energy to the local energy grid would be a secondary non-specialised producer (as its primary activity is the production of chemicals.) These types of activities are rarely seen in statistics published. Ancillary non-specialised producers In most countries the statistics are collected through sample surveys conducted by national statistical offices. This means that, in general, businesses are requested to fill out questionnaires with specific questions about their past investments or current outlays with bearing on environmental protection. The respondents of a survey needs to know if any new equipment has been installed in the production process, if it has an environmental component to it and how much this extra component could be worth (in monetary terms). The respondent also has to know how the new equipment is reducing environmental pressure, i.e. within what environmental domain (air, waste, waste water etc.) the equipment is working for. Government Interpreting the statistics The basic message of the statistics is to show how much money has been spent on protecting the environment from human activities in past years. If the statistics is presented within the accounting framework of EPE then the statistics also show who has spent the money and who has financed the spending. Current international statistics of Eurostat presents statistics on investments and current expenditure for the protection of the environment. In 2006 Europe spent around 1.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product on treating and preventing environmental pollution through investments and current expenditure. To know who spent how much and on what has its advantages, it provides an insight on how the area is perceived comparing one sector to another. It also show which sectors are under more pressure to undo the damage to the environment that their specific production are creating. However, the statistics becomes much more interesting when comparing the amount spent to the environmental burden the sector is having. For example, are the highest investments made in for example the reduction of air pollution made by the sector that has the largest emission of for example green house gases? Eurostat made an attempt at showing this for some of the European countries. The publication shows that this is not always the case. Another study, based on Swedish statistics show that enterprises that has internal research and development (R&D) departments which also work on environmental R&D are more likely to invest in environmental protection then if they have not. History Statistics