The Bilateral Agreement on the environment regulates Switzerland's participation in the European Environment Agency (EEA). The EEA, based in Copenhagen with about 200 employees, collects and analyses data about the state of the environment in various European countries. It also ensures that all environmental data are recorded according to the same binding criteria in order to guarantee that they are comparable. To achieve these objectives the EEA has set up the information and environmental observation network EIONET, which the individual member states of the EU supply with relevant data.

The EEA is an important advisory and expert body, and it supports the European Commission in drafting environmental legislation. As a full member of the EEA, Switzerland participates without restriction in its activities and receives direct access to all data and information that is disseminated through EIONET.

• Signing of the Agreement: 26 October 2004 (in the framework of Bilateral Agreements II)
• Approval by Parliament: 17 December 2004
• Date effective: 1 April 2006

_{Status June 2012}