Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1990 > Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities (6th Committee) > Report No. 06 - Aspects of EC Environment Policy

ANNEX I

TITLE II

PRINCIPLES OF A COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT POLICY

The Council endorses the general principles of a Community environment policy as worked out by the Ministers of the Environment at their meeting in Bonn on 31 October 1972.

These general principles which have been defined in the light of subsequent ideas and exchanges of views, are as follows:

1.The best environment policy consists in preventing the creation of pollution or nuisances at source, rather than subsequently trying to counteract their effects. To this end, technical progress must be conceived and devised 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 the community. The environment policy can and must be compable with economic and social development. This also applies to technical progress.

2.Effects on the environment should be taken into account at the earliest possible stage in all the technical planning and decision-making processes.

The environment cannot be considered as external surroundings by which man is harassed and assailed; it must 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 which is liable to affect these factors.

3.Any exploitation of natural resources or of a nature which causes significant damage to the ecological balance must be avoided.

The natural environment has only limited resources; it can only absorb pollution and neutralize its harmful effects to a limited extent. It represents an asset which can be used, but not abused, and which should be manged in the best possible way.

4.The standard 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 in this field should therefore be encouraged.

5.The cost of preventing and eliminating nuisances must in principle be borne by the polluter. However, there may be certain exceptions 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 exceptions are made, the need to progressively eliminate regional imbalances in the Community should also be taken into account.

6.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 degradation of the environment in another state.

7.The Community and its Member States must take into account in their environment policy 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 any adverse consequences as far as possible.

8.The effectiveness of effort aimed at promoting global environmental research and policy will be increased by a clearly defined long-term concept of a European environmental policy.

In the spirit of the Declaration of Heads of State or Government at Paris, the Community and the Member States must make their voices heard in the international organizations dealing with aspects of the environment and must make an original contribution in these organizations, with the authority which a common point of view confers on them.

In accordance with the conclusions of the Stockholm Conference, regional cooperation, which is often best suited to solving problems must be intensified.

World cooperation 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 institutions of the United Nations which have already accomplished considerable work and the activities must continue and develop.

A global environmental policy is only possible on the basis of new, more efficient forms of international cooperation which take into account both world ecological correlations and the interdependence of the economics of the world.

9.The protection of the environment is a matter for all in the Community, who should therefore he made aware of its importance. The success of an environment policy presupposes that all categories of the population and all the social forces of the Community help to protect and improve the environment. This means that at all levels continuous and detailed educational activity should take place in order that the entire Community may become aware of the problem and assume its responsibilities in full towards the generations to come.

10.In each different category of pollution, it is necessary to establish the level of action (local, regional, national, Community, international) that befits the type of pollution and the geographical zone to be protected should be sought.

Actions which are likely to be the most effective at Community level should be concentrated at that level; priorities should be determined with special care.

11.Major aspects of environmental policy in individual countries must no longer be planned and implemented in isolation. On the basis of a common long-term concept, national programmes in these fields should be coordinated and national policies should be harmonized within the Community. Such policies should have as their aim the improvement of the quality of life. Therefore, economic growth should not be viewed from purely quantitative aspects.

Such coordination and harmonization should in particular make it possible to increase the efficiency of the action carried out at the various levels to protect and improve the environment in the Community, taking into account the regional differences existing in the Community and the requirements for the satisfactory operation of the common market.

This Community environment policy is aimed, as far as possible, at the coordinated and harmonized progress of national policies without however hampering potential or actual progress at the national level. However, the latter should be carried out in such a way as does not jeopardize the satisfactory operation of the common market.

Coordination and harmonization of this nature will 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(¹).

(¹) OJ No C 9, 15. 3. 1973, p. 1.