The Sixth Community Environment Action Programme adopted by Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council3 requires supporting the provision of accessible information to citizens on the state and trends of the environment in relation to social, economic and health trends as well as the general raising of environmental awareness.

The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (hereinafter ‘the Aarhus Convention’), signed by the European Community on 25 June 1998, recognises that increased public access to environmental information and the dissemination of such information contribute to a greater awareness of environmental matters, a free exchange of views, more effective participation by the public in environmental decision-making and, eventually, to a better environment.

Pollutant release and transfer registers (hereinafter ‘PRTRs’) are a cost-effective tool for encouraging improvements in environmental performance, for providing public access to information on releases of pollutants and off-site transfers of pollutants and waste, and for use in tracking trends, demonstrating progress in pollution reduction, monitoring compliance with certain international agreements, setting priorities and evaluating progress achieved through Community and national environmental policies and programmes.

An integrated and coherent PRTR gives the public, industry, scientists, insurance companies, local authorities, non-governmental organisations and other decision-makers a solid database for comparisons and future decisions in environmental matters.

On 21 May 2003 the European Community signed the UNECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (hereinafter ‘the Protocol’). Provisions of Community law should be consistent with that Protocol with a view to its conclusion by the Community.

A European Pollutant Emission Register (hereinafter ‘EPER’) was established by Commission Decision 2000/479/EC4. The Protocol builds on the same principles as EPER, but goes beyond, by including reporting on more pollutants, more activities, releases to land, releases from diffuse sources and off-site transfers.

The objectives and goals pursued by a European PRTR can only be achieved if data are reliable and comparable. An adequate harmonisation of the data collection and transfer system is therefore needed to ensure the quality and comparability of data. In accordance with the Protocol the European PRTR should be designed for maximum ease of public access through the Internet. Releases and transfers should be easily identified in different aggregated and non-aggregated forms in order to access a maximum of information in a reasonable time.

In order to further promote the objective of supporting the provision of accessible information to citizens on the state and trends of the environment as well as the general raising of environmental awareness, the European PRTR should contain links to other similar databases in Member States, non-Member States and international organisations.

In accordance with the Protocol, the European PRTR should also contain information on specific waste disposal operations, to be reported as releases to land; recovery operations such as sludge and manure spreading are not reported under this category.

In order to achieve the objective of the European PRTR to provide reliable information to the public and to allow for knowledge-based decisions it is necessary to provide for reasonable but strict timeframes for data collection and reporting; this is particularly relevant for reporting by Member States to the Commission.

Reporting of releases from industrial facilities, although not yet always consistent, complete and comparable, is a well established procedure in many Member States. Where appropriate, reporting on releases from diffuse sources should be improved in order to enable decision-makers to better put into context those releases and to choose the most effective solution for pollution reduction.

Data reported by the Member States should be of high quality in particular as regards their completeness, consistency and credibility. It is of great importance to coordinate future efforts of both operators and Member States to improve the quality of the reported data. The Commission will therefore initiate work, together with the Member States, on quality assurance.

In accordance with the Aarhus Convention, the public should be granted access to the information contained in the European PRTR without an interest to be stated, primarily by ensuring that the European PRTR provides for direct electronic access through the Internet.

Access to information provided by the European PRTR should be unrestricted and exceptions from this rule should only be possible where explicitly granted by existing Community legislation.

In accordance with the Aarhus Convention, public participation should be ensured in the further development of the European PRTR by early and effective opportunities to submit comments, information, analysis or relevant opinions for the decision-making process. Applicants should be able to seek an administrative or judicial review of the acts or omissions of a public authority in relation to a request.

In order to enhance the usefulness and impact of the European PRTR, the Commission and the Member States should cooperate in developing guidance supporting the implementation of the European PRTR, in promoting awareness of the public and in providing appropriate and timely technical assistance.

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission5.

Since the objective of the action to be taken, namely to enhance public access to environmental information through the establishment of an integrated, coherent Community-wide electronic database, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, because the need for comparability of data throughout the Member States argues for a high level of harmonisation, and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

In order to simplify and streamline reporting requirements, Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste6 and Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control7 should be amended.

The European PRTR aims, among other things, at informing the public about important pollutant emissions due, in particular, to activities covered by Directive 96/61/EC. Consequently, under this Regulation, information should be provided to the public on emissions from installations covered by Annex I of that Directive.

To reduce duplicate reporting, pollutant release and transfer register systems may, under the Protocol, be integrated to the degree practicable with existing information sources such as reporting mechanisms under licences or operating permits. In accordance with the Protocol, the provisions of this Regulation should not affect the right of the Member States to maintain or introduce a more extensive or more publicly accessible pollutant release and transfer register than required under the Protocol,