EASIN is an initiative of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. It has been established upon the recognition of the increasing serious threat posed by alien species in Europe.

EASIN facilitates the exploration of existing alien species information from a variety of distributed information sources through web tools and interoperable web services, compliant with internationally recognized standards.

The EASIN web tools and services can be used freely and independently by policy makers, researchers, stakeholders and users from the public, while ownership of the data remains within its source, which is properly cited and linked.

EASIN enables easy access to data and information on alien species occurring in Europe, aiming to assist policy makers and scientists in their efforts to tackle biological invasions. In specific, EASIN is appointed as the information system facilitating the implementation of the EU Regulation on invasive alien species, published in 2014 by the European Commission.