Robert Donkers
Delegation of the European Commission

Robert H. Donkers is Counselor for Environmental Affairs at the European Commission Delegation in Washington, DC since October 2003.  From April 1999 until his current appointment, he served as (Acting) Head of the Chemicals Unit in the Directorate General Environment in Brussels, where his responsibilities included the coordination of the development of a new EU Chemicals policy and legislative framework (aka REACH). He also was the chief EU negotiator on the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

He is the co-author of the Fifth EC Environment Action Program (1993-2000) "Towards Sustainability", which addresses the  introduction of a broader set of tools in environment management in conjunction with or in place of legislative action at both EU and national/sub-national level.

Before joining the Commission in 1990, he held several positions in the Dutch administration including Deputy Director for International Environmental Affairs in the Environment Ministry and EU Environment Counselor for the Netherlands in Brussels.