The Blue Flag was born in France in 1985 where the first French coastal municipalities were awarded the Blue Flag on the basis of criteria covering sewage treatment and bathing water quality

Blue Flag on European level in 1987

1987 was the "European Year of the Environment" and the European Commission was responsible for developing the European Community activities of that year. The Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe (FEEE) presented the concept of the Blue Flag to the Commission, and it was agreed to launch the Blue Flag Programme as one of several "European Year of the Environment" activities in the Community.

The French concept of the Blue Flag was developed on European level to include other areas of environmental management, such as waste management and coastal planning and protection. Besides beaches marinas also became eligible for the Blue Flag.

In 1987, 244 beaches and 208 marinas from 10 countries were awarded the Blue Flag.

The Blue Flag success

Since 1987 the Programme has year after year increased in numbers of Blue Flags. The criteria have during these years been changed to more strict criteria. As an example, in 1992 the Programme started using the restrictive guideline values in the EEC Bathing Water Directive as imperative criteria, and this was also the year where all Blue Flag criteria became the same in all participating countries

The Blue Flag programme outside Europe

In 2001 FEE decided to become a global organisation by changing the name from FEEE to FEE (Foundation for Environmental Education).

Several organisations and authorities outside Europe have made applications to FEE, wishing for cooperation on spreading the Blue Flag Programme to non-European countries. FEE has been cooperating with UNEP and UN WTO on extending the Programme to areas outside Europe. The Blue Flag Programme has already been implemented in South Africa, Canada, Morocco, Tunisia, New Zealand and four countries in the Caribbean region. Aruba, Brazil and Malta are currently in the pilot phase of the Programme and other countries have started the implementation of the Blue Flag Programme: Belgium-Wallonia, Jordan, FYR Macedonia, Turks & Caicos Islands, Ukraine and United Arab Emirates.

FEE has made the overall decision that the beach criteria within a region should be similar. The beach criteria has however varied from region to region reflecting the specific environmental conditions of the region. As of 2006 an international set of criteria is being used with some variation within.

The Programme today

In 2008 over 3200 beaches and marinas were awarded the Blue Flag.

37 countries are currently participating in the Blue Flag Programme: Bahamas, Belgium-Flanders, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey and Wales, 

Aruba, Brazil, and Malta are currently running the programme in the pilot phase.