviour, to better environmental conditions; and the stage at which this awareness can best be inculcated
is during the period of education. Environmental education, which has already featured in earlier action
programmes, will therefore continue to deserve support at Community level. The Pilot Schools Network
has been successfully implemented (first at primary and then secondary levels) over the past eight years and
has been strongly supported by Member States. Much valuable experience has been gained. The
Commission intends to publish, during the European Year of the Environment, a full report on the work to
date of the Pilot Schools Network and on the lessons learned. It will also send a communication to the
Council indicating the basis on which it is intended that the network should be consolidated and extended
to tertiary level, drawing on the experience to date arid the latest developments in the field of educational
science.
2.6.9. The function of non-governmental organizations in the development of environmental policy and
thinking is a fudamental one. The development and application of environmental policy often necessitates
difficult arbitration between the important but different interests of social and economic groups. The
O Decision 338/85/EEC; OJ No L 176, 6. 7. 1985.
No C 70/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
interests of specific branches of industry, including both management and unions, have to be taken into
account as well as the different situations in the Member States. So too do the views of pressure groups
defending specific or sectoral interests.
In such complex situations the existence of non-governmental organizations who may be considered to
represent general environmental interests and can act as partners of the policy-making organs, is of great
importance. It is for that reason that the Commission will continue its constructive and permanent contact
and exchange with representative environmental organisations at European level, especially with the
European Environment Bureau.
2.6.10. Industrial federations, (e.g. UNICE) and trade union bodies (e.g. ETUC), are making increasing
efforts to collaborate at both national and European level in the formulation and execution of environ-
mental policy. The Commission believes that it is very important to strengthen and to organize more
efficiently its cooperation with both the industrial federations and the unions and will make continuing
efforts to this end. In this connection, the Commission intends to make the maximum possible use of the
contributions made by the European Foundation for the Improvement of "Working and Living Conditions.
3. APPROACHES TO THE PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION
3.1. General principles
3.1.1. Environmental policies are conceived and implemented in stages, moving from the perception of
an environmental problem (either an actual problem or — preferably — at the stage at which it is still only
potential) to thp institution and enforcement of necessary measures whether remedial or preventive. The
basic objective of all such measures is to prevent harm to man and to the environment or, where damage
has already occured, to correct it.
3.1.2. The nature of the measures that need to be taken to deal with pollution problems in practice
inevitably shows a considerable degree of variation, depending inter alia on the nature of the adverse
effects perceived or anticipated, their causes, and the sources of the problem. Thus, for example, a
pollution problem might to varying degrees be:
— acute or chronic,
— localized or geographically dispersed,
— related primarily to a single pollutant or to combinations of pollutants,
— concentrated in one medium (air, water or land) or affect several, and/or involve the movement of
pollutants between media,
— moreover the source of any given pollution problem may be a point source (or sources) or diffuse, may
be fixed or mobile, and may be linked principally with one industrial sector, or with several.
3.1.3. Given this complexity it is natural — and appropriate — that the approaches to pollution control
that are encountered in practice will differ in their emphasis, depending on technical, administrative and
legal possibilities for control measures, as well as on the way in which the effects of pollution and control
measures are distributed. However, it is important to recognize that these different approaches do not
reflect any difference in fundamental principles. Thus, for example, a measure which concentrates on a
single pollutant can be justified if (in the particular circumstances and in the light of available scientific
evidence) it appears.that there are no significant interactions with other pollutants; but this special case
does not negate the general principle that pollution control policies should take account of such interactive
effects.
3.1.4. The first stage in the control of a pollution problem is research and detailed study to investigate
the factors involved and their interrelationships. In general, pollution problems may be characterized by
four main factors — the pollutant, the sources of the pollutant, the environmental medium or media into
which the pollutant is discharged or in which it appears or through which it is transported, and the target
organism or environment. Control action may be directed towards any one or more of these elements of
the problem.
3.1.5. The pollutant may be a single chemical substance or a mixture; it may consist of organic or
inorganic substances or both; it may be a physical entity such as noise or heat. Control action directed at
18. 3. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/19
the pollutant aims to prevent or reduce emissions of a specific substance or type of pollution from all
sources into the relevant environmental media. Source-based controls aim to reduce emissions for the
major sources into all media where the pollutant has a significant impact.
3.1.6. If the focus is placed on the environmental media concerned, then it is clear that one or more may
be involved in the discharges and transport of pollutants; the most significant are air, water, soil, sediments
and biota. Controls based on the environmental medium usually aim to reduce emissions of a specific
substance from all major sources into one medium.
3.1.7. Finally turning to the target of pollution, this is usually a living organism but it can be inanimate
— the soil or a building for instance. Target-base controls aim to protect the organism or environment
from damage i.e. an environmental quality objective in the form of target-based controls.
3.1.8. When an environmental problem has been identified and investigated an appropriate control
strategy can be decided upon. The control strategy selected may include biological standards, exposure
limits, environmental quality objectives or standards, emission standards, process or operating standards,
product standards, limits on total emissions or a range of preventive controls, at national or regional levels;
(such as the application of environmental impact assessment procedures or testing and notification
requirements for new industrial processes and products) — or some combination of these.
3.1.9. The control strategy adopted may clearly require various forms of action at Community level,
depending, for example, on the spread and nature of the environmental problem, the effects of possible
measures on the operation of the common market in goods and services and interactions with other
Community policies.
3.2. Multi-media pollution controls
3.2.1. When problems are caused by the emission of pollutants from many sources into a single medium
(with no significant cross-media effect) an approach based on emission limits or on environmental quality
standards for that medium may be the most appropriate. Up until now Community environmental policy
has tended to follow this approach. Although the Third Environmental Action Programme referred to the
neeed to 'avoid any transfer of pollution that might arise from only partial measures', the tendency has
been to concentrate on pollution problems as these arise in the different media: air, water, soil has pre-
dominated. There have of course, been some important horizontal instruments, for example the Sixth
Amendment (') and the recently adopted Directive on environmental impact assessment (2), but, in the
main, the view taken has been a sectoral one and this view has been reflected in the structure of the
Commission's own departments dealing with the environment.
3.2.2. Thus, early on, quality objectives for certain uses of water were defined at Community level; these
were followed in turn by Community emission standards as far as the discharge of certain dangerous
substances to water were concerned (though the so-called 'parallel' approach of Directive 76/464/EEC (3)
meant that these standards were at the same time accompanied by quality objectives). In tackling air
pollution too, certain air quality standards were defined at Community level to be followed by the
adoption of a framework Directive on emissions from certain industrial installations (') which envisaged the
etablishment of Community-wide emission limits; and by Commission proposals for emission limits on the
discharges to the atmosphere from large combustion installations. The problems of waste were attacked
through a series of Community Directives, aimed at establishing a general framework for the disposal of
waste to land, in particular toxic and dangerous waste. The dumping of waste at sea is the subject of a
recent Commission proposal (5).
3.2.3. One inevitable consequence of the sectoral approach to pollution is that, as standards are
tightened in one area, so the pressures may increase in another area. If discharges to air or water are
restricted, then disposal to land may seem the preferred solution. But if the controls on the disposal of
waste to land (and at sea) are in turn tightened, other difficulties may arise. The Commission's clear view is
that the Community needs to move to increasingly strict environmental standards in all sectors. In these
circumstances it is at least arguable that a sector by sector approach to pollution problems is not necessarily
(') OJNoL259, 18.9. 1979.
(') OJ No L 175, 5. 7. 1985.
O OJNoL 129, 18.5. 1976.
O OJ No L 188, 16. 7. 1984.
O OJ No C 245, 26. 9. 1985.
No C 70/20 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
the most economically efficient solution, i.e. it does not necessarily achieve the maximum pollution
reduction (taking all media into consideration) for a given economic cost.
3.3. Substance-oriented controls
3.3.1. A review of Community legislation reveals that the approach so far adopted to pollution in the
different environmental sectors has not always been entirely consistent. Where interactions between
polluting substances are not, for the purposes of environmental management, perceived as a significant
consideration, a coherent strategy would seek to:
(a) assess the exposure by a particular pollutant through the various pathways (air, water, soil) of a
particular target;
(b) assess the effects of such exposures, including the risks for health and the environment;
(c) set standards designed to limit the impact of pollution where this is appropriate.
3.3.2. Because of its largely sectoral orientation previous Community action has tended to concentrate
on discharges of a particular pollutant, to one medium (for example, water) in isolation from impacts on
other media such as air or soil. In some circumstances this approach is open to criticism on the grounds
that cross-media effects are not negligible. In earlier Community action programmes on the environment
and in various instruments already adopted by the Council, there are already to be found various 'priority
listings' of substances. But on the whole these listings are sector-specific (e.g. the 'black list' and 'grey list'
of substances whose discharge into the aquatic environment is to be controlled under the provisions of
Directive 76/464/EEC) ('). There has not yet been a coherent attempt within the Community to assess
substances on a cross-media basis or to devise control strategies on such a basis, although in practice in
certain cases the aggregation of different standards which may have evolved haphazardly over a period of
time in different sectors relating to a particular substance may in fact have led to more or less effective
control.
3.3.3. An integrated substance-oriented approach to chemicals will:
— take account of the occurrence of a particular substance from whatever source,
— proceed towards an integrated risk assessment, which takes into account the different routes through
which people and the environment are exposed,
— lead to choices regarding the most effective and efficient solution to the problems caused.
3.3.4. Such an integrated approach to chemicals management will lead to the selection, at Community
level, of a provisional list of priority substances for environmental policy. Further evaluation and assessment
may result in a definitive list of priority substances which in turn should lead to consideration, at
Community level, of relevant control strategies for individual substances such as PCBs, cadmium, lead,
phosphates, arsenic, copper, mercury, asbestos, dioxins, etc; such strategies would, of course, need to take
account of controls that already exist at Community level in certain fields.
3.3.5. The Commission has already begun to work on the basis of a substance-oriented approach in
certain particular cases. An example of one possible application of this approach is contained in the
Commission's proposal to reduce environmental pollution by asbestos (2).
3.3.6. Other ways of applying the same principle are possible. The Commission is carefully reviewing, on
an 'across the board' basis, the environmental problems caused by cadmium. This review will lead to
conclusions as to whether existing Community legislation restricting discharges to the environment of this
substance, by whatever route, are sufficient or whether gaps exist; and, if so, what is the most cost-effective
control strategy to ensure an adequate degree of protection. In these circumstances, appropriate proposals
would be made.
3.4. Source-oriented controls
3.4.1. Environment management should ideally take into account interactions between sources of
pollutants (where for example a limited absorptive capacity is shared between several discharges). In some
cases, however, it may be reasonable to focus controls on a single type of source (especially where there
are no other significant sources of pollutant or pollutants concerned). To some extent Community
Directives (adopted or proposed) on automobiles and large combustion installations represent such a
O OJNoL129, 18. 5. 1976.
O OJNoC349, 31. 12. 1985.
18. 3. 87 Official Journa l of the European Communi t ies N o C 7 0 / 2 1
source-oriented approach in the sense that they deal with a group or class of polluters (traffic, power
plants). But they do not set out deliberately to look at the totality of the polluting discharges (including
waste generation) of the particular class or group. The 'source-oriented' approach as defined in Chapter 5
of the First Environment Action Programme (actions specific to certain industrial sectors and to energy
production) has not made much progress at least at Community level even though 15 key industrial sectors
were identified in that programme and numerous studies were undertaken.
3.4.2. In fact, proposals were made for only two industrial sectors — titanium dioxide (where a multi-
media approach was adopted) and pulp-and-paper (where the emphasis was on discharges to water). The
pulp-and-paper proposal remains unadopted, and even unconsidered, by the Council, whilst the history of
the titanium-dioxide proposal has not been encouraging. Nevertheless a source-oriented approach (aimed
at individual industries or target groups of industries, and covering all discharges to air, land, or water and
including the generation of solid as well as liquid or gaseous wastes) is appropriate in certain circumstances
and is one of the alternative approaches available that may be worth considering again.
3.4.3. To support such an approach a better, more comprehensive knowledge of the emissions into air,
water and to soil in the form of wastes from major sources of such emissions would certainly be needed, as
well as knowledge of their likely evolution. Emission inventories should be set up and kept up to date; the
state of the art of technologies to control emissions should also be regularly maintained and disseminated
to those concerned and to the public, together with the costs entailed. Such action is clearly desirable in
any event, whatever approach to pollution control is adopted and the Commission will take the necessary
steps to make progress in these directions in cooperation with Member States and with the industries
concerned.
3.4.4. The Commission will reflect further on these questions and will undertake the necessary studies
and discussions to enable thinking on the matter to be carried forward. In doing so it will be important to
acknowledge the difficulties that have prevented progress to date — such as the sense of apparent 'discrim-
ination' against particular industrial sectors; and the problems of overlap where pollutants covered by a
source-oriented approach are also regulated through sectoral legislation. It will also be important to
recognize that for a global multi-media, multi-pollutant approach to work effectively would require a
highly sophisticated control mechanism; the capacity to make valid judgements as to the optimum package
of control actions which would enable wastes to be reduced, managed or distributed in ways which cause
the least damage to, and yet provide the best use of, the environment (thus securing the greatest environ-
mental benefit at the lowest economic cost); and the power to enforce such judgements. This in turn would
inevitably have institutional implications in Member States — a powerful unified control authority, able to
arbitrate as between different environmental sectors to secure optimum solutions, would seem to be an
unavoidable corollary of such an approach. There are of course many other reasons for arguing the
desirability of such agencies.
3.5. Product standards, emission limits and envirommental quality objectives and standards
3.5.1. Environmental regulations setting standards for products or emissions can be based on the
technical characteristics of the industry or product subject to regulation and/or on a formally specified
quality objective or standard for the receiving environment. A wide variety of approaches has in fact been
used.
3.5.2. In legislation adopted to date the Community has, for example, fixed limits for gaseous emissions
from motor vehicles and in the case of certain air pollutants, the Commission has proposed that emission
limits should be set for some fixed sources. At the same time for some air pollutants, e.g. SO2, particulates
and lead, environmental air quality standards have been agreed at Community level. As far as the discharge
of dangerous substances to water is concerned, the Community has agreed on the so-called parallel
approach for 'black list' substances, under which Member States are free to choose either the environ-
mental quality objective or the emission limit approach, while insisting that for discharges of 'grey list'
substances (as for the Directives dealing with particular uses of water) the quality objectives approach
should be followed.
No C 70/22 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
3.5.3. As far as the pollution of the soil is concerned, the first Directive adopted — on the use of sewage
sludge in agriculture (') — provides for both quality standards and emission limits (spreading rates and
quantities) to be observed simultaneously; whilst in certain other Directives requirements have been
expressed in general terms only.
3.5.4. In many important cases (e.g. lead in petrol, the sulphur content of gasoils) product standards
have been laid down with the dual objective of protecting the environment and avoiding artificial barriers
to trade or distortions of competition. In other cases other approaches have been adopted — such as the
requirement to establish programmes (e.g. the Directive on drinks containers (2), or agreed reductions in
the level of use (e.g. the Decisions on CFC's (J)). In some of the water Directives guide values as well as
mandatory values have been laid down; and plainly other forms of guidance as to good practice could have
a part to play.
3.5.5. Another important element in establishing standards at Community level is the 'state of the art', in
terms of available technology. The question arises of how to translate this general concept into concrete
values. It is noteworthy that in recent Community environmental legislation (especially in relation to
atmospheric pollution and water pollution) reference is increasingly made to best available technology.
Against this background arrangements made at Community level to promote a more efficient exchange of
information between Member States and with the Commission regarding their own experience and
knowledge of applicable technologies would be of value. The Commission intends to make proposals as to
how such an information exchange could best be achieved.
3.6. Conclusions
3.6.1. The Commission does not take the view that any one approach is necessarily to be preferred to
others. Much depends on the circumstances of the case. Accordingly future proposals will set standards in
the manner which is most appropriate, in the light of environmental protection requirements and the
Community's responsibilities. Thus Community measures (for example product noise regulations) whose
main purpose is to avoid trade distortions arising from unilateral actions by Member States will tend to
emphasize technical conditions for the maintenance of environmental quality; on the other hand measures
to combat cross-frontier pollution such as acid rain will need to take into account both environmental
quality standards and the technical requirements for remedial action.
3.6.2 However, the Commission considers that the Community has had sufficient experience of the
many different approaches to environmental protection that have been adopted in Community legislation
to date — and have been described and discussed above — to make it desirable and worthwhile for the
whole matter to be reviewed. The aim of such a review would be to determine whether any rationale can
be worked out which would provide useful guidance as to the preferred approaches to be adopted in future
Community legislation. The Commission will accordingly, in close cooperation with Member States, take
the necessary steps to set in hand a general review of the value and efficacy of the approaches to standard-
setting adopted to date, coupled with consideration of possible future developments, (including the role of
economic instruments (see paragraph 2.5.6 above).
4. ACTION IN SPECIFIC SECTORS
4.1. Atmospheric pollution
4.1.1. Although the Community has already made some progress in dealing with traditional causes of air
pollution, such as smoke, particulates and sulphur dioxide in industrialized urban areas, new problems have
emerged recently, linked inter alia to increased traffic and to acid depositions which are likely to remain of
major concern. The air pollutants involved, especially sulphur, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and
photochemical oxidants, are known to act individually, collectively or synergistically to acidify the soil and
surface waters, to inhibit plant growth and to damage monuments, buildings and structures; they are also
potentially detrimental to human health.
(') OJNoLl81 ,4 . 7. 1986.
O OJ No L 176, 6. 7. 1985.
O OJ No L 329, 25. 11. 1982.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/23
4.1.2. Industrial processes, waste incineration and other human activities giving rise to emissions to the
air of identified or suspected persistent, dangerous or toxic substances (e.g. heavy metals, PCBs, asbestos)
may not only contaminate the air but lead to the transfer of the pollution to other parts of the environment
and there produce deleterious effects on human beings and ecosystems. This is an added reason for
reducing emissions to air.
4.1.3. The European Council at its Stuttgart meeting in June 1983 called for the acceleration and
reinforcement of action at national, Community and international level with the aim of combatting the
pollution of the environment and in particular of the air. As a first response the Commission forwarded to
the Council a number of proposals aimed at the limitation and reduction of emissions from major
stationary and mobile sources ('); in parallel a major effort was deployed on research into the causes and
effects of the air pollutants designed to elucidate the causal mechanisms associated with the damage
observed.
4.1.4 The Commission also made plain that it was adopting a strategic approach which involved
requiring a substantial overall decrease of emissions of acidifying substances from all major sources. This
will be pursued. In this connection it is of prime importance that the Commission's proposal for reducing
emissions from large combustion installations, which is still under discussion in the Council, should soon be
adopted, hopefully before the Fourth Environmental Action Programme begins (2). Similarly, the fi-
nalization and implementation of the new 'European Standards' for motor vehicle exhaust emissions will
lead to further reductions in nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and other pollutants. But these measures by
themselves are unlikely to be sufficient.
4.1.5. The Commission is currently working on the development of an overall longer-term strategy to
reduce air pollution within the European Community as well as beyond its boundaries, with the aim of
defining an adequate and comprehensive approach in response to the challenge given by the Stuttgart
European Council. This overall strategy will be published as a communication to the Council during 1987.
4.1.6.. Major objectives within this strategy will be:
— to identify the atmospheric pollutants (outdoor and indoor) which are currently and potentially of
greatest concern from the standpoint of the protection of human health and of the environment,
— to determine the most appropriate means — whether substance and/or source-oriented — for dealing
with the pollution problems already identified or likely to become important, whilst taking care that air
pollution is not simply transferred to water or soil,
— to set and implement Community-wide objectives for substantial reductions of total emissions from all
relevant sources into the air, in order to combat acid deposition and associated damages including
corrosion and forest die-back,
— in the longer term to reduce the ambient air concentrations of the- most important pollutants down to
levels considered acceptable for the protection of sensitive ecosystems,
— to define and implement preventive measures against indoor pollution from a growing number of sub-
stances,
— to develop and put in place related instruments which can assist in achieving these objectives, including:
— an inventory of emissions and major source categories,
— an inventory of best available pollution abatement technologies and associated costs,
— new low polluting technologies,
— monitoring networks,
— modelling techniques,
— economic instruments to prevent pollution.
O See 17th General Report on the Activities of the European Communities, 1983, paragraphs 377-381.
O OJNoC49,21.2. 1984.
No C 70/24 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
4.1.7. In continuation of work already initiated under the preceeding action programmes, the major
plant categories listed in the Directive on air pollution from industrial plant (') (Directive 84/360/EEC)
which warrant Community-wide emission standards will have to be dealt with. Moreover Community
emission standards, based on best available technology, may also be needed for sources not yet covered by
this Directive, (in particular for nuclear installations and for installations burning fuel oil and solid fuels) so
as to achieve, over a reasonable period of time, a framework within which all the major air pollutants from
the main categories of installations are controlled on a coherent basis. On all these matters the Commission
will make appropriate proposals.
4.1.8. Further measures will be proposed for reducing air pollution from transport categories not yet
covered by Community legislation. Air quality standards may also be required for certain pollutants such as
photochemical oxidants, of which ozone is suspected to play a key role because of its synergistic effects in
connection with acid depositions; Consideration will be given to developing ecological air quality standards
at Community level, covering, for example, acid deposition in forests and other sensitive ecosystems.
4.1.9. Outside the Community, the need for coordinated international action on atmospheric pollution
will remain paramount, even when the Community has put its own house in order; it will still need, if real
progress is to be achieved, to continue to play an active and constructive part in the work of international
bodies such as the Economic Commission for Europe, and the International Atomic Energy Agency and
through relevant international conventions, whenever or wherever air pollution problems are identified and
discussed.
4.2. Fresh water and sea water
4.2.1 The Third Environmental Action Programme noted that the Commission would continue with the
measures begun under the first two programmes and would implement the Directives and Decisions
adopted by the Council with a view to preventing and reducing water pollution. These Directives and
Decisions related in particular to the setting at Community level of quality standards for particular uses of
water (to date, surface water, drinking water, bathing water and groundwater are covered together with
waters used for fish and shellfish raising); and to reducing pollution caused by the discharge of certain
dangerous substances to the aquatic environment. The third programme noted that the main areas of
activity were:
— the control of pollution by dangerous substances,
— the control of pollution from oil spills,
— monitoring and control with a view to improving water quality and reducing pollution.
4.2.2. These priorities remain valid in the context of the Fourth Environmental Action Programme and
the Commission will make appropriate proposals in relation to all these areas. In addition, however, it
needs to be stressed that the priority attributed to marine pollution is steadily increasing and that, in that
context, the Commission will pay considerable attention to other dangerous substances transported by sea,
as well as to oil. The Commission has also indicated in COM(86) 327 its intention to consider the case for
proposing Community emission standards, based upon best available technology, for nuclear installations
and to make proposals for Community adherence to the London Dumping Convention.
4.2.3. As far as concerns the questions of water pollution caused by the discharge of dangerous subs-
tances to the aquatic environment, there may be a case for reviewing the advantages and limitations of the
so-called 'parallel' approach established by Directive 76/464/EEC as indicated in Section 3.3 above. The
two approaches are not equally well adapted to tackling either point or diffuse sources of pollution. The
Commission will reflect on the possiblity of developing proposals for a more coherent pollution control
policy covering both types of pollution source and involving the more discriminating use of either one or
both of these parallel approaches.
4.2.4. Meanwhile the Commission intends to continue" with the detailed implementation of Directive
76/464/EEC. Now that the general framework Directive for fixing emission limits and quality objectives
(') OJ No L 188, 16. 7. 1984, p. 20.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/25
for dangerous substances has been adopted ('), the task of establishing values in respect of substances
featuring amongst the 129 'black list' (Annex I) substances published by the Commission in 1982 (2) can be
much accelerated. The Commission will make proposals for values in respect of many of these substances
during the period of the Fourth Environmental Action Programme. Work will also continue on the 'grey
list' (Annex II) substances and the Commission intends to make proposals for quality objectives in respect
of a number of these substances, especially lead, copper, nickel and zinc if this is necessary on the basis of
experience acquired at national level.
4.2.5. However, even with an increasing tempo of action as set out above, measures to protect the
Community's aquatic environment will be by no means complete. New actions will be necessary in a
number of areas. The Commission intends to make proposals for Directives on the control and reduction
of water pollution resulting from the spreading or discharge of livestock effluents and the excessive use of
fertilizers and pesticides; advisory and education actions are also necessary to increase farmers' awareness
of the problems which may arise; in this way agriculture, like other sectors, would contribute to the
Community's efforts to reduce water pollution. The Commission will also propose minimum standards to
be achieved in the long-term in all Community water and will re-examine the question of the establishment
of quality standards for further uses of water, additional to those mentioned in paragraph 4.2.1 above, in
particular for the industrial use of water and the agricultural use of water.
4.2.6. As far as the protection of the sea is concerned, the main objectives of future actions will be:
— the implementation of the relevant international conventions and protocols to which the Community is
a contracting party (5) and active participation in the work of other international bodies dealing with
marine pollution (4),
— the development of a strategy and action plan (MEDSPA) for the protection of the Mediterranean area
(including of course the Mediterranean Sea) as envisaged in the Commission's communication to the
Council of 24 April 1984 (s),
— the implementation of the Declaration adopted by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention
on their Fourth Ordinary Meeting in Genoa (September 1985),
— the implementation of decisions taken at the first North Sea Conference and active participation in the
second conference which is due to take place in 1987,
— the reduction of land-based emissions of pollutants into the sea through rivers and the dumping of
wastes and by atmospheric transport,
— harmonized enforcement at Community level of optional annexes to the MARPOL 1973/78
Convention,
— the development and practical implementation of the Community information system for dealing, in
particular, with harmful substances spilled at sea,
— the continuation of the programme of demonstation pilot projects for marine protection against oil and
other chemical substances; these projects will aim to improve national capabilities to respond in cases of
emergency situations and/or to develop new means or methods for dealing with important spillages;
they will also contribute to identifying ways in which aspects of ship design, arrangements for the
stowing of cargo and the packaging and labelling of harmful substances carried in containers can facil-
itate successful response in the event of accident,
— training those responsible for the combatting of marine pollution caused by oil and harmful substances,
— better integration of environmental requirements into maritime transport policies.
In relation to all these areas of action, appropriate initiatives will be taken by the Commission, in close
consultation with Member States, either through the Council machinery or via the relevant advisory
committees.
(') OJN0LI8I , 4.7. 1986.
O OJNoC 176, 14.7. 1982.
(3) — the Barcelona Convention for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea against pollution and its four protocols
(dumping, land-based sources, accidental pollution, specially protected areas),
— the Paris Convention for the prevention of marine pollution from land-based sources,
— the Bonn Agreement for cooperation in dealing with polution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful subs-
tances.
(4) e.g. IMO, UNEP, Port State Control, ILO.
O OJNoC 133,21.5. 1984.
No C 70/26 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
4.2.7. In addition to the actions described above a number of new specific preventive measures are, in
the Commission's view, necessary. These relate in particular to the improvement of the reception facilities
available for oily wastes and other ship-borne wastes; and improved arrangements for dealing with
garbage. The Commission will make appropriate proposals.
4.2.8. Other matters, affecting both fresh and sea waters, to which increased Community attention may
be necessary, include questions related to the handling and disposal of polluted sediments; the eutro-
phication of water bodies in certain areas of the Community; and the updating of the list of dangerous
substances. These matters will be examined in depth by the Commission and appropriate initiatives to deal
with them will continue to be taken.
4.2.9. The improvement of water supply and management will continue to be a major task for the
Community, especially in semi-arid regions and in the small islands of the Community. The Commission
will continue to devote part of its efforts to this question and will pay particular attention to it in its work
related to the Mediterranean area under MEDSPA.
4.2.10. The Commission will also continue to participate actively in the work of the Rhine Commission
with the aim of securing improved protection of the river Rhine from all forms of pollution. In addition the
Commission is participating together with the Federal Republic of Germany in the negotiation of
arrangements for the environmental protection of the river Danube.
4.3. Chemicals
4.3.1. Continuing priorities will be the implementation of the new chemicals notification system
(Directive 79/831/EEC) and the classification, packaging and labelling of new and existing chemicals (').
4.3.2. The notification system set up by Directive 79/831/EEC enables the Commission and Member
States to monitor the hazards, distribution and uses of chemicals marketed after 18 September 1981. A
similar procedure is needed for the integrated risk assessment of 'existing chemicals' (those marketed
before this date and listed on the European Inventory of Existing Chemical Substances (EINECS)).
4.3.3. A Directive will be proposed to provide a comprehensive structure for risk assessment and regu-
lation of existing chemicals, where such evaluation is needed. This Directive will establish a procedure for
treating a priority list of chemicals for immediate attention, as well as setting out the means for gathering
information, requiring testing, and evaluating the risks to people and the environment. It also could be a
mechanism to coordinate the development of chemical specific control strategies, where this proves to be
necessary.
4.3.4. The Commission will keep under continuous review the classification systems, testing
requirements and test guidelines laid down in environmental Directives, with a view to achieving further
rationalization where this is possible. It will in particular take into account work currently being
undertaken in the OECD and elsewhere regarding the development, validation and use of alternative non-
animal methods using fewer animals or involving less painful procedures.
4.3.5. The substance-oriented approach to environmental pollution problems arising from widely used
substances and/or chemicals has been described earlier (see section 3.2). As noted, such an approach will
— take account of the occurrence of a particular pollutant from whatever source,
— proceed towards an integrated risk assessment which takes into account the different routes through
which people and the environment are exposed,
— lead to choices regarding the most effective and efficient measures (whether legislation or actions of
other kinds) to solve the problems arising.
The Commission is already following this approach in its work on certain substances that are widely used
and widely dispersed in the environment — in particular cadmium and lead. Appropriate proposals will be
made.
O OJ No L 259, 15. 10. 1979, p. 10.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/27
4.3.6. Another major new thrust will be the integrated regulation of dangerous chemicals. The
Commission will review the adequacy of existing Community legislation, in particular the Directive on
marketing and use of chemicals (79/663/EEC) ('), which in the past has been used to control PCBs and
asbestos, among other substances.
4.3.7. Legislation and Community action at international level has already been proposed regarding the
export and import of dangerous chemicals that are banned or severely restricted in the Community. But the
question of the export of dangerous industrial processes and plant to non-EEC countries remains a matter
of high priority. The Community should develop legislation on the export of dangerous industrial processes
based on the information and experience gained under the Directive on major-accident hazards (82/501/
EEC) (2): as soon as sufficient experience has been gained under that Directive, the Commission will make
appropriate proposals.
4.3.8. In another possible application of the experience gained under Directive 82/501/EEC the
Commission will study whether the procedures established under that Directive for in-plant safety, accident
prevention, emergency planning, training, information, etc. could usefully be applied to nuclear instal-
lations. A report will be made to the Council on the matter as soon as possible.
4.3.9. More generally it must be recognized that concern over the international movement and
production of dangerous chemicals, wastes and plant is growing rapidly. In this field accidents, though
happily rare, can be devastating (Seveso and Bhopal). In addition to the continuing implementation and
development of Community legislation on dangerous chemical substances (as described above) and on the
transfrontier movement of toxic and dangerous wastes (see Section 5.3 below), urgent action is needed to
develop at international level adequate control measures and notification and authorization procedures,
which will provide a high degree of security without hampering legitimate manufacture and trade in
dangerous products. There is a strong case for the Community, in collaboration with OECD and the UN,
to promote the rapid development of worldwide codes of practice to supplement the specific legislative
measures needed to cover some aspects of these matters and the Commission will take initiatives to this
end.
4.3.10. The Community, alongside Member States, is already a contracting party to the international
convention dealing with the protection of the ozone layer. A protocol dealing with chlorofluorocarbons
(CFC's) is in process of being developed. The Community, by successive Council Decisions, has limited the
use of CFC's within the Community and it is important that it should become a contracting party to the
international protocol. The Commission is actively participating, together with Member States, in the
preparatory work that is underway and proposals will be made at the appropriate stage for a mandate to
negotiate the final text.
4.4. Biotechnology
4.4.1. The developments in biotechnology in recent years have been dramatic and have major policy
implications for the Community. The Commission has played a leading role in developing a Community
strategy for European biotechnology, including, in particular, the development of a rational approach to
recombinant DNA research. The Community also has long established Regulations, which it is continuing
to update where necessary in certain areas of biotechnology application, including e.g. foodstuffs, phar-
maceuticals and agriculture. Research relevant to risk assessment techniques forms part of the current
Biotechnology Research Action Programme 1985-89, and this will be continued and expanded when the
programme is revised.
4.4.2. From the standpoint of environmental protection two aspects are important. On the one hand,
biotechnology has potential for assisting in environmental protection, e.g. in water purification; in reducing
the biological oxygen demand of organic wastes from industries processing biological materials and in the
detoxification of wastes. On the other hand, there is undoubtedly some public disquiet related to the
unfamiliarity of the more recent advances in genetic engineering, and in particular about the prospective
widespread use in agriculture and environment of novel organisms and the possible risks related thereto.
4.4.3. The European Community's interest in controlling the possible risks from biotechnology is
obvious: because organisms can reproduce, novel combinations of genetic materials might give rise to
(') OJ No L 262, 27. 9. 1976, p. 201.
(2) OJ No L 230, 5. 8. 1982.
No C 70/28 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
problems comparable with those created in the past by incursions of natural pathogens into new
environment (e.g. Dutch elm disease). Also, the rapid development of industries using modern techniques
of genetic manipulation means that the potential environmental impacts of the processes and products of
biotechnology might multiply rapidly if appropriate precautions are not taken.
4.4.4. Long experience in such fields as health care and environmental protection policy demonstrates
that it is better to evaluate potential risks as far as possible in advance of large-scale production, so that
preventive action can be taken, if necessary. Clearly the onus must be laid upon the innovator to provide to
the regulatory authorities data adequate for such appraisal. Such evaluations could also be complemented
by a posteriori monitoring in the light of accumulating experience.
4.4.5. There is a strong case for such action being taken at Community level — both to protect the
health and environment of Community citizens and to preserve the common market against unilateral
national regulations. In discussions with senior officials of the Member States it has become clear that the
Community should move quickly and decisively to ensure that there is a comprehensive legislative
framework for the development of processes and products involving potentially dangerous novel organisms.
The Commission has accordingly already started work through a specially constituted Committee — the
Biotechnology Regulation Interservice Committee (BRIC) — on the assessment and further development as
necessary of health and environmental regulations in this area.
4.4.6. A comprehensive approach to the protection of the environment from possible risks from
genetically altered or exotic organisms may be needed relating to:
(1) the nature (and potential viability in the environment) of the organisms produced, particularly where
the constituents of a novel organism are known to have toxic characteristics;
(2) the production processes used;
(3) operating discharges to the environment;
(4) waste disposal and management practices;
(5) accident prevention and the risks if accidental releases do occur;
(6) application methods and sites when deliberate release to the environment is intended;
(7) detection, monitoring and control of survival, multiplication and dissemination;
(8) exposed populations and routes of exposure;
(9) effects of the organisms on humans, other species and ecosystems.
4.4.7. No fundamental distinction can be made between the type of risks arising form already existing
organisms, organisms produced by traditional means of genetic modification and organisms produced by
the much more precise methods of modern biotechnology. However, the great variety and quantity of new
uses being developed for genetically modified organisms could increase the scale of risks from these uses
unless their development takes place in a well-defined regulatory environment.
4.4.8. Regulations on novel organisms must distinguish between risks in two different areas of use: on
the one hand, the risks from contained industrial uses of genetically manipulated mirco-organisms, which
are not likely to require measures fundamentally different from those that have been taken in the past; on
the other hand, in the case of the planned release of novel organisms in the environment (such as live
vaccines, micro-organisms for the detoxification of waste or biological pest management, or new plant and
animal species) where past experience (e. g. of the ecological impact on existing populations of the intro-
duction of exotic species) has shown that special precautions may be necessary.
4.4.9. The Commission intends to assess the requirements and bring forward appropriate proposals to
Council in two areas:
(1) on the classification, containment and control of risks to people and the environment from the manu-
facture, use and disposal of novel organisms,
(2) on notification and consultation on the planned use of novel organisms in the environment.
The likely need in the first area will be to harmonize standards and procedures for the classification,
containment, accident control, emergency planning and response, and the disposal, as waste, of potentially
hazardous organisms used in industrial production processes. On planned release, the likely need will be to
establish a European notification and permit system for the release into the environment of novel
organisms.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/29
4.4.10. Because no Member State (nor indeed, any other country) yet has comprehensive legislation in
this field, the Community has an important opportunity to develop an appropriate framework for itself as
well as providing a model for other countries. The Commission will accordingly, parallel with the internal
Community action described above, seek to extend and reinforce the effectiveness of such action through
negotiations in the OECD and other international organizations.
4.4.11. The Commission will also continue and expand scientific research on the assessment of risks
from the development and use of biological agents.
4.5. Noise
4.5.1. All Community Directives on noise that have been agreed to date are concerned with noise from
products. They set limits to the permitted noise emissions from four-wheeled vehicles, tractors,
motorcycles, construction plant, aircraft and lawnmowers. In addition, proposed Directives — setting
emission limits for helicopters and railway vehicles and requiring the noise-labelling of household
appliances — are under discussion in the Council.
4.5.2. The question now arises as to the extent to which the Community should concern itself with noise
questions which are not specific to products. Although the Second Environmental Action Programme
spoke in ambitious terms of 'defining and implementing a Community anti-noise policy', under which the
Commission would propose a programme setting out the general framework for a body of measures to be
taken at different levels to combat noise (including quality objectives, zoning matters, noise-related
charges, etc.), in practice (because of limitations on staff resources) the Commission has not yet been able
to progress beyond the product-oriented approach.
4.5.3. Yet noise is an environmental problem which affects virtually every Community citizen; and which
according to surveys of public opinion, remains of considerable importance. The Commission accordingly
intends, during the period of the Fourth Environmental Action Programme, to endeavour to make progress
on a number of matters. These include:
— the defining of quality objectives or guidelines, setting limits to ambient noise levels, in various circum-
stances,
— the regulation of the noise permitted in motorcycle silencer replacements,
— the inclusion of noise-inspection measures in the vehicle inspection systems of Member States,
— the extension of existing Community Directives on aircraft noise to provide for a 'non-addition rule' so
as to bring into force in the Community the standards of ICAO Annex 16, Chapter 3, at an agreed
early date,
— the development of a common approach to noise-related landing charges for aircraft (something which
would be entirely consistent with the 'polluter pays principle').
4.5.4. Overall the Commission's approach will be to combine the establishment of noise emission limits
for specific products with the fixing of ambient noise levels. In addition the Commission will consider the
possible use of charges (or other economic instruments) aimed at discouraging noisier products and
favouring more silent ones, thus creating pressure on manufacturers to develop less noisy articles. Finally
the Commission will, working with the relevant standard-setting bodies (such as ISO), seek to establish the
basis for evaluating noise created by traffic, industry, construction works, etc.
4.6. Nuclear safety
4.6.1. It is clear that the growing commitment of the Community to the safe use of nuclear power,
within the framework laid down by the Euratom Treaty (along with other civil uses of radioactive
materials) raises questions of importance in terms of environmental protection.
4.6.2. In its outline communication to the Council on the consequences of the Chernobyl accident (*),
the Commission announced its intention to develop proposals for a coherent policy aimed at the protection
of workers, the public and the environment. The preventive approach envisaged in that communication (in
addition to measures to be taken in the event of a crisis) is of course entirely consistent with the preventive
approach which is at the heart of Community environment policy.
4.6.3. Up to the present a high degree of environmental protection from radioactivity has been ensured
by the approach adopted in the Euratom Treaty, which focusses on ensuring the achievement of inter-
(') COM(86) 327 final.
No C 70/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
nationally agreed levels of radiological protection of Community citizens coupled with the requirement that
all exposures shall be kept as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA). The objective of this approach is to
ensure that human exposure is reduced to levels which, in any event, respect international standards and
the corresponding basic safety standards established by Community legislation ('). However, it was
recognized by the Commission, both in its communication on the consequences of the Chernobyl accident
and in its subsequent communication on 'The Development of measures for the publication of Chapter III
of the Euratom Treaty' (2) that a number of specifically environmental aspects of nuclear safety (in addition
to the radiological protection aspects) now needed to be further examined in detail.
4.6.4. These aspects comprise the following:
— the question of whether the emissions standards concept should be applied to nuclear installations, in
the knowledge that in any case the basic standards will remain in force,
— the problems involved in the harmonization of safety criteria and the actions to be taken,
— the question of whether the provisions of the Euratom basic standards concerning preventive measures
designed to reduce accident risks, such as notification of the characteristics of nuclear facilities and of
emergency plans, are correctly applied and sufficient for the protection of the public,
— the transport of dangerous materials (including radioactive materials) on which a study has been in
hand since the Mont Louis accident in 1984. As indicated in paragraph 5.3.7, a full report on that work
will shortly be sent to the Council and will indicate that the Commission intends to make proposals for
the application by Community legislation of the provisions of the relevant international agreements
governing the transport of such materials to international traffic; the Commission's proposals will also
seek to ensure that Member States adopt regulations for national transport based on the same
principles,
— the management of radioactive wastes. Here the general position is that work on a Community research
programme and plan of action (1988-1992) is proceeding satisfactorily; but the Commission takes the
view that the management of nuclear waste remains a control issue of environmental concern. It will be
necessary to strengthen the Community policy by building on the results of work already in hand,
particularly within the framework of the Community's research programmes, with a view to developing
clear orientations or guidelines at Community level for the disposal of such waste. The Commission
also takes the view that, so far as concerns the disposal of radioactive wastes at sea (which is controlled
internationally by the London Dumping Convention) it is most desirable that the Community as such
should participate in the work of that convention; proposals to this end will be submitted to the
Council before the end of 1986.
4.6.5. More generally, the Commission is increasingly conscious of the potential implications for the
environment of the operation of and of discharges from nuclear installations of all kinds; and of the
policies and practices adopted in relation to the management and disposal of radioactive wastes. In the
context of the pursuit of its obligations under the Euratom Treaty (and also in the context of its obligations
under the amended EEC Treaty) the Commission intends to keep under close surveillance the question of
environmental protection in the context of the use of nuclear power (and other civil uses of radioactive
materials) and will make proposals for Community action as appropriate.
5. MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES
5.1. Conservation of nature and natural resources
5.1.1. The period of the Fourth Environmental Action Programme needs to see a number of important
developments in the field of nature conservation. It is probably true to say, that, of all the aspects of
environmental policy, nothing excites so much public interest and concern as the need to protect nature
and habitat, landscape, fauna and flora, from the threat of further degradation or depletion. The First
Environmental Action Programme, adopted in 1973, contained important chapters on the protection of the
natural environment and this emphasis was maintained in the two subsequent programmes.
(') OJ No L 246, 17. 9. 1980 and OJ No L 265, 5. 10. 1984.
O COM(86) 434 final.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/31
5.1.2. More than six years have now elapsed since the Council adopted its Directive and resolution on
the conservation of wild birds (79/409/EEC) ('). It is of course essential to ensure that this Directive and
resolution are fully implemented in the Member States. Similarly the effective implementation of Regu-
lation (EEC) No 3626/82 which applied the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) (2) within the Community is necessary. Both measures are of major importance for conservation
both within the Community and beyond its borders; the continuing implementation of both will therefore
be a matter of priority during the period of the Fourth Environmental Action Programme. But this alone is
not enough; the time is now ripe for the Community and Member States to make a major new thrust in the
field of nature conservation.
5.1.3. Certain of the actions envisaged in other fields, for example, the possible reforms of the common
agricultural policy which are set out in the Commission's communications to the Council and the Par-
liament of 15 July 1985 (Perspectives for the Common Agricultural Policy) (3) and of 18 December 1985
(A Future for European Agriculture) (4) envisage changes which, if implemented, would have an important
beneficial impact on nature and nature conservation. Measures taken to limit pollution of air, water and
soil also benefit wildlife and plant life. The proposals amending the structural policy are an important step
in that direction (s). The implementation of environmental impact assessment procedures, as set out in the
Council Directive of 27 June 1985 (85/337/EEC) (*) may help to avoid some of the more obvious dangers
to the natural environment. But, once again, these measures by themselves will not be enough.
5.1.4. What essentially is needed is a Community instrument aimed at protecting not just birds but all
species of fauna and flora; and not just the habitats of birds, but the habitat of wildlife — animals and
plants — more generally. Such a comprehensive framework should ensure that, throughout the
Community, positive measures are taken to protect all forms of wildlife and their habitat; such measures
should be aimed at the three main objectives of the World Conservation Strategy:
— the maintenance of essential ecological processes and life support systems,
— the preservation of genetic diversity,
— the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems.
5.1.5. The Commission wil make appropriate proposals on these lines. The Commission is also working
on the preparation of a comprehensive list of sites throughout the Community that are protected under the
various categories of protected areas. Such a list is a necessary basis for the consistent implementation of
the kind of framework instrument discussed above.
5.1.6. Within such a framework, urgent action is also needed, aimed at the protection of endangered
plants and species, such as those listed in the appendices of the Berne Convention. It seems clear from
recent reports that the implementation of the Berne Convention in the Member States of the Community,
as elsewhere, is poor. A comprehensive framework of nature protection measures, at Community level,
would undoubtedly help to improve the situation of endangered species of plants and animals within the
Community, whilst at the same time helping to achieve the three-fold objective of the World Conservation
Strategy.
5.1.7. In addition to Community measures of the kind mentioned above the 'nature conservation' section
of the Community's ACE Regulation (EEC) No 1872/84 (7) should be expanded and extended to help the
achievement of the above objectives; it would be neither logical nor desirable to restrict its scope to species
covered by the 'Birds Directive'; the Commission will make appropriate proposals. The potential contri-
bution of other policies to nature conservation objectives will also be important; the Commission intends to
keep in mind the scope for an increasing scale of actions of this kind as the adaptation of the common
agricultural policy to current needs continues.
(') OJ No L 103, 25. 4. 1979.
O OJNoL384,31. 12. 1982.
O COM(85) 333, 13. 7. 1985.
(4) COM(85) 750, 18. 12. 1985.
(') COM(85) 199 final.
(') OJ No L 175, 5. 7. 1985.
O OJNoL176, 13.7. 1984.
No C 70/32 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
5.1.8. A Community framework for nature protection will involve not only environmental organisations,
and environment departments, but also far wider interests, including industrial, commercial and farming
interests. Above all it involves the promotion of awareness and understanding and of the will to act in a
field where immediate economic interests will only rarely be served by such actions. For this reason — as
well as because of its intrinsic importance and high public support — the theme of nature protection will
feature prominently in the activities to be undertaken during the European Year of the Environment.
5.1.9. Under the environment chapter of the Commission's programme for 1985, the Commission stated:
'An improvement in the quality of life also entails respect for animals in the Member States and in the
Member States' dealings with the rest of the world. The regular debates concerning the hunting of
seal pups should not conceal the many questions raised by the exploitation of animals in Europe: the
use of animals for experiments, factory farming, trade in animals and the processing of animals for
consumption purposes. The Commission will examine all possible steps which can be taken in this
connection.'
It will be important in the context of the Fourth Environment Programme to put some flesh on this brief
statement.
5.1.10. Priorities will include the better enforcement of existing Community Directives relating to animal
protection and the proposal of new Community measures where this is appropriate, e.g. for the protection
of laboratory animals and the welfare of farm animals.
5.2. Protection of the soil
5.2.1. The protection of the soil is a field to which it is increasingly recognized that special attention
must be paid. This arises in the first instance from the recognition of the growing threats to the soil and of
the extent of the damage suffered. Secondly, as already discussed in Section 3, it is clear that a satisfactory
pollution control policy cannot be limited to a sectoral approach; and that, as far as the soil is concerned,
actions limited purely to the management of waste will not by themselves achieve the necessary protection.
As for soil erosion, efforts for the continuation of farming under the disadvantaged areas Directive (') and
more specific measures for fire control have contributed to solve this problem.
5.2.2. However, it is not an easy task to ensure the protection of the soil because it is a complex
medium, has multiple interrelationships with other media (and vice-versa), and serves multiple functions,
(e. g. reservoir and filter for water, store of primary mineral matter, basis for human activity).
5.2.3. The threats to the soil can be grouped into three categories:
— contamination by harmful substances (or by substances with low biodegradability) of various origins
(urban, agricultural or industrial wastes; agro-chemical products, acid deposition, etc.),
— degradation of the physical or chemical structure; erosion, natural hazards, compaction through the use
of heavy machinery,
— misuse and waste as a result of space-consuming activities.
5.2.4. In order to take account of these characteristics and to respond to the threats, a global approach
to soil protection is necessary.
5.2.5. The Commission will accordingly launch work in the near future to develop such an overall
Community approach in order to supplement existing efforts. Within this framework the Commission will
make proposals for specific actions to tackle the three principal causes of soil degradation: contamination,
physical degradation and soil misuse; these proposals will be:
— to reinforce the arrangements for coordination between policies to ensure that soil protection is more
effectively taken into account in particular in the Community's agricultural and regional development
policies,
— to reduce the damage caused by agriculture to the ecological infrastructure by proposing measures
(within the context of the reform of the common agricultural policy) to encourage less intensive
livestock production systems; to reduce the use of agricultural chemicals; and to ensure the proper
management of agricultural waste (especially from intensive livestock units — see also Section 2.3),
(') Directive 75/268/EEC, OJ No L 172, 3. 7. 1975.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/33
— to prevent soil erosion and rapid run-off of water (including the identification and mapping of rapidly
erodable soils in the Community),
— to identify and clean up polluted waste disposal sites; to encourage the recovery and re-use of
contaminated or derelict land (e.g. old industrial sites, mining land, etc); and to reduce the hazard to
soil from current waste disposal practices,
— to encourage the development of innovative soil protection techniques and the transfer of available
know-how.
5.2.6. It should, in addition, be noted that proposed measures to reduce pollutant emissions to air
(Section 4.1) and to protect surface and ground water (Section 4.2) will also contribute to the protection of
the soil. In addition, soil will be a central focus in the actions relating to management of the environment
in urban areas as well as coastal and mountainous zones (Section 5.4).
5.3. Waste management
5.3.1. The Community generates over 2 000 million tonnes of wastes each year, some 80 °/o of which is
potentially re-usable or recyclable for raw materials or energy, some of which is toxic or dangerous, and
some of which could be avoided altogether through the use of improved production processes, in both
industry and agriculture. The quantity is growing steadily. Three-quarters of all waste is disposed of to
land — in too many cases without even being properly buried.
5.3.2. New technologies must be stimulated to improve this situation and the Commission has recently
decided upon the first series of support actions for clean technologies under Council Regulation (EEC) No
1872/84 relating to Community actions for the environment (ACE) (l). It is clear that action to encourage
the development of new technologies, coupled with the creation of the right market conditions for a more
rational approach to the management of waste, would lead to a better utilization of resources, economic
and employment gains and a considerable reduction in import dependence, as well as to a reduction in
pollution risks.
5.3.3. The Second Action Programe on the Environment, adopted by the Council on 17 May 1977 (2)
set out a Community policy for 'waste management by a comprehensive policy of prevention, reclamation
and disposal'. It focussed on three broad themes: the reduction of waste arisings, the increase of recycling
and re-use, and the safe disposal of unavoidable wastes. The objectives of that approach were confirmed in
the Third Action Programme adopted in February 1983 and will be carried forward through the period of
the Fourth Action Programme.
5.3.4. Under the first policy-heading — the prevention of waste — further actions will be taken to
develop the 'clean technologies' programme provided for under ACE Regulation. The experience acquired
under the first cycle of ACE operations in the clean technology field will be reviewed and proposals will be
made for the continuation and expansion of action under ACE. These proposals will, in particular,
envisage the extension of the 'clean technologies' programme to cover clean technologies in fields not so
far admitted under the Regulation and also the wider area of waste management. Work will also be
undertaken aimed at defining criteria for 'environmentally sound products', i.e. products which give rise to
little or no waste at the elimination stage.
5.3.5. As far as the second heading is concerned, 'the recycling and re-use of waste', it is clear that
market forces will continue to play an important role. Nevertheless, the Community may be able to assist
this process, in particular by:
— setting attainable objectives, as goals to be aimed at,
— the promotion of research and demonstration projects in the field of recycling of wastes,
— encouraging the assessment of the costs and benefits of alternative waste management options,
— establishing financial mechanisms designed to implement the 'polluter pays principle' (and thereby
encourage recycling and reuse) (see under 2.5),
O OJ No L 176, 13. 7. 1984.
O OJ No C 139, 13. 6. 1977.
No C 70/34 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
— the use of economic instruments to encourage the segregation and recycling of certain wastes,
— developing programmes of information exchange and consumer information to encourage recycling of
products.
5.3.6. As far as the third heading is concerned, the safe disposal of waste, the Commission will need to
complete the existing set of Directives by further Directives in specific areas, e.g. batteries, PCBs (to deal
with the problem of the disposal of PCBs in transformers), solvents etc. Further revision of the description
of waste in the 'toxic and dangerous' waste Directive (78/319/EEC) (') is necessary. Work on the question
of civil liability and insurance in relation to the transfrontier movement of such wastes will be completed
and proposals will be made. The questions of the clean-up of sites where uncontrolled discharge of wastes
has taken place in the past will be examined, as well as the possible intervention of Community funds, e.g.
the Regional Development Fund.
5.3.7. Following the Mont Louis accident in 1984 the Commission took up an invitation from the
European Parliament and has examined in detail the whole question of the Regulations governing the
transport of dangerous materials and wastes. A full report on that work will shortly be sent to the Council
and will indicate that the Commission intends to make proposals for the application by Community
legislation of the provisions of the relevant international agreements governing the transport of such
materials to both internal Community traffic and international traffic; these proposals will cover dangerous
substances and wastes and also nuclear materials. In addition the Commission will make proposals to the
Council regarding the harmonization of training requirements for drivers of vehicles transporting
dangerous substances, including wastes.
5.3.8. Finally, the Commission intends to make a specific communication to the Council on the subject
of waste management with the intention of proposing a practical framework for the more rational
management of wastes; and in particular to encourage recycling. It is the Commission's view that, of all the
actions that are necessary in the field of waste management, perhaps the most important in the long term
would be to achieve a much higher rate of re-use and recycling of wastes than is the case at present — in
all Member States and for most of the many different types of waste that arise.
5.3.9. Such an evolution would save resources, reduce pollution and limit the demand for land for waste
disposal. Moreover, provided that appropriate economic conditions exist, progress in the direction of the
increased re-use and recycling of wastes could contribute to economic growth and could create jobs. The
European Year of the Environment offers the opportunity to launch such efforts and the Commission
intends that the promotion of clean and low-waste technologies, recycling and the improved management
of waste generally, should be prominent amongst the policy themes to be addressed during the year.
5.3.10. However, to make concrete practical progress in this field is an extremely complex matter. Each
type of waste presents different possibilities and problems. The nature of the wastes generated and the way
in which particular wastes present themselves (e.g. whether in a more or less accessible form or intimately
mixed or combined with other substances) affects available options. Choices exist; in many cases alter-
natives are available — as also are less hazardous substitutes for toxic or dangerous materials, both in
products and in processes. Much therefore depends on the design and content of products (since virtually
all products will eventually enter the waste stream); the choice of processes used; the arrangements made
for in-plant recycling of materials (clean technologies; closed-loop systems); and many other factors.
5.3.11. Much also depends on the extent to which new and innovative means can be developed and
brought into use to tackle the problems of waste management, including improved techniques for the
handling, sorting, treatment, transformation, reuse, recycling, detoxification and disposal of wastes of all
kinds. Waste exchanges and reliable data on waste arisings can also play a part. But in the end, the most
important factor of all will be the extent to which new, more environmentally-friendly practices, processes
and procedures are — or can be made to be — economically attractive on a long-term basis. If they are,
then there is little doubt that the Community's waste management industries will respond to the challenge.
O OJ No L 84, 31. 3. 1978, p. 43.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/35
5.3.12. In its communication the Commission will endeavour to take account of all these factors while
seeking to establish a rational basis for waste management in the Community through the setting of
realizable objectives (especially for recycling). The Commission hopes, resources permitting, to transmit
such a document to the Council early in the period covered by the Fourth Environmental Action
Programme.
5.4. Urban areas, coastal, and mountain zones
5.4.1. Urban areas in all Member States have experienced rapid and major changes over the past decade
and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. In some countries rapid urbanization as a result of
rural-urban migration, and now the growth of the urban population itself, is resulting in poor housing, a
mismatch between labour supply and demand, inadequate or overloaded urban infrastructure and services,
and deteriorating environmental quality. In others, urbanization has given way to suburbanization and in
many, counter-urbanization or decentralization. Population and new investment have sought locations
away from the older, industrial conurbations which have been badly affected by structural change in the
economy leaving high levels of unemployment, derelict or contaminated sites, vacant buildings and an
ageing stock of housing and infrastructure.
5.4.2. In many urban areas economic decline and their particular difficulties have led to a degradation in
the living and working conditions of their inhabitants. As a result the situation in 1985 is that, in many
European cities, conditions are substantially worse than they were 10 or 15 years ago. Urban environ-
mental problems must now assume an increased priority in Community environmental policy. New
initiatives are underway in some cities such as Belfast and Naples which largely concentrate on economic
development and infrastructure provision.
5.4.3. These programmes could be extended to other needy urban areas and should be complemented by
comprehensive environmental programmes. The necessary action could include the reclamation of derelict
and contaminated land, the creation of parks and other landscaped areas, the treatment of eyesores and
measures to restore older buildings. Such activities will in themselves contribute to stimulating the local
economy as well as laying the foundations for economic regeneration.
5.4.4. The scale of the problem, however, is substantial. For example, recent work undertaken by the
Commission indicates that resources of the order of 1 000 million ECU per annum for a 12 year period are
required from the public and private sectors to 'clean up' the land contaminated by former industrial
activities before it can be re-used. Other urban improvements may also involve important expenditures.
Moreover, in disadvantaged areas such as those described above, lack of resources may mean that even the
implementation of Community environmental legislation can pose problems.
5.4.5. These situations will pose a major challenge for the Member States and the Community's
structural funds in resource terms. It should also be a priority for the Community's research and
development programme in new technologies; for the development of more cost-effective methods of
'clean up' and cleaner preventive technologies can contribute substantially to the improvement of the
quality of urban life and stimulate the pollution control sector of the economy.
5.4.6. The Commission has already made plain in COM(86) 76 that it intends to make a proposal for a
Community programme, within the framework of the regional fund, to assist disadvantaged areas of the
Community to implement Community environment Directives. But much more than this will be needed if
the problems of urban areas are really to be effectively tackled. One priority will be to consider to what
extent the Community's existing structural funds (and notably the European Regional Fund) could be
directed to comprehensive environmental programmes in inner city areas. It will therefore be of special
importance to ensure that an adequate level of funding is available to enable the Community to participate
adequately, along with public authorities and local industry, in urban renewal schemes which take full
account of both environmental and regional policy requirements.
5.4.7. The Commission will prepare a report to submit to the Council, which will examine how the
public and private sectors and other interests can work together towards the rehabilitation of certain urban
areas and thus contribute to sustain their economic development. The programme of 'demonstration
projects' on the job creation potential of environmental measures (see Section 2.4) should be of relevance
in this regard. Urban rehabilitation will constitute an important theme for the European Year of the
Environment.
N o C 7 0 / 3 6 Official Journa l of the European Communit ies 18. 3. 87
5.4.8. Work on the development and ecological management of European coastal regions carried out by
the Commission under previous action programmes and similar work by various international organ-
izations, has identified problems specific to coastal areas and underlined the urgent need for solutions. The
Commission has in particular supported from the beginning the work of the Conference of Peripheric
Maritime Regions and the European Coastal Charter is the result of a common effort. The European
Parliament has closely followed this work and requested the Commission to implement the policy and
actions in this field in the spirit of the charter (*).
5.4.9. It is, of course, primarily for the coastal regions themselves to respond to this request. To do so is
plainly in their own environmental interest; but (since in many cases their main economic asset is precisely
the quality and resources of their environment) it is also in their economic interest as well. For its part the
Commission intends to take full account of the principles of the European Coastal Charter in the operation
of relevant Community policies. In addition the Commission will undertake further studies related to the
practical implementation of the charter and will publish the results.
5.4.10. The problems with which mountain areas are faced are similar in their nature to those of the
coastal areas: they have to fulfil several often conflicting functions. They must guarantee the welfare of the
local population, accommodate an increasing number of tourists from all areas of Europe and at the same
time protect habitats for wildlife. Moreover, Community measures, within the framework of the common
agricultural policy, have for more than a decade contributed to bringing changes in the landscape of the
mountain zones. Recent proposals submitted by the Commission to the Council in order to complement
and adapt the Directive dealing with aids to farmers in such areas (2), should better contribute to the
maintenance of valuable habitats and at the same time to farmers' income.
6. RESEARCH
6.1. Since 1973, the Community Environment Action Programme has been supported by a succession of
multiannual environmental research programmes. The major aims of Community research in the field of
environment are:
— to provide scientific and technical knowledge supporting directly the implementation of the programme
of action on the environment,
— to address longer-term environmental problems, thus preparing the way for the development of
preventive and anticipatory policies taking account of foreseeable environmental trends; and to provide
the means to evaluate the effectiveness of current environmental policies,
— to serve as an instrument for enhancing further, at Community level, the coordination of national
research activities in the environmental field, in order to improve the productivity of the overall effort
through the encouragement of joint projects; the elimination of duplication; and the identification of
gaps in research coverage.
6.2. Continuous efforts are made by means of a research action programme, to ensure efficient coordi-
nation of the various activities implemented by contract research, concerted actions and in-house research
within the programme of the JRC. Various other research programmes within the Community's R & D
framework programme, such as recycling of waste and secondary raw materials, contribute further to
implementing the environment action programme. The new proposal for the Second R & D framework
programme 1987-1991 provides for a further strengthening of environmental research.
6.3. The environment research programme covers four broad areas:
— environment protection as such — including amongst other topics, health and ecological efforts of
pollutants, assessment of chemicals, quality of air, water and soil, waste research and technologies for
emission reduction,
— climatology and natural hazards, addressing long-term problems, such as possible climatic changes due
to an increase of the CCvconcentration in the atmosphere,
— major technological hazards, such as the accidental release of dangerous products from industrial
processes,
— remote sensing from space.
(') OJNoC 182, 19.7. 1982.
(2) Directive on farming in mountain and less-favoured areas (Directive 268/75/EEC).
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/37
6.4. The Fourth Environmental Research Programme covering contract research and concerted actions
(1986-1990) was approved by the Council on 10 June 1986 and allocates a total of 75 million ECU to
research on environmental protection (55 million ECU), climatology and natural hazards (17 million ECU)
and major technological hazards (3 million ECU).
6.5. The ongoing programme of the JRC (1986-1987) and the proposed revision for its last year
encompass work in the areas of environmental protection, industrial risk and remote sensing from space. It
covers, in the light of available skills and competences, the following specific tasks amongst others:
— to act as a coordination centre for certain environmental issues likely to have short-term impact for the
regulatory work of the Commission,
— to pursue medium and long-term studies in order to identify environmental trends and to maintain the
role of the JRC within European environmental research,
— to provide scientific support to other Commission services in implementing Council Directives (e.g.
ECDIN, Central Laboratory for Air Pollution).
6.6. In drawing up and implementing these programmes, every attempt has been made to link research
to the fullest possible extent with the needs of the environmental action programmes (as recognized by a
recent evaluation of the research programmes by an independent panel of experts). All efforts will be made
further to improve this cooperation and to keep under review the links between research and policy
development.
7. ACTION AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL
7.1. Action within international organisations, and with third Countries
7.1.1. It is increasingly clear that there are many environmental problems that are of importance to the
Community, which cannot effectively be dealt with at local, regional, national or even Community level.
Some of these problems are, of their very nature, international (or even global) in character. It is
accordingly essential that they should be tackled at those levels. This implies the necessity for the
Community and its Member States to participate actively in international action for the protection of the
environment.
7.1.2. The importance of the international dimension of the Community's work in the field of the
environment has in fact always been underlined; and has been well developed in recent years. The
European Council in March 1985, in urging the Council, together with the Commission, 'to make every
effort to ensure that the years to come are marked by significant progress in Community action for the
protection of the environment' made clear that this effort should be addressed to progress not only in
Europe but also 'throughout the world'. The work programme of the Commission has also put special
emphasis on the importance of the international activities in the field of the environment.
7.1.3. These activities involve increasing Community participation in many international organizations
and also participation in the numerous international agreements that have been adopted as international
environmental action and Community environmental policy have gathered momentum. This participation
requires the closest cooperation between the Council and the Commission, which represents the
Community.
7.1.4. Where the Commission negotiates on behalf of the Community it does so in accordance with
Directives laid down by the Council. Where Member States participate in a convention it may be necessary
for them to act within the framework of a common position laid down by the Council. Difficulties can
arise in establishing in advance a Community or common position. The Commission will continue, as in the
past, to make proposals as appropriate and as early as possible for negotiating mandates and for common
positions. These will be designed to avoid unacceptable positions arising in international negotiations and
at the time facilitate decision-taking processes within the international bodies concerned.
7.1.5. The satisfactory resolution, at Community level, of these problems has become increasingly
important as the scope, extent and relevance to the Community's own environmental policies of action at
international level has increased. But this growth in the importance of action at international level also has
one further implication. It is clear that both the Community and its Member States must increase their
effective participation in (including where appropriate their financial contribution to) the work of inter-
national organizations and the effective implementation of international conventions and protocols aimed
at the protection of the environment.
No C 70/3 8 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
7.1.6. In practical terms, it is the Commission's view that, in addition to the international priorities
identified in other parts of this action programme ('), certain other matters also need to be pursued as
follows:
— strengthening Community participation in the protection of the regional seas (in particular Community
participation in the Helsinki Convention and the Oslo Convention is necessary and, where appropriate,
in conventions concluded under UNEP Regional Seas Programme),
— ensuring respect by the Community and Member States of the principles laid down in the Convention
on the Law of the Sea (1982) as far as the protection of the marine environment is concerned,
— Community participation in the London Dumping Convention (see Section 4.2.2),
— more effective Community involvement in the work of the Convention on the Conservation of
Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR (2)) and an effective coordination of the position of
Member States who are a party to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty with the aim of achieving a better
protection of the unique ecosystem of the Antarctic,
— Community participation in the Council of Europe Convention for the protection of vertebrate animals
used for experimental and other scientific purposes,
— input to the work of the World Commission on Environment and Development,
— in concertation with Member States, an increase in the support given to certain international organi-
zations concerned with environmental protection, population and sustainable development (e.g. UNEP,
UNDP, UNFPA, FAO, OECD, ECE/Geneva),
— encouraging participation in the European Year of the Environment hy international organizations
(such as EFTA, Council of Europe, UNEP, WHO, etc.) as well as by third countries.
7.1.7. The integration of the environmental dimension into other policies is of great importance also in
the international activities of the Community. For example, the Community:
— should play an important role within the framework of the International Tropical Timber Agreement in
ensuring that priority is given to conservation aspects,
— should also seek to further practical measures of conservation in regional fisheries or conservation
organizations, such as the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and
the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization.
7.1.8. The non-observance by certain nations of the moratorium on commercial whaling, decided upon
by the International Whaling Commission in 1982, is a matter of great concern to the Community, which
in 1981 adopted Council Regulation (EEC) No 348/81 (s) on the subject of the import of whale products
into the Community and in 1982 Council Regulation (EEC) No 3626/82 (*) on the application of the
Washington Convention which also covers whales. The Community should make all possible efforts,
through diplomatic and other means, to ensure the observance of the moratorium on commercial whaling
by all countries.
7.1.9. Finally, the Commission attaches importance to its bilateral liaison with certain third countries —
especially with EFTA countries, the United States, Canada and Japan. These liaisons which are normally
focussed largely on information exchange as to policy and legal developments — can be helpful in fa-
cilitating mutual understanding, in promoting a harmonization of approach at international level, and in
contributing to the successful negotiation of international agreements.
7.2. Cooperation with developing countries on environmental matters
7.2.1. The major environmental problems of the Third World — desertification, tropical deforestation,
the explosive growth of populations in both urban and rural areas, loss of wildlife and genetic diversity —
are amongst the world's most daunting and potentially dangerous environmental problems. The
Community's development policy will seek to combat the growing deterioration of natural resources by the
implementation of action programmes which take account of environmental factors, more specifically than
hitherto.
(') See paragraphs 4.1.9, 4.2.6, 4.2.7, 4.3.4, 4.3.7, 4.3.8, 4.3.9, 4.4.8, 5.1.6 and 5.3.7.
(*) On 4 September 1981 the Council adopted a Decision on the conclusion by the Community of the Convention on the
Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (81/691/EEC; OJ No L 252, 5. 9. 1981).
O OJNoL39, 12. 2. 1981, p. 1.
(4) OJ No L 384, 31. 12. 1982, p. 1.
18. 3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/3^
7.2.2. Particular attention has already been given to the problems of desertification and of resources
conservation in Africa, the solution of which is essential in certain countries for long-term, sustainable,
agricultural and rural development (see COM(86) 16 final (')).
7.2.3. More generally, the importance of forests, in particular, needs still increased emphasis in the
Community's development and cooperation programmes. Tropical forests are one of the earth's most
valuable natural resources. Throughout history, they have been essential sources of food, fuel, shelter,
medicines and many other products. They sustain people and their environments by protecting soil and
water resources; they have a profound influence on climate and on global natural cycles; they contain an
estimated 50 % of the world's plant and animal species. Because tropical forests benefit people in so many
ways, the alarming rate of forest destruction is a matter of grave concern.
7.2.4. The lives of more than one thousand million people in the developing countries, primarily the
rural and urban poor, are disrupted by periodic flooding, fuel wood scarcity, soil and water degradation
and reduced agricultural productivity — all caused in whole or in part by deforestation. Scientists estimate
that some 40 % of the biologically-rich tropical moist forests have been cleared or degraded already. Some
11 million hectares are being lost each year. In many developing countries tropical forests will all but
disappear in two or three decades if present trends continue.
7.2.5. The action necessary to counter these trends has recently been identified by FAO and by an
International Task Force on Tropical Forests convened by the World Resources Institute, the World Bank
and the United Nations Development Programme. The Community has a special role to play, in support of
the objectives identified, through its development cooperation policies and programmes. Its contribution
should include active Community participation in the International Tropical Timber Agreement with a view
to supporting conservation objectives; a re-examination of the trade and aid policies of both the
Community and the Member States from the standpoint of their impact on tropical forest conservation;
and the promotion of a voluntary code of conduct among timber companies based in the Community to
ensure that imports of tropical hardwoods only come from concessions that include ecologically positive
management policies (including in particular the acceptance of appropriate obligations to renew and
replant and to restore damaged lands and landscapes). The Commission will make appropriate proposals to
promote such developments.
7.2.6. Because of the scale of the problem, however, Community effort alone will not be enough.
Increasingly close international cooperation; larger and more efficiently used financial inputs; a re-exami-
nation of the trading, pricing and development assistance policies of the developed world and more
generally major changes of attitude, will be necessary. These issues will also be at the centre of the work of
the World Commission on Environment and Development. A meeting in Brussels between the Community
and the World Commission to discuss its draft report will be an important event in the early part of' the
European Year of the Environment and will provide an occasion for active Community involvement in
discussion on many major environmental issues.
7.2.7. The Third Lome Convention, the 1984 Commission communication to the Council on
development and environment (2) and the 1984 Council resolution on development and environment (5), all
make plain the Community's commitment to treat environmental protection and the conservation of
natural resources as an integral part of sustainable development. Continuing efforts will be made to give
practical effect to that commitment in the implementation of the Community's development aid policies.
7.2.8. Of particular significance in this context is the European action plan to combat desertification and
to safeguard natural resources in Africa which was adopted by a Council resolution in April 1986. This
action plan will unite the financial and technical efforts of the Community and the Member States. In view
of the scale of action envisaged its implementation will require a close coordination between the recipient
countries, regional and international organization?, Member States and Commission as well as other
donors, and non-governmental organizations. To this effect, the Commission will fully utilize all
instruments at its disposal and endeavour to improve the existing coordination mechanisms so that through
an appropriate mobilization of combined resources a coherent and sustainable programme can, be
implemented.
(') COM(86) 16, 22. 1. 1986.
(2) COM(84)605, 31. 10. 1984.
(') OJ No C 272, 12. 10. 1984.
No C 70/40 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
7.2.9. Furthermore, in view of the links between conservation, population, development and
environment, the Community should assist developing countries in promoting sustainable development by
establishing appropriate national conservation strategies and will support, at their request and in
compliance with established aid procedures, countries' population policies. This can include the
strengthening of national capacity in population planning (census, demographic studies), the opening-up of
land to agriculture and settlement (internal migration), and measures in the areas of education and health,
particularly the development of mother and child care services, which include family planning. The
Commission will put forward appropriate proposals in the near future. It is also clear that Community
activities within relevant international organizations must be stepped up.
7.2.10. Finally — of relevance in relation to all the above matters — reference should be made to the
1980 'Declaration on Environmental Policies and Procedures relating to Economic Development5, which
was signed by all the major international development financing institutions, including the Commission and
the European Investment Bank. The Committee of International Development Institutions on the
Environment (CIDIE) which was set up to ensure that practical effect was given to that declaration has
made notable progress in encouraging the development by participating institutions, exchanging infor-
mation and experience on detailed policies and procedures of its members and encouraging their further
development. This work will be pursued and also extended to training arrangements for staff of CIDIE
member institutions as well as of developing countries. Both the Commission and the European Investment
Bank take an active part in the activities of CIDIE, which inter alia are likely to lead shortly — with the
support of UNEP — to a valuable new series of publications on aspects of the integration of environmental
requirements into development policies. The Commission continues to urge the view that the scope of
CIDIE should be expanded to involve more closely in its work both bilateral aid agencies and non-
governmental organizations.
8. EUROPEAN YEAR OF T H E ENVIRONMENT
8.1. The European Council, at its meeting of 29 and 30 March 1985 designated 1987 as the European
Year of the Environment (EYE). The Commission strongly welcomed that decision which has also been
welcomed and supported by the Council of Ministers (') and by Parliament (2). The Commission has
preparations for the year well in hand in close cooperation with national committees established in each
Member State.
8.2. The European Year of the Environment will start on 21 March 1987 and will run for 12 months. It
will be action oriented. It will be a major event which will have an important impact throughout the
Community. It must not, however, be seen as a one-off event, but rather as a launching-pad, an oppor-
tunity to raise the awareness of the importance of environmental issues and to change attitudes
permanently. It is thus clear that the goals and objectives of the European Year of the Environment must
remain valid throughout the period of the Fourth Environmental Action Programme and beyond.
8.3. It is the Commission's view that the programme of events that will take place during the European
Year of the Environment should reflect Community policy on the environment and the general lines laid
down by the European Council. It should in particular stress the newer perceptions underlined by the
European Council — the need for a preventive approach; the need to integrate environmental
considerations into all social and economic policies and actions; and the scope for environmental
protection policy to contribute to improved economic growth and job creation.
8.4. The Commission believes that the main aim of the European Year of the Environment must be to
bring about a shift of attitudes throughout society — in parliaments, in governments, in board rooms, in
trade unions, in-local, regional and provincial authorities, in schools, in universities, in associations of all
kinds, in the media, but above all in individuals. It must seek to convince — and to secure commitment
from — all elements in society of the view that the environment is important; that it is important for the
Community's economic growth; that environmental problems are something that can be tackled; that
everyone has a part to play and can do something; and that everyone should do something to demonstrate
their commitment to environmental protection and their awareness of its importance. If this can be
achieved there is little doubt that the European Year of the Environment will indeed mark the beginning of
a new approach to environmental protection in which all will recognize that it has become a basic element
in their lives and in all human activities.
O Council resolution 86/C 63/01, OJ No C 63, 18. 3. 1986, p. 1.
O OJ No C 68, 24. 3. 1986.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 70/41
9. CONCLUSION
9.1. Community environment policy is entering a new and crucially important phase. With the
agreement of the Governments of Member States to the amendments to the Treaty of Rome contained in
the Single Act, the Community has given a new status and impetus to its environmental policy. The
European Council has underlined that environmental protection can contribute to improved economic
growth and job creation; and it has called, in stronger terms than ever before, for the integration of
environmental requirements into the economic, industrial, agricultural and social policies implemented by
both the Community and its Member States.
9.2. As has been already stated in the introduction, there is a wide and growing recognition that strict
environmental standards are a necessity — not only in order to achieve an adequate degree of environ-
mental protection and an improved quality of life, but also for economic reasons. As progress is made
towards the completion of the Community's internal market by 1992, opportunities will grow in many
areas and for many reasons — but only provided that high environmental standards are maintained. The
Commission is convinced that better competitivity of Community industry on world markets in the future
will depend heavily upon its ability to offer environmentally-friendly goods and services, achieving
standards at least as high as its competitors and that an alliance between technological innovation and a
commitment to high environmental standards can offer new opportunities through the development of new
and growing markets for environmental protection technologies and techniques.
9.3. The period of the Fourth Environmental Action Programme therefore presents the Community with
a major challenge in the environmental field — a challenge to make a definitive move away from reacting
to environmental problems after they have arisen towards a general preventive apprdach, based on the
achievement of high standards in all environmental sectors, achieved through devoting a small part of the
Community's huge scientific, technological and industrial resources and potential towards developing and
bringing into use the equipment, technologies, management and administrative practices needed to achieve
such standards; and at the same time to find means of deriving economic and employment gains from such
a move.
9.4. To encourage the free market to operate in an environmentally rational way, however, the
Community must also increase awareness of the need for high environmental standards. This is the central
purpose of the European Year of the Environment, which starts on 21 March 1987; it offers the oppor-
tunity to launch the major transformation in attitudes and approach that the change of philosophy that is
required in the field of environmental protection will call for.
9.5. The European Year of the Environment is not an end in itself nor is it a year that will cease to have
impact once it is over. It must be seen as a launching pad for a new approach and the aim of this Fourth
Environmental Action Programme is to spell out the measures that, in the Commission's view, will be
necessary at Community level during the first part of this new phase in the development of the
Community's environmental protection policy.
ANNEX 1
TITLE 1
RESTATEMENT OF THE OBJECTIVES AND PRINCIPLES OF A COMMUNITY
ENVIRONMENT POLICY (')
Objectives
11. The aim of an environmental policy in the Community is to improve the setting and quality of life,
and the surroundings and living conditions of the peoples of the Community. It must help to bring
expansion into the service of man by procuring for him an environment providing the best possible
conditions of life, and to reconcile this expansion with the increasingly imperative need to preserve the
natural environment.
O OJ No C 139, 13. 6. 1977.
No C 41 /42 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.3.87
12. It should:
— prevent, reduce and as far as possible eliminate pollution and nuisances,
— maintain a satisfactory ecological balance and ensure the protection of the biosphere,
— ensure sound management of resources and of the natural environment, and avoid any exploitation of
them which causes significant damage to the ecological balance,
— guide development in accordance with quality requirements, especially by improving working and living
conditions,
— ensure that more account is taken of environmental aspects in structural planning and regional
development,
— seek common solutions to environment problems with States outside the Community, particularly in
international organizations.
Principles
13. The best environment policy consists in preventing the creation of pollution or nuisances at source,
rather than subsequently flying to counteract their effects. To this end, technical progress must be
conceived and directed so as to take into account the concern for protection of the environment and for
the improvement of the quality of life, at the lowest cost to be Community. This environment policy can
and must go hand in hand with economic and social development, and also with technical progress.
14. The effects on the environment of all the technical planning and decision-making processes should
be taken into account at the earliest possible stage.
The environment cannot be considered as an external medium which harasses and assails man; it must
rather be considered as an essential factor in the organization and promotion of human progress. It is
therefore necessary to evaluate the effects on the quality of life and on the natural environment of any
measure that is adopted or contemplated at national or Community level and is liable to affect these
factors.
15. Any exploitation of natural resources or of the natural environment which causes significant damage
to the ecological balance must be avoided.
The natural environnient has only limited resources; it can absorb pollution and neutralize its harmful
effects only to a limited extent. It represents an asset which may be used, but not abused, and which should,
be managed in the best possible way.
16. The level of scientific and technological knowledge in the Community should be improved with a
view to taking effective action to conserve and improve the environment and to combat pollution and
nuisances. Research to this end should therefore be encouraged.
17. The cost of preventing and eliminating nuisances must, as a matter of principle, be borne by the
polluter. However, there may be certain exemptions and special arrangements, in particular for transitional
periods, provided that they cause no significant distortion to international trade and investment. Without
prejudice to the application of the provisions of the Treaties, this principle should be stated explicitly and
the arrangements for its application, including the exceptions thereto, should be defined at Community
level. Where exemptions are granted, the need for the progressive elimination of regional imbalances in the
Community should also be taken into account.
18. In accordance with the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the human environment,
adopted in Stockholm, care should be taken to ensure that activities carried out in one State do not cause
any deterioration of the environment in another State.
19. The Community and its Member States must, in their environment policy, take into account the
interests of the developing countries, and must in particular examine any repercussions of the measures
contemplated under that policy on the economic development of such countries and on trade with them,
with a view to preventing or reducing as far as possible any adverse consequences.
18.3. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/43
20. The effectiveness of the efforts to promote international and worldwide environmental research and
policy will be increased by a clearly defined long-term concept of a European environmental policy.
In the spirit of the Paris Declaration of Heads of State or Government, the Community and the Member
States must make their voices heard in the international organizations dealing with environmental matters
and, making full use of the authority which a common point of view confers on them must make an
original contribution in these forums.
In accordance with the conclusions of the Stockholm Conference, regional cooperation, which often makes
it easier to solve problems, must be intensified.
Cooperation on a worldwide basis should concentrate on the fields in which a universal effort is called for
because of the nature of the environmental problems involved: it must be based on the specialized agencies
of the United Nations, which have already accomplished much and whose activities must be continued and
expanded.
An all-embracing environmental policy is possible only on the basis of new, more effective forms of inter-
national cooperation which take into account both ecological interrelationships on a world scale and the
interdependence of the world economy.
21. The protection of the environment is a matter for everyone in the Community, and public opinion
should therefore be made aware of its importance. The success of an environment policy presupposes that
all sections of the population and all the social forces of the Community contribute to the protection and
improvement of the environment. This means that at all levels continuous and detailed educational activity
should take place so that every person in the Community becomes aware of the problem and fully assumes
his responsibilities towards future generations.
22. In each category of pollution, it is necessary to establish the level of action (local, regional, national,
Community, international) best suited to the type of pollution and to the geographical zone to be
protected.
Actions likely to be most effective at Community level should be concentrated at that level; priorities
should be determined with special care.
23. Major aspects of environmental policy must no longer be planned and implemented in isolation in
individual countries. On the basis of a common long-term plan, national programmes in these fields should
be coordinated and national policies should be harmonized within the Community. Such policies should
aim at improving the quality of life, and economic growth should not be viewed solely in its quantitative
aspects.
Such coordination and harmonization should in particular make it possible to increase the effectiveness of
action at the various levels to protect and improve the environment in the Community, taking into account
its regional differences and the proper functioning of the common market.
This Community environment policy aims, as far as possible, at the coordinated and harmonized progress
of national policies without hampering, potential or actual progress at the national level; such progress
should, however, be made in such a way as not to jeopardize the proper functioning of the common
market.
Coordination and harmonization of this nature shall be achieved in particular:
— by the application of the appropriate provisions of the Treaties,
— by the implementation of the action described in this programme,
— by the implementation of the environment information procedure (').
(') O J N o C 9 , 15.3. 1973, p. 1.
N o C 4 1 / 4 4 Official Journa l of the European Communi t ies 1 8 . 3 . 8 7
ANNEX 2
ENVIRONMENT PROVISIONS OF NEW TREATY
Article 18
The EEC Treaty shall be supplemented by the following provisions:
Article 100A
1. By way of derogation from Article 100 and save where otherwise provided in this Treaty, the
following provisions shall apply for the achievement of the objectives set out in Article 8A. The
Council shall, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission in cooperation with
the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee, adopt the measures for the
approximation of the provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member
States which have as their object the establishment and functioning of the internal market.
2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to fiscal provisions, to those relating to the free movement of persons
nor to those relating to the rights and interests of employed persons.
3. The Commission, in its proposals laid down in paragraph 1 concerning health, safety, environ-
mental protection and consumer protection, will take as a base a high level of protection.
4. If, after the adoption of a harmonization measure by the Council acting by a qualified majority,
a Member State deems it necessary to apply national provisions on grounds of major needs referred to
in Article 36, or relating to protection of the environment or the working environment, it shall notify
the Commission of these provisions.
The Commission shall confirm the provisions involved after having verified that they are not a means
of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction,on trade between Member States.
By way of derogation from the procedure laid down in Articles 169 and 170, the Commission or any
Member State may bring the matter directly before the Court of Justice if it considers that another
Member State is making improper use of the powers provided for in this Article.
5. The harmonization measures referred to above shall, in appropriate cases, include a safeguard
clause authorizing the Member States to take, for one or more of the non-economic reasons referred
to in Article 36, provisional measures subject to a Community control procedure.'
S u b - S e c t i o n VI
ENVIRONMENT
Article 25
A Title VII shall be added to Part Three of the EEC Treaty reading as follows:
TITLE VII
Environment
Article 130R
1. Action by the Community relating to the environment shall have the following objectives:
— to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment,
— to contribute towards protecting human health,
— to ensure a prudent and rational utilization of natural resources.
2. Action by the Community relating to the environment shall be based on the principles that
preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at
source, and that the polluter should pay. Environmental protection requirements shall be a component
of the Community's other policies.
18.3.87 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41 /45
3. In preparing its action relating to the environment, the Community shall take account of:
— available scientific and technical data,
— environmental conditions in the various regions of the Community,
— the potential benefits and costs of action or of lack of action,
— the economic and social development of the Community as a whole and the balanced development
of its regions.
4. The Community shall take action relating to the environment to the extent to which the
objectives referred to in paragraph 1 can be attained better at Community level than at the level of the
individual Member States. "Without prejudice to certain measures of a Community nature, the Member
States shall finance and implement the other measures.
5. Within their respective spheres of competence, the Community and the Member States shall
cooperate with third countries and with the relevant international organizations. The arrangements for
Community cooperation may be the subject of agreements between the Community and the third
parties concerned, which shall be negotiated and concluded in accordance with Article 228.
The previous paragraph shall be without prejudice to Member States' competence to negotiate in
international bodies and to conclude international agreements.
Article 130S
The Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the
European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee, shall decide what action is to be taken
by the Community.
The Council shall, under the conditions laid down in the preceding subparagraph, define those matters
on which decisions are to be taken by a qualified majority.
Article 130T
The protective measures adopted in common pursuant to Article 130S shall not prevent any Member
State from maintaining or introducing more stringent protective measures compatible with this
Treaty.'


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