Environmental data and information are two quite important instruments, which, together with other technical, financial and legal tools, will allow an adequate policy formulation and will make the assessment of its implementation possible. Information is not only a requirement for policy making or strategic planning but a tool of vital importance at the other two levels of the decision-making process: managerial and operational. In any case, to be useful, information must be relevant to the end to be achieved, complete and easily understood. If there is a need for data interchange, then it must be comparable and easily available. To obtain better environment and, at the same time, better and comparable data on this environment, the European Union issued a number of legal instruments (directives and council and commission decisions). After some generic considerations on information requirements, this paper presents a brief review of the water resources information policy in five European countries. The European information policy is also addressed, a special mention being made to the European Environmental Agency.
