Environment
Since 1995, the Ministry for the Environment has had an employee at the Icelandic Embassy in Brussels dealing with projects relating to the EEA Agreement.
These are the parts of the EEA Agreement that fall to the Ministry for the Environment and are the responsibility of the counsellor:
-
Environmental matters such as protection and the limitation of pollution (nature protection is exempted)
-
The safety of food, chemicals, hazardous substances and cosmetics.
Of all the directives entered into the EEA agreement, an estimated 40% of them fall under these categories.
The role of the environmental counsellor in Brussels (dealing with the EEA agreement) is the following:
-
To participate in EFTA working groups and sub-committees that deal with environmental issues, chemicals, hazardous substances and food safety.
-
To attend meetings with experts and working committees linked to the Council of Ministers and the European Commission (when experts from Iceland are unable to attend).
-
To follow closely the development of legislation within the EC on environmental issues, food, chemicals, hazardous substances and cosmetics as well as to inform the Ministry and appropriate organisations of any developments.
-
To follow and be partly responsible for information exchange between Icelandic authorities and EFTA/ESA as well as EFSA.
-
To attend specialised meetings, presentations, forums as well as conferences on environmental issues before any such issues enter the agenda of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.
The Environmental Counsellor in Brussels is:
Tel: +32 (0) 2 238 5000
Fax: + 32(0) 2 230 6938
Links
