1. [draft] Conclusions, actions & next steps
6th TG DATA meeting
Brussels, February

2. Summary of TG-DATA Recommendations (I)
These are the main steps MS shall follow in order to fulfill MSFD Art. 19(3) under the 2018 MSFD reporting exercise:
1) Identify the datasets (resulting from Article 8 assessments) to be published in accordance with MSFD art. 19 (3)
2) Liaise with the INSPIRE National Contact Points to coordinate the INSPIRE-compliant publication of data and metadata
3) Create INSPIRE metadata and make them available through INSPIRE Discovery services
4) Publish datasets through INSPIRE download services
5) Provide the corresponding web service and metadata record URLs under the 2018 reporting exercise
MS can delegate the publication of metadata and datasets to supra- national organisations, although arrangements shall be documented and communicated to the EC:
MS are not released from the obligation of providing access to services through EU Geoportal!

3. Summary of TG-DATA Recommendations (II)
For datasets falling under INSPIRE Annex III themes, INSPIRE data harmonization is not legally required before end of 2020, so datasets can be published “as-is in this reporting round:
Some examples have been developed to show how INSPIRE data harmonisation could be done (they will be revised for next version)
TG-DATA should provide feedback on their willingness to continue working towards a common approach for INSPIRE data harmonisation towards 2020, at least on those more relevant datasets
The participation of TG DATA experts in the INSPIRE Marine (and Atmosphere) Thematic Cluster is encouraged to ensure common approaches to INSPIRE implementation in marine data across Europe.
Thematic Cluster could be used as a good practice repository for MSFD relevant data

4. Follow-up actions (I)
TG DATA Members to review the recommendations and provide feedback by 9 March in particular:
Content of table 1 and, specifically, the level of aggregation expected at national level per dataset
Interest in participating on an INSPIRE harmonisation workshop by May-June
Interest in working on the already selected and/or new examples to be presented at the workshop
EC/EEA/FR will update the recommendations based on the feedback received during the meeting, in particular:
Follow up and complete the examples already provided
Add more information on the publication of data through supra-national organisations (e.g. RSCs)
Re-phrase some of the recommendations to make key messages more explicit (publication of data)
Provide more guidance on metadata (use of lineage to refer to data sources, possibility of tagging metadata to identify MSFD relevant datasets, especially in RSC catalogues)
Add a final section with some guidance on the next steps (e.g. use of Thematic Cluster)

5. Follow-up actions (II)
EC/EEA/FR will share presentations by 18 February and minutes by 2 March
EEA/FR/EC to produce a Final Version (v3) of the Recommendations to be sent to the MSCG for approval (23-24 April)
EEA/FR/EC may organise a hands-on workshop on INSPIRE publication of marine datasets by May / June with focus on specific datasets (based on feedback)
TG DATA will meet in autumn 2018 where practical steps towards harmonisation will be discussed and agreed upon, with focus on some specific datasets
EEA/FR/EC will explore the use of Thematic Cluster as a good practices repository