The European Environment and Health Committee was set up in 1995 to help ensure the implementation of the policy document, Environmental Health Action Plan for Europe (EHAPE), which was adopted at the Second Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in 1994.

Its functions were spelled out in the Helsinki Declaration on Action for Environment and Health in Europe. EEHC also served as the Steering Committee for the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in 1999.

The Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in London in 1999 renewed and expanded the mandate of the EEHC, as outlined in the London Declaration. EEHC membership was expanded to include representatives of civil society.

Finally the EECH helped promote and ensure reporting back on the implementation of the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health (Budapest, June 2004).