water.europa.eu Compliance Checking of River Basin Management Plans Strategic Coordination Group Meeting, 4-5 November 2009 DG Environment, European Commission

Outline Overall approach to compliance checking Discussion at Water Directors Meeting in Paris Compliance checking steps Background documents - Break for questions - Concept paper on compliance checking

WFD Obligations Member States report river basin management plans (Art. 15.1) by 22 March 2010 Commission prepares assessment report (Art. 18) by 2012, containing in particular (a) review of progress in the implementation of the Directive; (b) a review of the status of surface water and groundwater in the Community undertaken in coordination with the European Environment Agency; (c) a survey of the river basin management plans submitted in accordance with Article 15, including suggestions for the improvement of future plans …

Overall approach to compliance checking

Document on RBMP compliance checking - WD meeting Paris December 2008 Some background and principles of the exercise – The depth of the analysis should be sufficient for strategic issues – Comparison of implementation efforts and expected results – Prioritisation of issues to use resources efficiently – Transparency – proper documentation – Quality assurance procedures to ensure harmonised assessment – Clear reporting is a prerequisite for a proper compliance checking – Agreement that we need both WISE and the electronic versions of the plans Providing relevant information from various perspectives – Governance – Technical issues – Strategic issues

Discussion on compliance checking - WD meeting Paris December 2008 General approach is still valid and useful. The preparation phase has already identified some issues that will merit a detailed analysis in any case. Timing: three stages have to be taken in parallel: - Completeness check - Screening - In-depth analysis The Commission intends to perform in-depth analysis on a number of key issues in parallel to the screening exercise.

Discussion on compliance checking - WD meeting Paris December 2008 Some of the key issues that are candidates for these in- depth assessments were identified: – Environmental objectives and exemptions – Designation of heavily modified water bodies – Classification of ecological status and potential – Measures related to agriculture – Measures related to hydromorphology – Measures related to chemical pollution – Measures related to article 9 (water pricing policies) – Water scarcity and droughts

8 Steps for compliance checking Completeness check covers “100%” of the RBMP obligations and other related information based mainly on WISE electronic delivery (+RBMP as necessary) Screening based on simple questions and compliance indicators (mainly derived from reporting guidance) covers “100%” of the RBMP obligations and other related information based mainly on WISE electronic delivery (+RBMP as necessary) In-depth assessment covers a selection of key topics based on WISE electronic delivery, the RBMPs and additional background documents (as necessary)

Tools to support compliance checking „Summary of WISE electronic delivery“ = summary of all information provided through WISE in a readable format Development of specific templates In order to combine screening and in-depth assessments, specific templates will be developed for a number of key topics. The contents of the templates will be developed on the basis of key questions identified for each topic

In-depth assessment Key questions from a technical and/or legal perspective –refers to technical and legal provisions of WFD and links to other directives; some questions for information only (i.e. not linked to legal requirement) –based on information provided by Member States (WISE, RBMPs and background documents) –assessed using standard templates by consultants Strategic questions related to the WFD policy objectives –addresses policy achievements / effectiveness of the WFD –based on the results of the technical assessment of the RBMPs; no additional information needs to be provided by MS –subjective assessment of the Commission based on the analysis

Background documents WFD and guidance documents require justification and transparency of some of the key contents of the RBMPs. Level of detail of RBMP and PoM will vary: no generalisation of which topics need to be addressed in background docs Key background document is PoM. Some likely topics that may not be addressed sufficiently in RBMPs: o Classification of ecological status o Designation of HMWB/definition of GEP o Exemptions

More fluent interaction with Member States during the compliance checking process Working Group D Reporting other WGs (Groundwater, Priority Substances, ECOSTAT) SCG members bilateral meetings with Member States In order to –exchange views on the further development of the compliance checking –to clarify any issues where necessary

Development of a Concept paper Purpose of the document What it is –to share with MS the compliance checking approach of river basin management plans –to get feedback on the approach and on priority setting What it is not –a set of questions to be answered by Member States –the final version. It will be further developed during the process. –to be agreed with Member States

Questions on overall approach?

Concept paper under development

History of the document Discussion of a previous version of this paper: „Inventory of questions for compliance checking“ Presented at WG D Meeting, September 2009 –detailed discussion, many comments from MS –after the meeting: written comments from 8 Member States (AT, BE-FL, CZ, ES, FR, IT, PL, SK) –Very useful comments, have been used to further develop the document

Structure of the paper Introduction Description of overall compliance checking approach Key topics for in-depth analysis for each key topic: 1. Introduction General remarks and list of references to key legislation and guidance documents 2. Key questions from a technical or legal perspective 3. Strategic questions related to the WFD policy objectives 4. Background documents

Topics for in-depth assessment Governance Classification of ecological status Designation of heavily modified water bodies and definition of good ecological potential Assessment of groundwater status Environmental objectives and exemptions Programme of measures - general Measures related to agriculture Measures related to hydromorphology Measures related to chemical pollution Measures related to groundwater Additional measures in protected areas Measures related to article 9 (water pricing policies) Strategy to deal with water scarcity and droughts Adaptation to climate change

Governance (examples) Key Questions from a technical or legal perspective Have cooperation mechanisms been established within the river basin between the relevant authorities covering different regions, water categories and water uses? In case of international RBDs, is there an international RBMP and a coordinated PoM? How did the international RBMP feed back to the national reports? Strategic Questions related to the WFD policy objectives How have the WFD principles have been incorporated into the legal, administrative and implementation practice in MS What was the impact of the public consultation process on the RBMPs?

Classification of ecological status (examples) Key Questions from a technical or legal perspective Have biological assessment methods for determining ecological status been developed for all Biological Quality Elements (BQEs) in all water categories? If not, how and by when will these gaps be filled? Have the results of the intercalibration exercise been translated to all national types – what gaps are there? How is the overall classification of a water body derived? Strategic Questions related to the WFD policy objectives Is the quality of the ecological status assessment methods sufficient to detect the existing pressures? Do the ecological status assessments provide a sound basis for a proper selection of measures?

Programme of measures – general (examples) Key Questions from a technical or legal perspective Is the Programme of Measures clear about: o The type of measure(s) (voluntary, legislative, etc) o The scope of application of the measure (geographical area, sector or part of sector, type of installation, etc) o The responsible authority for implementing and enforcing the measure(s) o The costs of the measure(s) and the financing mechanisms o The expected effects of the measure(s) (the ways in which the objectives established under Article 4 are to be achieved) o The cost-effectiveness of the measures o The time-table for implementation (2012 as the default) Strategic Questions related to the WFD policy objectives Is the PoM sufficiently concrete to deliver good status in 2015?

Measures related to agriculture (examples) Key Questions from a technical or legal perspective What is the extent of agricultural pressures and impacts in the RBD, including eutrophication, effects of soil erosion, pesticides, hydromorphological degradation and water abstraction? How have measures been discussed and agreed with farmers and other stakeholders? Strategic Questions related to the WFD policy objectives To what extent does the Programme of Measures show a clear commitment to reduce impacts from agricultural sources in order to reach good status of surface water and groundwater? What is the share of voluntary measures applied for agriculture compared to regulatory measures?

Next steps Finalisation of the concept paper on RBMP compliance checking including key questions on specific topics (November) Forward concept paper to Water Directors for their meeting in Sweden (30 November - 1 December 2009) Development of templates for compliance checking Testing with some river basin management plans Improvement, adjustment

24 Request to SCG Take note of the approach on compliance checking of river basin management plans Discuss the following questions: –Is the approach clear? –Are important aspects missing? –Further comments?