ABSTRACT
Environmental matters were ignored completely in the founding treaties of the European Economic Community and were only formally incorporated into European Unions (EU's) remit in the Single European Act in 1986. However, the first moves towards a European environmental policy began as early as 1972, following the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. The environmental programme has therefore entailed re-structuring other sectoral policies to take account of environmental pressures and, unsurprisingly, this has caused political frictions. Despite the EU's initial neglect of environmental matters, the pervasive nature of many environmental problems militates against their resolution by nation states acting alone. However, maintaining the focus on implementation of New Environmental Policy Instruments, more detailed consideration is needed of industry's role in EU environmental policy, as industry has often been the main focus of these policy instruments. Despite the obvious conflicts between business interests and the EU environmental programme, the Commission has generally welcomed industry's input into environmental decision-making.
