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INFORMATION SOURCES


Section 1 : Organisations


Category 1 — European Union


European Union Risk Policy and Initiatives


The general EU policy objectives for the management and assessment of risks and accidents are described in Chapter 6 of the Resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States on a Community programme of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development (The Fifth Environmental Action Programme - O.J. No: C 138/1. 17.5.93). The progress made towards these objectives of improving the assessment and management of risks and the response to accidents and catastrophes is described in the Progress Report on the above programme (COM (95) 624 final 10.01.1996). The Progress Report highlights the work of DGXI, DGXII and The Joint Research Centre on Major Accident Hazards, chemicals control including risk assessment, management and reduction of new and existing chemicals, pesticide and biocide control, the risk assessment and management of genetically modified organisms, and radiation protection. Details of some of the work programmes are provided below. Information on all programmes is available by contacting the appropriate person in the list provided. The following information is available on the web at http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs_en.htm


DGXI Core Tasks:

  • Determining and managing standards and criteria for environmental quality and environmental space;
  • Addressing target groups with tasks and visions for solutions;
  • Developing and managing legal, economic, financial and social instruments;
  • Promoting the application of policy instruments, environmental infrastructure and appropriate implementation conditions;
  • Enforcement, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of Community policies and regulations.

Relevant Contacts:


Directorate C: Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection. Director: S. FRIGREN, Fax: (+32 2) 2964678


C 1 Radiation protection

Fax: (+352) 4301 34646
Environmental monitoring and inspection
G. FRASER, Fax: (+352) 4301 36280


C 2 Safety of nuclear installations

E. LOPEZ-MENCHERO, Fax: (+32 2) 2950050


C 3 Radioactive waste management policy

D. TAYLOR, Fax: (+32 2) 2950061


C 4 Civil Protection

A. BARISICH, Fax: (+32 2) 2990314


Directorate E: Industry and Environment. Director: R. FROMMER, Fax: (+32 2) 2967870


E 1 Industrial installations and emissions

Industrial hazards, environmental management and eco-audit
K. KRISOR, Fax: (+32 2) 2990313


E 2 Chemical substances and biotechnology

G. CORCELLE, Fax: (+32 2) 2969557


Biotechnology

H. MARTIN, Fax: (+32 2) 2969557


E 3 Waste management

L. KRAEMER, Fax: (+32 2) 2991068


DGXII

Core Tasks:

  • Develops the European Union's Policy on Research and Technological Development. It supplements national research efforts, strengthens the scientific and technological bases of European industry, and supports the policies followed by the Union in its major fields of jurisdiction (environment, health, education, energy, etc.).
  • Implements this policy by means of co-operative programmes which associate companies - in particular SMEs - universities and research centres of various European countries in joint projects. These projects are incorporated in multi-annual Framework Programmes, including the current Fourth Framework Programme (1994-1998), which has a total budget of ECU 12.3 billion.
  • Promotes public knowledge of science and technology, and stimulates debate in this area at a European Level.

Relevant Contacts:


Environment and Climate

Peter REINIGER (Environmental technologies), Fax: (+32 2) 2963024, E-mail: environ-infodesk@dg12.cec.be


Biotechnology


Alfredo AGUILAR, Fax: (+32 2) 2955365, E-mail: life-biotech@dg12.cec.be


Nuclear Fission Safety


Jaak SINNAEVE (Radiation protection), Fax: (+32 2) 2966256


Werner BALZ (All areas except radiation protection), Fax: (+32 2) 2954991


Joint Research Centre


The JRC has the natural vocation to perform research on transfrontier problems, such as those posed in the fields of the environment or risk analysis. The JRC is independent of all interest groups and works for the major objectives of the European Union. This makes it an organisation, which is very suitable for performing pre-regulatory and pre-standardisation research needed for setting up the single European market. The JRC also forms an independent source of scientific knowledge. In this context it can help to solve problems creating situations of conflict in various countries. The JRC has research installations which are too expensive or specialised to be multiplied in Europe, and which can thus only be set up at the European level. These installations are used by the JRC in its own programmes and also made available for other organisations (public or private) through collaboration agreements or contractual arrangements.


Relevant Contacts:


Environment Institute (see below)

Tel: (+39 332) 789042
Fax: (+39 332) 789222


European Chemicals Bureau (see below)

Tel: (+39 332) 789983
Fax: (+39 332) 789963


Major Accident Hazards Bureau (see below)

Fax: (+39 332) 789007

The European Environment Agency

Kongens Nytorv 6
DK-1050 Copenhagen K
Denmark


Tel: +45 33 36 71 00
Fax: +45 33 36 71 99
E-mail: eea@eea.eu.int
WWW: http://www.eea.eu.int/


"The goal of the EEA and its wider network, EIONET, is to provide the European Union and the Member States with high quality information for policy-making and assessment of the environment, inform the general public, and to provide scientific and technical support to these ends."

CARACAS (Concerted Action on Risk Assessment for Contaminated Sites in the European Union)


Breitenfurterstr. 97
A-1120 Vienna
Austria


Tel: +43 1 804 93 192
Fax: +43 1 804 93 194
E-mail: 101355@compuserve.com


CARACAS is a DGXII funded programme, which focuses on the co-ordination of research in order to achieve a secured state of scientific knowledge on environmental risk exposed from contaminated sites. The results will support the development of consistent risk assessment methodologies, and will strengthen the collaboration between the EU Member States in this area.

CEC Joint Research Centre Institute for Systems Engineering and Informatics and DG XI Industrial Installations and Emissions - Major Industrial Hazard Research Programme and Industrial Safety Research Programme

TP 670 I-21020 Ispra (VA) Italy


Tel: JRC Information — (+39 332) 789 889
Fax: (+39 332) 785 409


The Major Industrial Hazard Research Programme consisted of three consecutive research programmes between 1987 and 1994 covering Evaluation and Management of Risk, Chemical and Physical Phenomena, and Technologies of Accident Prevention and Mitigation. The research supported EC policy and legislation in this field, notably the Council Directive 82/501/EEC (Seveso). Details of projects can be found at internet site: http://www.ei.jrc.it/newsletter/16/Major.html . Following on from the Major Industrial Hazard Research Programme, the Industrial Safety Research programme again supports the Seveso Directive and its revisions such as the COMAH Directive (COM (94) 4 final 94/0014). The work covers three main areas - I) technologies to mitigate or prevent accidents; ii) chemical and physical phenomena of releases of hazardous material; iii) risk assessment and management. The last area includes safety management methodologies, the study of human behaviour in crisis situations, the development of decision support tools for crisis management, and methodologies for land-use planning, emergency response and regional/sub-regional risk assessment.

The MAHB has a mission to assist DG XI in the successful implementation of EU policy on the control of major hazards and the prevention and mitigation of major accidents. The MAHB carries out technical activities including; the management of the Major Accident Reporting System database; the management of the Community Documentation Centre on Industrial Risk (a list of publications can be found at WWW address: http://www.ei.jrc.it/newsletter/15/docrisk.html) and the dissemination of information on industrial risk. Further information can be found in the Environment Institute Newsletter No.15: http://www.ei.jrc.it/newsletter/15/.

Commission of the European Communities (CEC) — Joint Research Centre (JRC) Environment Institute
European Chemicals Bureau (ECB)


JRC Ispra TP 280 I-21020 Ispra (VA) Italy


Tel: (+39 332) 789983
Fax: (+39 332) 789963.


The ECBs principle task is to carry out and co-ordinate the scientific / technical work needed for the implementation of legislation in the area of chemical control. The work plays an important role in the assessment and management of risks posed by new and existing substances. For New chemicals, the ECB holds all the evaluation dossiers completed by the Competent Authorities (CA) in each state, places them in the New Chemicals Database and validates the assessment process. For Existing chemicals the ECB co-ordinates the programme which includes data collection, priority setting and risk assessment. Evaluations are made on those substances in use before Sept 1981, the EINECS (European INventory on Existing Chemical Substances) list. Chemicals are selected for evaluation by using the Informal Prioritisation Method, which produces a priority list. The CAs carry out the assessments in accordance with the Technical Guidance Document and the information is stored on the IUCLID (International Uniform ChemicaL Information Database. The ECB is also developing a European Union System for Evaluation of Substances (EUSES) - a risk assessment support tool, implementing the Technical Guidance Documents in a computer database.

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