This report has been prepared within a project called "Product policy in support of environmental policy". The project is supported by a financial contribution of the European Commission within the "Socio-Economic Environmental Research" - programme (SEER) for which DG XII is responsible. It is carried out by the IÔW as project leader and the Instituut voor Milieuvraagstukken (Institute for Environmental Studies) of the Free University of Amsterdam. The results of the first step are now finished and presented herewith. They consist of

• an interim report summarising the country reports and containing their most important results
• twelve country reports describing the existing product policy in each of the Member
• states of the European Union and of a report describing the trends of the product policy of the EU itself