As the “New Style Agency”, the Federal Environmental Agency, also known as the ⁠UBA⁠, has been much talked about since its formation in 1974. Since then, the UBA has often provided the initiative for German environmental policy, supplied the facts and made suggestions – for new regulations and limiting values as well as for new techniques and processes. Over the past twenty-five years, it has become a partner for the administration and industry, for associations and initiatives – and not least for the general public. Even if we were not always of the same opinion, and sometimes even ruffled each other’s feathers: The large number of congratulations which the UBA received on the occasion of its 25-year anniversary in July 1999, reiterates that we are on the right track.