progress on actions to streamline environmental reporting · 2019-07-26 · 2019 – progress on...

Progress on Actions to Streamline Environmental Reporting

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Report by actions

June 2019

Prepared by Milieu Consulting

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2019 – Progress on Actions to Streamline Environmental Reporting P a g e | 2

Introduction

In June 2017, the Commission published a report on ‘Actions to Streamline Environmental Reporting’ (2017 Report - COM(2017)312)1. This action plan aims, as mentioned in its

introduction, to ensure that EU environmental law is delivering its intended effects on the ground; to better inform the European public about these achievements and at the same

time simplify the reporting burden for national adminstrations and businesses. This Report was built upon the conclusions of the ‘Fitness Check of Reporting and Monitoring of EU

Environment Policy’ (Reporting Fitness Check - SWD(2017) 230)2 and a supporting study3 carried out within the framework of the 2015 Better Regulation package4. The scope of

the evaluation included 58 pieces of environmental legislation and it looked at the reporting obligations therein as well as the related regulatory monitoring at EU level. Building on

the evaluation findings, the 2017 Commission Report identified 10 Actions:

1. Legislative amendments to reporting obligations defined in selected pieces of legislation.

2. Assess and change reporting obligations in more detail as part of a rolling programme.

3. Modernise eReporting including through a more advanced Reportnet and making best use of the existing infrastructure.

4. Develop and test tools for data harvesting at EU level.

5. Develop guidance and promote best practices for European and national environmental information systems including better access to data in easy to understand

ways.

6. Promote the full implementation of the INSPIRE Directive with priority for datasets most relevant for the implementation and reporting of EU environmental legislation.

7. Make better use of data generated through the Copernicus programme.

8. Promote the wider use of citizen science to complement environmental reporting.

9. Improve cooperation in the sharing and use of data gathered in other areas for the benefit of the environment.

10. Strengthen cooperation with relevant international organisations with the view to streamlining reporting and information management between the EU level and the

international level.

1 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/action_plan_env_issues.pdf 2 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/SWD_2017_230.pdf 3 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/Reporting%20and%20monitoring/support_fitness_check_report_annexes.pdf 4 ‘Better regulation for better results — An EU agenda (COM (2015) 215)

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/action_plan_env_issues.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/SWD_2017_230.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/Reporting%20and%20monitoring/support_fitness_check_report_annexes.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/better_regulation/documents/com_2015_215_en.pdf


According to the 2017 Report, the Commission has announced that it “will monitor progress in implementing these actions and take stock of the situation in 2019”. This progress

report will implement this commitment and assess progress by actions based on desk research and interviews/e-mail exchanges with relevant EU officials. The following colour

scale is used to assess progress:

As regards action 2, the timelines in the “rolling work programme 2018-2020” (published in Feb 2018)5 was taken as a reference. When the actions were supposed to be completed

in 2018 but further work is intended, the “rolling work programme” was updated (see Annex 1). However, most specific actions in the rolling work programme are designed to

continue in 2019-2021. Hence, when the “rolling work programme” under action 2 indicated that the target data is 2019 or later, the assessment was not done against the above

categories but rather indicating whether the the action is “on track” or not (see Annex 2). The progress on all the actions will continue to be updated online6.

5 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/FC%20Reporting%20-%20rolling%20WP%20incl%20annex%20-%20version%2002.2018.pdf 6 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/fc_actions_en.htm

Fully addressed All goals and required actions are met Substantial progress Almost all required actions have been implemented to meet the goals

Some progress Some measures have been announced or adopted Limited progress Some measures/actions were implemented but appear insufficient to address the

relevant goals No progress No measures are proposed or adopted to meet the goals

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/FC%20Reporting%20-%20rolling%20WP%20incl%20annex%20-%20version%2002.2018.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/fc_actions_en.htm


Summary of findings

I. Overview table on progress per action Summary of progress made per action

Action 1: Legislative amendments to reporting obligations

For 25 of the 58 EU environmental laws, mentioned under the 2017 Report, amendments have been proposed or adopted to streamline environmental reporting

requirements and two new laws have been introdueced that take into account the Fitness Check. This is an improvement from 9 out of 58 laws in 2017 to 27 out of 60 now. Substantial progress

Action 2: Assess and change reporting content and process

All of the environmental laws showed progress in streamlining reporting content and process (which did not require amendments through the ordinary legislative process,

see action 1)since the 2017 Report. For 14 laws where reporting obligations were included in the 2017/18 Rolling Work Programme at least some progress was made. In

addition, an internal reporting vade mecum has been developed giving guidance and good practices for each of the 10 steps in the reporting process. Some progress

Action 3: Modernise eReporting

Functionalities and architecture of the new Reportnet 3.0 platform have been designed on a higher level and will become concrete during the first steps of the executing

phase. In 2019, a prototype will be developed and the platform is supposed to be fully operational in 2021. Substantial progress

Action 4: Develop and test tools for data harvesting at EU level/Action 5: Develop guidance and promote best practices for European and national environmental information

systems

Several initiatives were initiated to explore the potential use of harvesting tools for reporting which, inter alia, included, the launch of a Commission study for the promotion

of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting, the launch of a European Environment Agency (EEA) feasibility study on

harvesting data from existing spatial data infrastructures in the Member States and the review by the Commission of the regulatory reporting framework under the INSPIRE

Directive in support of an automated process for collecting monitoring data from existing metadata published through INSPIRE Discovery services. As a result, the guidance

document has been prepared and the harvesting tools have undergone testing. Fully addressed

Action 6: Promote the full implementation of the INSPIRE Directive

The number of environmental priority datasets in the INSPIRE geoportal published and made accessible by Member States is slowly but gradually increasing. Where in 2017

there was no comparable offering of identified priority datasets across Member States, good progress was made in 2018. As of April 2019, 1236 priority datasets were

identified and 477 of these datasets made available for download. The offering of priority datasets covers the majority of EU Member States. A small group of Member

States is lagging behind though and bilateral discussions are ongoing. Substantial progress

Action 7 Make better use of data generated through the Copernicus programme The Copernicus servies carried out a study on inter alia the use of Copernicus in support of EU policies and a working document on user requirements for the Copernicus

programme. Furthermore, both the 2019 Annual Copernicus Rolling work programme and a proposal for Regulation establishing the space programme mention that

activities under Copernicus must support better environmental reporting and monitoring. Finally, the EEA has been carrying out several actions to promote the use of

Copernicus data for environmental purposes and the Copernicus programme is already providing complementary and ‘increased quality’ environmental information. Substantial progress

Action 8: Promote the wider use of citizen science


Summary of progress made per action

The Commission has been active in further exploring and promoting the wider use of citizen science to complement environmental reporting through the completion of a

study and the launch of Horizon 2020 projects on this topic. A guidance document is under preparation and will be finalised towards the end of 2019. Substantial progress

Action 9: Improve cooperation in the sharing and use of data gathered in other areas Some improvements in the sharing and use of data were identified or planned in particular in the policy areas on water protection, air quality, industrial emissions and

accidents, and nature protection where data is shared for example to support the EEA databases and reports assessing the state of the environment. However, no

progress on the sharing of data has been reported under other environmental policy areas which were mentioned in the Fitness Check. Some progress

Action 10: Strengthen cooperation with relevant international organisations with the view to streamlining reporting and information management Some improvements were identified or are planned relating to the strengthening of cooperation with relevant international organisations with the view to streamline

reporting and information management between the EU level and the international level, in particular on water and marine protection, air quality, industrial emissions and

accidents and nature protection. For other areas identified in the Fitness Check, no information was available. Some progress

Degree of progress made, by action, in streamling reporting as part of the rolling work

programme

Full Substantial Some

32

5


Progress

Substantial progress

ON TRACK

Action 1: Legislative amendments to reporting obligations defined in selected pieces of legislation

2017 Report status Based on the assessment of 58 pieces of EU environmental legislation listed in Annex 1 to the Reporting Fitness Check (SWD(2017) 230), the

2017 Report concluded that the reporting process is largely delivering but some improvements could be made such as the alignment of timing.

Table 1 in the 2017 Report (COM(2017) 312) stated that 16% (or 9 laws) of the 58 pieces of legislation had already streamlined reporting

provisions in Commission proposals proposed between 2015 and 2017. Moreover, 12% (or 7 laws) of the 58 pieces of legislation were identified

in Annex 6 of the Reporting Fitness Check indicating that they may require legislative amendments and for several others, no legislative changes

were needed.

Progress made Since the adoption of the 2017 Report several amendments to the EU environmental legislation have been planned and or adopted to streamline

and improve provisions on reporting. As of May 2019:

- A Commission proposal for the alignment of reporting obligations in the field of environment was adopted in May 2018 (COM(2018) 381)

to amend ten EU Environmental laws (sewage sludge, noise, environmental liability, INSPIRE, birds, animal testing, ePRTR-industrial

emissions, timber/FLEGT, CITIES) to either improve transparency, simplify or eliminate reporting, simply EU wide overviews clarify roles of

EU institutions and prepare future evaluations. They cover some legislation which was listed in Annex 6 of the Fitness Check but also others

where specific evaluation demonstrated the need for alignment. The co-legislator negotiated the Regulation on the alignment of ten

environmental laws and adopted it on 21 May 2019.

- A Commission proposal was adopted for the revision of the Drinking Water Directive in February 2018 (COM(2017) 753). The reporting

requirements will be simplified compared to former provisions and replaced by a new system, which does not involve actual reporting.

This ensures that the system is made more effective by avoiding a long time lag between reference date of the data reported, and actual

date of reporting. Furthermore, the proposal foresees that Member States will have to put in place a data set gathering only drinking

water-relevant data under this Directive in compliance with the INSPIRE Directive.

- A Commission proposal was adopted for the Recast of the POPs Regulation in March 2018 (COM(2018) 144). The reporting requirements

will be updated by more effective provisions which simplify monitoring. It is foreseen that Member States put in place a data set gathering

relevant data under this Regulation, in particular Annex III. Collected spatial data sets will have to comply with the INSPIRE Directive.

- In addition, two new pieces of legislation were proposed by the Commission (on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products

on the environment and on water reuse – see Annex III) which were not covered by the Fitness Check but which took its findings into

account in the drafting the monitoring and reporting provisions. They have been added to the rolling work programme (action 2).

- Decision (EU) 2018/853 amends five EU legal texts as regards procedural rules in the field of environmental reporting and repeals the

Standardised Reporting Directive 91/692/EEC.

Conclusion Among the 58 EU laws in place at the time of the 2017 report, 25 have either been amended or amendments have been proposed to improve,

streamline reporting requirements and/or remove unnecessary ones. Furthermore, the new Commission proposals on water reuse and single

use plastic products contain new reporting requirements that take into account the findings of the Fitness Check on reporting. Therefore, for

43% of these 58 pieces of EU environmental legislation amendments have been proposed or adopted to streamline environmental reporting

requirements. This is a 27-percentage point increase compared to the 2017 Report. Only three pieces of legislation (marine, nitrates and urban

wastewater) remain which were listed in Annex 6 of the evaluation but which are not aligned (yet). Some of these issues are currently assessed

in the ongoing water evaluations. Given that for the majority of environmental laws, no need for legislative alignment was identified, this action

is largely completed.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/SWD_2017_230.pdf


http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/1_EN_ACT_part1.pdf

https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/environmental-data-commission-welcomes-council-adoption-new-rules-reduce-red-tape-and-increase-transparency-citizens-2019-may-21_en

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-drink/review_en.html

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/initiatives/com-2018-144_en


Progress

Some progress

ON TRACK

Action 2: Assess and change reporting content and process in more detail as part of a rolling programme

2017 Report status The 2017 Report (COM(2017) 312) found that most reporting obligations are largely fit-for purpose but that problems to be tackled further

included using key indicators more widely, aligning key indicators with wider policy needs, reducing textual reporting requirements and using

more publicly available information rather than requesting information again from Member States and businesses. The 2017 report recommended

that a rolling work programme be established to help assess and change reporting obligations in more detail.

Progress made The Rolling Work Programme 2018-2020 has been established since February 2018. The Programme began with a screening of the 181 reporting

obligations covered by the Reporting Fitness Check that should be included in the programme (e.g. those which were still relevant and needed

streamlining). 80 reporting obligations in 46 pieces of legislation were identified. It sets out proposed timing for assessment and work on each of

the reporting obligations as part of the rolling work programme. Information on each directive can be found in an overview table in the link above.

As of May 2019, it was found that:

- Of the 14 legislative texts for which actions were included in the 2017/18 rolling work programme, five saw substantial progress. This

was normally in relation to some improvement in content or process, for example alignment with INSPIRE for several legislative texts,

revised guidance and often combined with some proposal for revision of the legal text. Six of these texts saw some progress, often

equating to the initiation or conclusion of an evaluation. Evaluations are determined by the rolling work programme document as

identifying the need and scope for any further work under the rolling work programme. One text was classified as fully addressed, and

for two texts no information on progress was available. Out of these 14 legislative texts, ten have new action planned for the 2019/2020

or 2020+ rolling work programmes.

- Half of the legislative texts where actions were foreseen for 2019 or later were classified as being ‘on track’, often meaning that some

kind of evaluation or investigation of possibilities for streamlining had begun since 2017. For the remaining texts, no information about

progress was available.

- Two new proposed legislative texts have been added to the inventory.

Tables with all of these legislative texts evaluating their progress can be found in Annex I.

Moreover, a reporting vade mecum was developed and finalised for July 2018 which helps identify good practices and gives practical advice on

how to implement more streamlined reporting and thereby help to establish a more common and coherent approach.

Conclusion

A rolling work programme has been established, which has identified 46 pieces of legislation and 80 reporting obligations to be assessed. Since

2017, a majority of texts have seen progress. Annex I gives an overview of the situation for each piece of legislation. It also revises the rolling work

programme, where necessary. Moreover, an internal reporting vade mecum has been developed and finalised giving guidance and good practices

for each of the 10 reporting steps. If the rolling work programme is further implemented as planned, this action is fully on track.


http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/reporting/pdf/FC%20Reporting%20-%20rolling%20WP%20incl%20annex%20-%20version%2002.2018.pdf


I. Charts/figures on some numeric progress per legislation illustrating action action 2 (assess and change reporting content and process)

Figure 1: Progress on streamlining reporting (without changing legislation) for the 14 legislation texts where actions were included in the rolling work programme for 2017/2018 (number indicates the number of texts corresponding to each progress score)

Figure 2: Type of progress made on streamlining reporting for the 14 legislation texts where actions were included in the rolling work programme for 2017/2018 (number indicates the number of texts adopting each kind of action)

Degree of progress made, by legislation, in streamlining reporting as part of the rolling

work programme

Full Substantial Some

1

8

5


Progress


ON TRACK

Action 3: Modernising eReporting including through a more advanced Reportnet and by making best use of the

existing infrastructure

2017 Report status The European Environment Agency (EEA) initiated a project called ‘Reportnet 3.0’ aiming to modernise the existing system. Reportnet is the

EEA’s infrastructure for handling and improving EEA’s data and information flows. It is also used by some Commission departments for

reporting processes of EU legislation not managed by the EEA. The project runs from 2018-2020.

Progress made The following progress has been made:

- 3.1M€ additional funding has been provided to EEA core budget from 2018-2020 to modernise Reportnet.

- A scoping study involving the EEA and Commission Services was carried out to document the current architecture (concerning

business processes and IT systems), gather high-level requirements, and propose a vision for developing the modern reporting

infrastructure, IT business cases and architecture.

- A tenderer was selected for a framework contract to provide IT services and support to the EEA for the construction of the Reportnet

3.0 system.

- Pilot data flows have been selected by EEA and DG ENV. A Project Handbook was finalised and distributed beginning of March

2019.

- A new Communication and Consultation Plan will be published for the executing phase of the project defining communication

activities, the meetings and the consultation process for the project deliverables for the executing phase.

The EEA regularly updates on the progress at: https://projects.eionet.europa.eu/reportnet-3.0-project-public

Conclusion Progress has been made to identify how to modernise the platform for e-Reporting. Functionalities and architecture of the new Reportnet

3.0 platform have been designed on a higher level and will become concrete during the first steps of the executing phase. Pilot data flows

for which the platform will provide operational support have been jointly identified. In 2019, a prototype will be developed and the platform

is supposed to be fully operational in 2021.

https://projects.eionet.europa.eu/reportnet-3.0-project-public


Progress

Fully addressed

Action 4: Develop and test tools for data harvesting at EU level

Action 5: Develop guidance and promote best practices for European and national environmental information systems

including better access to data in easy-tounderstand ways

2017 Report status The evaluation concluded that it has not been possible to develop an EU-level application to effectively harvest and use publicly available data.

Some experience exists, but further development and testing of such tools will be needed before they can become operational together with

relevant guidance. Moreover, practices in Member State environmental information systems vary and need to be analysed further to promote

good practices and give guidance. Improved national information systems could help reduce the need for the Commission services to ask for

some information to be reported.

Progress made Several initiatives were initiated to explore the potential use of harvesting tools for reporting which, inter alia, included:

- The Commission launched a service contract for the promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools

for data harvesting. The project is carried out by a Consortium of Consultants led by Wageningen University and Research (the Project

Consortium) and that will be concluded in mid-2019 (see http://eis-data.eu):

The Project Consortium organised three workshops with stakeholders on Environmental Information Systems (EIS).

The Project Consortium compiled an overview of the accessibility of environmental information through existing environmental

information portals in each Member State based on four selected criteria: content, data sharing, usability and governance.

There were three tasks involved, linked to Actions 4 and 5 of the Action Plan which have now been completed:

o Task 1 covered the mapping of the national environmental information systems, development of criteria to assess these

and the drafting of guidance on good practices, including recommendations on active dissemination of environmental

information.

o Task 2 aimed to address the topic of harvesting by exploring the available technologies and drafting a roadmap and

recommendations on how reporting can use this concept.

o Task 3 included developing a demonstrator tool to test the concept of modernizing reporting by linking harvesting

technologies with the publicly available data on national portals and pointing out current challenges and opportunities in

a feasibility study.

- As part of the ongoing effort to modernise their Reportnet reporting infrastructure (see also Action 3), the European Environment Agency

launched a feasibility study on harvesting data from existing spatial data infrastructures in the Member States. This study assessed if and how

active dissemination through national INSPIRE download services could be used in a modern reporting process to automate the collection of

spatial data sets falling under existing environmental reporting obligations.

- The Commission reviewed the regulatory reporting framework under the INSPIRE Directive (see also Action 1) in support of an automated

process for collecting monitoring data from existing metadata published through INSPIRE Discovery services.

Conclusion

There are a number of good practices at national level but there is a need and opportunity to further improve active dissemination of environmental

information in the majority of Member States. The guidance prepared by the contractor will create awareness in the Member States and guide the

improvement of the existing national portals through a collection of good practices. The harvesting concept seems to have a huge potential and

its possible applicability will be further explored. Good practice at EU level has already been provided under the INSPIRE Directive where the

regulatory monitoring process successfully implemented an active dissemination scenario to minimize reporting burden on Member States and

improve the quality of reported data on timeliness, conformity and consistency. The actions are therefore completed but now needs to be

implemented by Member States and EU institutions and bodies.


Progress


Action 6: Promote the full implementation of the INSPIRE Directive with priority for datasets most relevant for the

implementation and reporting of EU environmental legislation.

2017 Report status As a follow-up to the INSPIRE evaluation, the Commission is in the process of identifying spatial datasets (falling under the INSPIRE Directive)

linked to environmental reporting obligations.

Progress made Based on the evaluation of reporting obligations under the environmental legislation, done in the framework of the Better Regulation Fitness

Check on environmental monitoring and reporting, a preliminary list of common datasets related to environmental reporting obligations has

been prepared by DG Environment. Since 2017 this list has been further developed into the priority list of datasets for eReporting under the

multi-annual work programme of the INSPIRE Maintenance and Implementation expert Group (MIG).

The priority list was finalised in April 2018 and covers seven environmental domains, 22 EU environmental legal acts, 47 reporting obligations

and identifies 87 different types of spatial data. Member States were asked to make these priority datasets available and accessible through

the European Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Most Member States have started the work on the implementation of the priority list. The progress on the implementation of the list is

monitored through the new INSPIRE geoportal that was released in September 2018. The geoportal allows for browsing and filtering of

priority datasets from the perspective of country, environmental domain and environmental legislation.

Conclusion The number of environmental priority datasets in the INSPIRE geoportal published and made accessible by Member States is slowly but

gradually increasing. Where in 2017 there was no comparable offering of identified priority datasets across Member States, good progress

was made in 2018. As of April 2019, 1236 priority datasets were identified and 477 of these datasets made available for download. The

offering of priority datasets covers the majority of EU Member States. A small group of Member States is lagging behind though and bilateral

discussions are ongoing. It is expected that by the end of 2019 all Member States will have made a substantial amount of priority data sets

available through the INSPIRE infrastructure that, depending on the quality and usability of the data, might be used as data source in

Reportnet 3.0 (see Action 3). As far as the EU level is concerned, the action is fully addressed. Now the focus shifts to implementation at the

Member State level.

https://ies-svn.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/2016-5/wiki/PriorityList

http://inspire-geoportal.ec.europa.eu/pdv_home.html


Progress


ON TRACK

Action 7: Make better use of data generated through the Copernicus programme.

2017 Report status The potential to use other data sources such as Copernicus or citizen science as a tool to complement reporting or, in some cases as an

alternative, is promising. However, experience shows this may not be easy, and a number of questions have to be resolved.

Progress made Since the 2017 Report, several actions have been initiated to make better use of data generated through the Copernicus Programme:

- The Commission adopted in 2018 a proposal for Regulation establishing the space programme of the Union and the European

Union Agency for the Space Programme (COM (2018) 447 final). This proposal, inter alia, requires that Copernicus must include

actions to support environmental monitoring, reporting and compliance assurance (Article 48).

- The Copernicus services carried out a study entitled ‘Copernicus and Earth observation in support of EU policies’. Each section

of the study focuses on the needs of the relevant European Commission policy units introducing the policy context and geospatial

needs and addressing the current and future role of Earth-Observation derived geospatial information for policy support.

- The Commission is preparing a working document on user requirements for the Copernicus programme. This document will

present a high-level synthesis of the requirements expressed by the current and potential users of Copernicus based on

recommendations published in the Copernicus mid-term evaluation report to improve the process to gather user needs and

requirements for the evolution of Copernicus services and Sentinels.

- The 2019 Annual Copernicus Rolling work programme requires that particular attention must be dedicated by Commission

services to assess how they can contribute to greater effect to the statutory reporting under EU environmental legislation.

- In addition to Member States reporting information Copernicus is already providing complementary and ‘increased quality’

environmental information (e.g. on air quality)

- The EEA has been promoting the use of Copernicus data for land monitoring through the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service

(CLMS) coordinated with JRC.

- A web platform: Copernicus ‘Europe’s eyes on Earth’ has been publishing data on Atmosphere, Land, Marine and Climate change

- A Partnership Agreement was signed between the EEA and the European Meteorological Services on the provision of hydrological,

meteorological and climatological data for the Copernicus Services

Conclusion Substantial progress is being made to make better use of data generated through the Copernicus programme. The Copernicus services have

carried out a study on, inter alia, the use of Copernicus in support of EU policies and a working document on user requirements for the

Copernicus programme. Furthermore, both the 2019 Annual Copernicus Rolling work programme and a proposal for Regulation establishing

the space programme mention that activities under Copernicus must support better environmental reporting and monitoring. Finally, the

EEA has been carrying out several actions to promote the use of Copernicus data for environmental purposes and the Copernicus programme

is already providing complementary and ‘increased quality’ environmental information in addition to Member States reporting information.


Progress


ON TRACK

Action 8: Promote the wider use of citizen science to complement environmental reporting.

2017 Report status Despite an increasing amount of citizen science data and activities, in practice citizen science data are not (yet) used widely for official

environmental monitoring (especially as for some areas the data is not on par with scientifically more elaborate monitoring equipment) and

reporting

Progress made - The European Commission commissioned a study called ‘Citizen Science for environmental policy: Development of an EU-wide

inventory and analysis of selected practices’ published in December 2018: https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-

/publication/842b73e3-fc30-11e8-a96d-01aa75ed71a1/language-en.

The aim of this study was to provide the European Commission with an evidence base of citizen science activities that can support

environmental policies in the European Union (EU). The first objective was to develop an inventory of citizen science projects

relevant for environmental policy and assess how these projects contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by

the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. The second objective was to assess the conditions under which citizen science can best

support environmental policy, through the selection and analysis of a sample of citizen science projects. This analysis was used to

develop a series of recommendations to leverage the contribution of citizen science to environmental policy. The raw data of the

inventory has been published for open public access: http://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset/jrc-citsci-10004

- The European Commission invited proposal for funding under Horizon 2020 (Work Programme 2018-2020 16-Science with and

for Society) for ‘exploring and supporting citizen science’ (See Strategic orientation 4).

o This led for instance to the H2020 project ‘Doing it Together Science’ – An EU citizen science project: https://ecsa.citizen-

science.net/ditos

o WeObserve – An Ecosystem of Citizen Observatories for Environmental Monitoring: https://www.weobserve.eu/

o EU-Citizen.Science - an online platform and mutual learning space for citizen science: http://eu-citizen.science/

- A guidance document is under preparation and will be finalised towards the end of 2019.

- Furthermore, the European Commission is developing and testing citizen science demonstrators on protected areas and invasive alien

species, including two mobile applications and an underlying citizen science data management platform. The insights gained from

these projects feed into action 8, for instance the development of the guideline.

Conclusion

The Commission has been active in further exploring and promoting the wider use of citizen science to complement environmental reporting

through the completion of a study, the launch of Horizon 2020 projects on this topic and the development and testing of citizen science

demonstrators. With the finalisation of the guidance, this action will be fully addressed.

https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/842b73e3-fc30-11e8-a96d-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/842b73e3-fc30-11e8-a96d-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

http://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset/jrc-citsci-10004

https://ecsa.citizen-science.net/ditos

https://ecsa.citizen-science.net/ditos

http://digitalearthlab.jrc.ec.europa.eu/app/mynatura2000

https://easin.jrc.ec.europa.eu/easin/CitizenScience/BecomeACitizen

https://easin.jrc.ec.europa.eu/easin/CitizenScience/BecomeACitizen


Progress

Some progress

Action 9: Improve cooperation in the sharing and use of data gathered in other areas for the benefit of the environment.

2017 Report status There are some areas for improving cooperation on the use of existing data at EU level. Information submitted to other Commission departments

can be better used in some areas to inform environment policy.

Progress made Some improvements in the sharing and use of data were identified in the following environmental policy areas:

- Water protection

Information from the reporting under the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive are used to produce the EEA dashboard assessing

the status of EU water and their related pressures (https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/state-of-water#tab-data-visualisations). The Marine

Strategy Directive increasingly relies on data sets from the reporting under the water framework Directive.

Information from the Drinking Water Directive reporting is not yet used but the new approach foreseen should strengthen the link to WISE Water

Framework reporting data by including datasets such as abstraction points, monitoring results and incidents which should provide useful data

for health protection to be shared with EEA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

- Air quality

The Air Quality Index of the EEA combines (measured) real-time data reported under the Ambient Air Quality Directive and Implementing Decision

(2011/850/EU) with data from Copernicus, using ‘up-to-date’ air quality data officially reported every hour, and complemented, as necessary, by

modelled air quality data from the European Union’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS).

- National Emission Ceilings

Work to improve coherence between new National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD) and the reporting on greenhous gas emissions (GHG) is

ongoing. In particular, the EEA will develop a data viewer for checking consistency between NECD and GHG projections. In longer term, EEA will

attempt to link reporting between NECD and GHG legislation.

- Industrial emissions and Seveso

Recent action to improve reporting under the E-PRTR and the Industrial Emission Directive will allow, in 2019, public access to an EU-wide registry

of industrial installations providing a wealth of information on both permits and emissions. This will also reduce the administrative burden of

Member States for reporting under EU law by replacing narrative reporting by reporting factual data generated through normal implementation.

Furthermore, DG Environment, together with the JRC’s Major Accident Hazards Bureau (MAHB) and EEA is investigating the possibilities to

streamline the reporting on Seveso establishments (via the reporting system eSPIRS) with the electronic reporting via the EU Registry (for IED

installations and E-PRTR facilities).

- Nature protection

Data reported under the Birds and Habitat Directives can be downloaded and viewed online from the EEA website/systems/tools. The use of data

from the Habitat and Birds Directives and the Water Framework Directive reporting for the implementation of the Regulation (EU) on invasive

alien species is being explored.

Conclusion Some improvements in the sharing and use of data were identified or planned in particular in the policy areas on water protection, air quality,

industrial emissions and accidents, and nature protection where data is shared for example to support the EEA databases and reports assessing

the state of the environment. However, no progress on the sharing of data has been reported under other environmental policy areas which were

mentioned in the Fitness Check.

https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/state-of-water#tab-data-visualisations


Progress

Some progress

Action 10: Strengthen cooperation with relevant international organisations with the view to streamline reporting and

information management between the EU level and the international level.

2017 Report status There are already a number of initiatives and cooperation mechanisms in place between the EU and international organisations to streamline

environmental reporting, but additional efforts are needed

Progress made Some improvements were identified or are planned in particular under the following policy area:

- Water protection

Some work is foreseen to develop robust indicators on water quality that can be used in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals

(SDG) or others” leading to potential future collaboration with the UN. There is no reporting on the quality of EU drinking water to

international bodies, however, there may be an opportunity to streamline reporting under Article 13 “Access to Water” and on the share of

population with access to water, with international reporting obligations for SDG 6 and under the UNECE/WHO Protocol on Water and

Health.

- Marine protection

For the 2018 reporting (Art. 17 updates for Art. 8-9-10), data reported under two Regional Sea Conventions (HELCOM and OSPAR) have been

reused. For 2020 reporting (Art. 17 updates of Art. 11), data from HELCOM and OSPAR will be reused, where possible, and if feasible and

relevant extended to Barcelona and Bucharest Conventions.

- Air quality

Article 9 of the National Emission Ceilings Directive requires ecosystem data reporting as of 2018. This process has started, taking into

account the experience of the UNECE Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) Convention and its related International Cooperative

Programmes for building the reporting template and guidance.

- Industrial emissions and accidents

Article 17(2) of the Kiev Protocol already requires Parties to regularly report on Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) implementation

within their own country. These reports are publicly available and to a large extent obviate the implementation reporting under Article 16 of

the European PRTR Regulation. The OECD and the EU are exchanging experiences on Best Available Techniques (BAT) for controlling industrial

emissions. The Seveso-III Directive is closely linked to the UNECE’s Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents.

- Nature protection / biodiversity

The Commission has built recently a very close cooperation & streamlining on reporting with the Bern Convention and AEWA (African

Eurasian Water Bird Agreement) which could lead to a substantial reduction of reporting burden for Member States and an alignment with

regard to non-EU States. Moreover, there are efforts at UN InforMEA to develop a Data Reporting Tool (DART) building on work done in

relation to streamlining biodiversity reporting. The objective is to develop a modular system for reporting on topics (e.g. water) and for

different international organisations to use the information. This will streamline the EU information management.

Conclusion

Some improvements were identified or are planned relating to the strengthening of cooperation with relevant international organisations in

order to streamline reporting and information management between the EU level and the international level, in particular on water and

marine protection, air quality, industrial emissions and accidents and nature protection. For other areas identified in the Fitness Check, no

information was available.

https://www.informea.org/

https://dart.informea.org/


Annex I: Progress on streamlining reporting (without changing legislation) for legislation where actions were included in the rolling work programme for 2017/2018

Ref. no.

Environmental legislation

Actions included in the rolling work programme for [year]

Summary of findings in 2017 evaluation (based Annex 8 of SWD(2017) 230)

Progress made since 2017

Types of progress New action planned (new date in rolling work programme)

Specific comments

3 Environmental Noise Directive (END)

2017 / 2018

Evaluation completed. Some other issues identified.

Substantial Revision of legal text (alignment proposal)

Improvement of process (INSPIRE alignment)

Yes, improvement of content and process for next reporting round in 2020. (New date: 2019/2020)

Alignment proposal addressed mainly streamlining reporting deadlines for noise maps and action plans to allow sufficient time for public consultation.

7 Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)

2017 / 2018

Some other issues identified Evaluation provisionally scheduled

Substantial Improvement of content and process (revised guidance, INPSIRE alignment)

Yes, further improvement of process for next reporting round in 2020. (New date: 2020+)

- Improvement of e-reporting by establishment of WISE

- MSFD is a pilot for Reportnet 3.0

- Data is increasingly used by other Commission services and also used from international organisations.

8 Drinking Water Directive (DWD)

2017 / 2018

Evaluation completed Some other issues identified (e.g. improvement of data quality)

Substantial Revision of legal text (revised Directive proposal in 2018)


Yes, further improvements of content and process once new legislation is adopted. (New date: 2020+)

- Reporting requirements in legislative proposal will substantially simplify and based on Fitness Check (‘good practice’).

- DWD is a pilot for Reportnet 3.0


Ref. no.






Specific comments

12 Invasive Alien Species Regulation (IAS)

2017 / 2018

New reporting Substantial Improvement of content and process (New implementing act, guidance and INPSIRE alignment)

Currently not necessary. Will be reviewed after each reporting round, as necessary.

- First report on application of the Regulation to be e-submitted in June 2019, via Reportnet.

- Links with the reporting for the Nature Directives, WFD and MSFD are being investigated.

13 European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR)

2017 / 2018

Evaluation ongoing Other issues identified

Substantial Revision of legal text (alignment proposal)


Yes, further improvement of content and process through work on implementing act and guidance. (New: 2020+)

- Alignment proposal improved coherence with IED and EU water law and removed obsolete reporting.

- Part of the streamlining and integration project with IED etc.

14 Industrial Emissions Directive (IED)

2017 / 2018

Some other issues identified. Ongoing streamlining of reporting of data and compliance information regarding both E-PRTR and IED.

Some Evaluation started and improvement of process (INSPIRE alignment)

Yes, follow up to evaluation and improvement of process (register). (New: 2020+)

- Alignment with PRTR will give public access to industrial installations register.

17 Urban Wastewater

2017 / 2018

Evaluation provisionally scheduled

Some Evaluation has started. Yes, follow up to evaluation. (New: 2020+)

- Evaluation on-going – monitoring requirements and


Ref. no.






Specific comments

Treatment Directive (UWWD)

reporting identified as a key issues.

18 Nitrates Directive (ND)

2017 / 2018

ND data could be integrated by EEA in the Environmental Data Centre website on Water (MS already report Art. 10 information via EIONET, with the format requirements clearly defined)

Some Following the adoption of the 2012 – 2015 report, a Workshop with Member States was organised in May 2018 to reflect on how the reporting procedure can be further improved and streamlined with other reporting obligations.

Yes, improvement of process in preparation of next reporting round in 2020, in collaboration with JRC. (New: 2019/2020)

- Coordination with WaterFD on eutrophication reporting and monitoring obligations will be envisaged

21 Extractive (Mining) Waste Directive

2017 / 2018

Some other issues identified (see report COM(2016) 553) which could result in amendment of Commission Decision 2009/358/EC in order to ensure better comparability and relevance of reported information as well as more active dissemination

Some Preparation on country fact sheets to summarise implementation.

Yes, improvement of content and process in preparation of next reporting round After finalising the country fact sheets. (New: 2020+)

Revision on implementing act planned


Ref. no.






Specific comments

26 Sewage Sludge Directive

2017 / 2018

Some Revision of legal text (alignment proposal)

Improvement of process following amendment of legislation. (New: 2020+)

Decision (EU) 2018/853 sets new reporting timeframe.

38 POPs Regulation 2018 Some Revision of legal text (revised legislative proposal adopted in 2019)

Improvement of process following amendment of legislation. (New: 2020+)

Revision has aligned reporting requirements in line with Fitness Check outcome.

39 REACH Regulation 2018 Evaluation ongoing Some Evaluation completed. Review and revision of the MS reporting questionnaire on the REACH implementation.

2018 REACH Review completed (COM(2018) 116)

“General Report on the operation of REACH and review of certain elements” accompanied by a comprehensive evaluation report.

40 CLP Regulation 2018 Evaluation ongoing Some Evaluation about to be completed.

- Publication expected in 2019.

45 INSPIRE Directive 2017 / 2018

Evaluation completed. Other issues identified which could result in

Fully addressed

Revision of legal text (alignment proposal)

Currently not necessary. Next reporting round under new system in May

Alignment proposal has simplified monitoring and eliminated obsolete three-annual reporting.


Ref. no.






Specific comments

amending Commission Decision 2009/442/EC.

Improvement of content (revision of implementing act, indicators) and process (geoportal streamlining)

2020. Will be reviewed after each reporting round, as necessary.

Moreover, implementing act has introduced new and less indicators and facilitated process.

Annex II: Progress on streamlining reporting (without changing legislation) for legislation where actions were included in the rolling work programme for 2019 or later

Ref. no.


Inclusion in the rolling work programme, if yes, when?



Specific areas of progress and deliverables

1 Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD)

2019/2020 Some other issues identified (e.g. improvement of active dissemination) Evaluation provisionally scheduled

On track

(Evaluation ongoing)

- Improvements on the usability of databases is ongoing to further improve efficiency

- Planned work – the Fitness Check of the Ambient Air Quality Directives will be finalised in the second half of 2019.

2 Ambient Air Quality Directive on As, Cd, Hg, Ni, PAH

2019/2020 (see above) See above Evaluation on-going; see above


Ref. no.






4 Water Framework Directive (WFD)

2020+ Evaluation provisionally scheduled On track

(evaluation ongoing)

- Fitness Check of water legislation is on-going, will look at coherence aspects.

- Planned fine-tuning of reporting guidance for the next reporting in 2022.

5 Environmental Quality Standards Directive (EQS)

2020+ Evaluation provisionally scheduled See above See above

6 Floods Directive (FD)

2020+ Evaluation provisionally scheduled On track

(Evaluation ongoing)

- Fitness Check of water legislation is on-going, will look at coherence aspects.

9 Bathing Water Directive (BWD)

2020+ Identified as good practice On track - Evaluation of the Directive is planned - Directive is a pilot for Reportnet 3.0

10 Habitats Directive (HD)

2019 On track See Birds Directive below

11 Birds Directive (BD)

2019 On track - Legal change aligning reporting periods for Birds and Habitats Directive well advanced.

- Natura 2000 is managed in cooperation with EEA and ETC-BD. A review of dataflow with a view to modernising will be done in the coming years.

- Derogation reporting is under revision - Online tool to be developed in 2019 to make

reported data more easily accessible


Ref. no.






- Use of new technologies improved with hiring of remote sensing expert and pilot project provided by the EP to monitor land use change with a focus on grasslands

- Assessment of data-quality and coherence of datasets recently completed

- Commission Expert Group on Reporting under the Nature Directives, in close cooperation with EEA and ETC-BD, is improving the process of collecting, assessing and viewing data.

15 Sulphur Directive (SD) (New Directive (EU)2016/802)

2019 New reporting system facilitates implementation and reporting for MS.

Revised Directive (EU 2016/802 addressed reporting aspects.

On track - The Sulphur Committee is working on a voluntary targeting system to be included in THETIS-EU to prioritise ship inspections and to improve the usefulness of reported raw data used as input to the annual reporting requirements under the directive.

- Member States reporting daily outcomes of sulphur in fuel inspections carried out in EU ports in THETIS-EU, run by EMSA, under Article 14 of Directive (EU) 2016/802 and the Commission Implementing Decision 2015/253.

16 National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD) (New Directive (EU) 2016/2284)

2018 / 2019 Indicators and coherence with greenhouse gases (GHG) reporting were updated in recent revision of Directive (EU) 2016/2284.

On track - Transition from Directive 2001/81/EC to new Directive (EU) 2016/2284 has been done

- A data viewer will be developed with the EEA for checking consistency between air pollutants and GHG emissions projections.

- In longer term, EEA will attempt to link reporting between NECD and GHG legislation


Ref. no.






19 EMAS Regulation 2018 / 2019 Evaluation ongoing, possible action identified

No information available

Evaluation completed

20 Landfill Directive 2018 / 2019 Commission proposals includes streamlining of reporting (COM(2015) 594)


Directive 2018/850/EU adopted which amends the Landfill Directive and related reporting requirements

24 Seveso III Directive

2018 / 2019 Work ongoing to enhance coherence with reporting under E-PRTR and IED

On track - DG Environment, JRC’s Major Accident Hazards Bureau and the EEA are currently investigating possibilities of streamlining reporting on Seveso establishments (via the reporting system eSPIRS) with the electronic reporting via the EU Registry (for IED installations and E-PRTR facilities).

-

25 Shale Gas Recommendation

2018 / 2019 Proposals for action already made in recent report (COM(2016) 794)


27 Waste Framework Directive (WFD)

2018 / 2019 Commission proposals includes streamlining of reporting (COM(2015) 595)

Once revised EU waste legislation and related implementing acts are adopted, an assessment of the coherence between EU Waste Statistics Regulation and reporting obligations will be made.


Directive (EU) 2018/851 adopted which amends the Waste Framework Directive and related reporting requirements. The implementing acts on reporting are still under preparation.


Ref. no.






29 Waste Shipment Regulation

2018/2019 Evaluation planned (see Roadmap)7 No information available

Evaluation on-going

30 Batteries Directive

2018/2019 Evaluation ongoing, and some streamlining activities ongoing (see Commission proposals (COM(2015) 593 and section 3.2 of SWD).


Directive (EU) 2018/849 was adopted to amend inter alia the reporting requirements under the Batteries Directive

31 Packaging Waste Directive

2018/2019 Some streamlining activities ongoing (see Commission proposals (COM(2015) 596 and section 3.2 of SWD).


Directive (EU) 2018/852 was adopted to amend inter alia reporting requirements under the Packaging Waste Directive. Linked to work on Waste Framework Directive (no. 27)

33 End-of life Vehicles Directive (ELV)

2018/2019 No information available

Directive (EU) 2018/849 was adopted to amend inter alia reporting requirements under ELV Directive

34 WEEE Directive 2018/2019 Some streamlining activities ongoing (see Commission proposals (COM(2015) 593 and section 3.2 of SWD).


Directive (EU) 2018/849 was adopted to amend inter alia reporting requirements under ELV Directive

35 RoHS Directive No more reporting envisaged No information available

Planned in 2019

7 http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/roadmaps/docs/2017_env_026_waste_shipment_evaluation_env.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/roadmaps/docs/2017_env_026_waste_shipment_evaluation_env.pdf


Ref. no.






36 Mercury Regulation

Not included Regulation revised in 2017 – new reporting system to be established through implementing acts


No implementing act adopted as of February 2019

41 PIC Regulation 2019 No information available

42 ELD Directive Not included No more reporting envisaged. Revision of legal text

Now reporting content and process need to be defined

(new inclusion for 2020+)

Reporting Alignment proposal introduced new reporting requirements (Art. 18) to allow regular evaluations. Final agreed text limits the information requirements but sets up a new reporting flow from 2022 onwards. Work will start in 2020 to develop this in line with the Fitness Check outcomes.

43 EIA Directive 2019/2020 New reporting On track - New reporting obligation as of May 2023 - No reporting obligations for COM

44 SEA Directive 2019/2020 Evaluation provisionally scheduled On track - Evaluation on-going and expected to be finalised by the end of 2019.

47 Wildlife Trade (CITIES)

2020+ No information available


Ref. no.






50 ABS Regulation 2020+ No reporting exercise so far - recommendations from the evaluation will be taken into account as the reporting format and process are being developed


Evaluation planned in 2019

51 FLEGT Regulation 2020+ First reports will be submitted in 2017 on the basis of a new format agreed with the Member States in 2016

On track - Reporting Alignment proposal streamlined reporting requirements (e.g. improving public availability of data).

- Follow up work to start soon.

52 Timber Regulation

2020+ For the next exercise (2017), minor updates were included in the reporting format and based on the experience from the previous exercise

On track - Reporting Alignment proposal streamlined reporting requirements (addressing frequency, improves coherence and comparability).

- Follow up work to start soon.

53 Ship Recycling Regulation


Decision (EU) 2018/853 amends the Ship Recycling Regulation and requires that each report shall cover three years and shall be electronically transmitted to the Commission which must publish an overview report on the application of the Regulation

54 Medium Combustion Plants Directive (MCP)

2019 Reporting set out in the new Directive is limited to mainly two exercises at key stages of implementation


55 Seals Products Directive II



Ref. no.






58 Animal Testing Directive

2020+ On track - Reporting Alignment proposal streamlined reporting requirements (e.g. new central, open-access searchable database)

- Follow up work started, e.g. Commission Implementing Decision 2012/707/EU will need to be amended to allow for a uniform templates to be used for electronic transfer – adoption foreseen during Q1/2020

Annex III: New legislation proposed after the finalisation of the Fitness Check (to be added to the inventory)

New legislation proposed since the 2017 report on Actions to Streamline Environmental Reporting

59 Proposal for a Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic product (COM(2018) 340)8 adopted in May 2019

The findings of the Fitness Check on reporting were taken into account under this Directive

60 Proposal Regulation on water reuse (COM(2018) 337)9 The findings of the Fitness Check on reporting were taken into account under this new proposal of Regulation

8 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/plastic_waste.htm 9 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/reuse.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/plastic_waste.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/reuse.htm

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