1. EU Water Framework Directive
Compliance checking of RBMP
Working Group D Reporting
Brussels, 31 March 2009
Jorge Rodriguez Romero
European Commission, DG Environment
Unit D.2 – Water and Marine, WFD Team

2. Contents
Paper presented at the Water Directors meeting – first ideas on compliance checking
Conclusions from Water Directors
Next steps

3. Room document Water Directors meeting
Some general considerations
How and what to report
Compliance checking of WFD implementation: general approach and lessons learnt
Providing relevant information from various perspectives
Governance
Technical issues
Policy/management
Way forward

4. Contents of Commission report 2012
The contents of the report are laid down in the WFD Art 18:
a review of progress in the implementation of the Directive;
a review of the status of surface water and groundwater in the Community undertaken in coordination with the EEA;
a survey of the River Basin Management Plans including suggestions for the improvement of future plans;
summary of article 12 action;
a summary of any proposals, control measures and strategies developed under Article 16;
a summary of the responses to comments made by the European Parliament and the Council on previous implementation reports.

5. General considerations
Acknowledgment of the difficulty of the exercise
But much more important than any other compliance checking before
Some general principles informing the methodology
Depth of the analysis sufficient to cover strategic issues
Comparison of implementation efforts and expected results
Prioritisation is needed
The assessment has to be properly documented
Strong quality assurance to ensure a harmonised assessment
Clear reporting is a prerequisite

6. How and what to report
Importance of electronic reporting of good quality, including links to the information reported under other directives
But WISE reporting does not provide the full picture, in particular for the most complex methodological issues
The Commission should have access to the full RBMP (Article 15.1) and to background documents
The Commission expects electronic deliveries in WISE (Reportnet) of RBMPs and key background documents – no paper reports !
Web links are to be discarded due to the lack of verifiability
The Commission expects Member States to report by 22 March 2010 through WISE both the xml schemas reflecting the reporting sheets and the RBMP and background information (no paper copies!), as required by WFD Article 15.1.

7. General approach and lessons learnt
General step by step approach still valid
But finalised compliance checking exercises provide already a list of issues that would merit an in-depth analysis in any case
Therefore the Commission intends to perform in-depth analysis in parallel to the screening exercise, e.g.:
Env. objectives and exemptions
HMWB
Classification of ecol. status/potential
Measures related to agriculture, hydromorphology, chemical pollution, article 9, water scarcity…

8. General approach
Non-communication cases will be launched short after March 2010 for those countries that have not reported (as in 2004/5/7)
Screening of key issues / compliance indicators using WISE reporting in parallel to in-depth assessments of some key issues that will be based on WISE + RBMP + background information
It is to Member States’ own benefit to ensure that WISE reporting is complete and of good quality according to the agreed reporting guidance, and that proper links are established with the reporting under other directives.
Informal exchange of views with Member States during the compliance checking process will improve the overall result
Working Group D Reporting will continue to be used as a platform for exchange of views on compliance issues

9. Providing relevant information from various perspectives
Information on how MS have changed their water management since the adoption of the WFD, and how the WFD principles have been incorporated into the legal, administrative and implementation practice in MS
Information on how MS are implementing the key technical elements of the WFD: environmental objectives, exemptions, HMWB, classification of ecological status and potential, supplementary measures, etc.
Provide a comparable picture of what MS are doing to tackle the main threats and challenges for water (hydromorphology, agriculture, chemical pollution, eutrophication…). The level of commitment of those measures is also crucial.

10. Conclusions Water Directors
Importance of looking at both technical and strategic issues
The outcome of the exercise should be accessible to the wider public
The report should be accompanied by a strategic analysis across the EU, fed by good quality data
Support to reporting of full RBMP
Need to clarify what is understood by background documents. The paper should be further developed in 2009 in the context of WG D Reporting in order to give more details on the compliance checking and therefore on the background documents needed.
Flexibility on reporting background information (e.g. web links)
Due consideration of international roof reports

11. No more feedback received after Water Directors
Next steps
No more feedback received after Water Directors
More detailed paper by the Commission to be circulated to the WG D before summer
Basis for completeness analysis
Key questions on key issues
Comments in writing and discussion foreseen at the meeting of WG D in autumn
Discussion at SCG / Water Directors as appropriate