1. Technical review of Commission Decision 2010/477/EU concerning MSFD criteria for assessing GES Work flow and progress
20/21 October 2014
12th WG GES meeting, Brussels
A. C. Cardoso, G. Hanke, F. Somma

2. Review set-up
JRC and ICES operate in partnership to deliver scientific and technical support for the MSFD implementation as identified in the CIS
Work process agreed
Expert networks set-up
Meetings/workshops held

3. Descriptor
Lead
Expert involvement D1
JRC-ICES
MSFD Expert Network D2
JRC D3
ICES
ICES Expert network D4
ICES Expert Network D5 D6 D7 D8
MSFD Expert Network Contaminants D9
D10
MSFD Technical Group Marine Litter
D11
MSFD Technical Group Noise

4. Review progress Expert networks consulted on all Descriptors
Review templates filled for all Descriptors
Compilation of main issues (DG ENV, Milieu, JRC, ICES):
GES_ _Manual_BackgroundNote_V2
Technical discussions ongoing

5. Overall considerations
Review of the different descriptors is at different degree of maturity
Comments from WG GES welcome, but timing slightly different for each group of descriptors (see individual roadmaps).
Final review will incorporate WG GES comments.

6. Review Roadmap D1 – D2 – D5 20-21 Oct 2014 - WG GES
June 2014
Call for experts
July 2014
Template JRC → experts
September 2014
Template experts → JRC
May 2014
Template Milieu → JRC
October 2014
Comments incorporated
17 Mar WG GES

7. Technical basis for review
Next steps
D1 – D2 – D5
20-21 Oct WG GES
December 2014
Draft review JRC → EG (second round)
Oct 2014
Draft proposal for open issues
22-23 April WG GES
Technical basis for review
COM DEC 2010/477/EU
January 2015
Draft review EG → JRC
23 March 2015
Final review JRC → WG GES
Comments from EG and CC incorporated

8. D1: Key conclusions + issues still under review
More effort is needed to conclude to common agreed methodological standards and GES boundaries (wherever feasible)
GES definition on a Criterion or Descriptor level (quantitative definition of GES and aggregation methods)
Specify the content of the ecosystem criterion and clarify links with other “state” descriptors
Specification of common characteristics (at least regionally or sub-regionally) and potential revision of Table1 of Annex III of the MSFD
Ways to take into account biodiversity assessments under other EU legislations (in particular Habitat and Birds Dir)

9. D2: Key conclusions + issues still under review
To resolve issues of terminology efforts should be made to build upon existing glossaries, e.g. OSPAR glossary.
Division of opinions on the inclusion or exclusion of criteria
Further discussion will be necessary related to alien species impacts and links with status descriptors (cross-cutting issue)
No consensus on definition threshold values and reference points both in relation to the feasibility and the specific values

10. D5: Issues still under review
MSFD-WFD links /harmonisation for eutrophication assessment (eutrophication not being explicitly addressed in WFD, guidance on how to harmonize WFD GEcS with MDFS GEnS)
Common assessment methods vs regional and sub-regional hydrological and ecological differences (numerical adjustments may be necessary, e.g. baseline and thresholds, to reflect these differences)
Quantifiable GES and use of GES boundaries/thresholds would require a number of conditions (e.g. accounting for confidence limits and uncertainties in numerical criteria values, accounting for regional differences in eutrophication process), similar to WFD Intercalibration
Link with other descriptors (e.g. D4, D6, D7) need to be clarified with respect to variables to be assessed/monitored: aim is to avoid double assessments.
Update of the directive implementation
MSFD Competence centre

11. D7 workflow D7 in-depth assessment is available (MCC website)(
D7 expert network set-up (8 countries)
Questionnaire document prepared for D7 Expert Network
Review template filled and commented
Discussions in MSFD expert network ongoing (mail + CIRCABC)

12. D7 issues
There are no harmonised approaches. Guidance document is needed
Clarification of the pressure-impact chain is needed!
Definition of time and space scales is needed.
Baseline, parameters and GES are not well defined and need to be clarified

13. Technical basis for review
Next steps D7
20-21 Oct WG GES
December January 2015
Ongoing discussion on identified issues
Comments via Expert Network (GES)
WG GES (April 2015)
Technical basis for review
COM DEC 2010/477/EU
January – March 2014
Cross-Cutting workshop input and finalization of recommendations

14. D8/9 workflow D8 and D9 are separate Descriptors but reviewed together
Contaminant Expert Network review meeting
Discussion document prepared and commented (mail + CIRCABC)
Template filled, commented
Discussions ongoing
Comments by GES preferably through MSFD Expert Network on Contaminants
Additional Network Members are welcome

15. D8 issues WFD/MSFD harmonization is ongoing
Substances (WFD PS core set, other relevant substances)
Matrix selection (water, sediment, biota, species)
Assessment (EQS/others, scale and aggregation)
Monitoring strategy (sampling set-up, trend monitoring)
Biological effects (strategy, core set, specifications)
Acute pollution (coverage, specifications)

16. D9 issues Relation and coordination D8/D9
Substances (Food Safety regulation core set)
Matrix (Species selection, tissues)
Assessment (EU Food Safety Thresholds)
Compliance criteria (Frequency of exceedance and contaminant number)
Monitoring strategy (traceability, sampling set-up)

17. Technical basis for review
Next steps
D8/9
20-21 Oct WG GES
January – March 2014
Cross-Cutting workshop input and finalization of recommendations
Comments via Expert Network (GES)
WG GES (April 2015)
Technical basis for review
COM DEC 2010/477/EU
December January 2015
Ongoing discussion on identified issues
February 2014
Contaminant Expert Network meeting

18. D10 workflow Review performed by Technical Group on Marine Litter
Kick-off during Riga meeting ( )
Discussion document prepared and commented
Discussions in TG ML
Template filled, discussions ongoing

19. D10 issues Sources and pathways (identification and quantification)
Impact (current research is considering also ingestion in other species, entanglement)
Micro Litter (indicator or size category)
Litter categories (minimum operational requirements as category core list)
Methodological standards (lack of agreed methodologies for some indicators)
Scales and Aggregation (to be discussed)

20. Technical basis for review
Next steps
D10
20-21 Oct WG GES
December January 2015
Ongoing discussion on identified issues
Comments via Expert Network (GES)
WG GES (April 2015)
Technical basis for review
COM DEC 2010/477/EU
January – March 2014
Cross-Cutting workshop input and finalization of recommendations
2015
TG ML review meeting

21. Next steps
On Descriptors 1,2,5 WG GES will be invited to comment on an advanced draft for consultation prior to submitting to WG GES meeting in spring 2015
On Descriptors 7,8,9,10 WG GES is invited to comment until , preferably through the MSFD Expert Networks (where MS have experts), others can comment directly