Environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA) are a statistical framework that describes environmental activities in monetary terms and organises these statistics into a full set of accounts, just like that of the national accounts. The EPEA is part of the System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting which, in March 2012, was adopted as a statistical standard by the United Nations Statistical Commission. The EPEA results in a net national total expenditure for environmental protection of an economy. The statistics are usually presented by economic sectors (government, industries, households) and by what environmental domain has been protected, i.e. water, air, biodiversity etc. The main types of statistics that feed into the framework are investment statistics, statistics on current outlays, government statistics on subsidies and investment grants, all with bearing on protection of the environment. The statistics cover actual outlays. This means that, for example, losses of income are not seen in the statistics with the exception of specific transfers (or subsidies) that are designed to compensate any economic losses. Neither do the statistics cover all activities that might have a beneficial environmental impact. There is a distinction between the purpose of the activity and the effect of the activity. For example, new production equipment that is installed solely for the purpose of increasing productivity and reducing costs may use energy and materials more efficiently, and as a side effect reduce environmental discharges. The expenditure for this new equipment would not be included in EPE. The main aim of the statistics is to provide indicators to show the response of society to reduce pollution. The statistics can be used in different types of analysis. One type of analysis determines whether the "polluter pays" principle holds, i.e. whether those who pollute are also the ones who pay for remediation and clean-up. It can also be used to analyse the effects on enterprise competitiveness, for cost-effective analysis related to propositions of new regulations and policies. Scope In order to create the statistics on environmental protection expenditure (EPE) an international definition has been agreed upon. "Environmental protection groups together all actions and activities that are aimed at the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution as well as any other degradation of the environment. This includes measures taken in order to restore the environment after it has been degraded due to the pressures from human activities".1994 SERIEE §2006 and SEEA Central Framework chapter 4 This definition