An increasing contamination of the Baltic Sea impelled the governments of the Baltic states to take action to save the sea. It was agreed in Ronneby in 1990 that a Joint Comprehensive Programme of the Baltic Sea Environmental Protection should be formulated. The programme was approved by ministers of environmental protection of 10 Baltic states in Helsinki in April 1992. The author, head of the editorial body of the programme, presents an outline of the programme and difficulties related to its realization.