ABSTRACT
Environment policy was built into the Treaty by the Single European Act of 1987 and its scope was extended by the Treaty on European union (EU) of 1992. This allowed the use of majority voting on environmental legislation and introduced as a principle of Treaty law the concept of sustainable growth which respects the environment. The EU consists of four main institutions, which all play an important role in EU environmental policy: the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, and the European Parliament. Due to the central role of the European Commission in preparing, and verifying environmental legislation. The European Environment Agency (EEA) was fully operational as of 1 January 1996. EEA’s objective is to provide the Community and the member States with objective, and comparable information at European level, enabling them to take the requisite measures to protect the environment, and to ensure that the public is informed about the state of the environment.
