1. Water Directors meeting Spa, 2-3 December 2010
Agenda point 9.2 a) Intercalibration: state-of-play and discussion on the finalisation of the exercise
Water Directors meeting
Spa, 2-3 December 2010
Dr. Ursula Schmedtje
WFD Team
DG Environment, European Commission

2. Intercalibration in WFD
Intercalibration of ecological status is an essential element of the Water Framework Directive.
Intercalibration ensures
the consistency of good ecological status with the normative definitions of the WFD
the comparability of the good ecological status assessments across the Member States.
The WFD does not foresee several rounds of intercalibration.
Phase 2 of IC ( ) was only agreed in order
to close the gaps assessed in the first phase ( ) and
to improve the comparability of the results in time for the second river basin management plans due in 2015.

3. Intercalibration – Phase 2
The intention is to close intercalibration with Phase 2.
Intercalibration is a very resource intensive exercise and we need to come to an end.
Although it could be useful to revisit the intercalibration results when the Member States have collected more experience with using the results, this remains to be seen and is not planned for the near future.
The only open issue that remains is the intercalibration of good ecological potential in heavily modified water bodies. This will be subject of future work under the ECOSTAT mandate.

4. Geographical regions (GIGs) Biological quality elements
State of play
rivers
lakes
Geographical regions (GIGs)
Biological quality elements
transitional waters
coastal waters
This slide gives an overview of the state-of-play of intercalibration. A detailed overview is annexed to the information note on this agenda item.
The work on intercalibration in Phase 2 is progressing well in some intercalibration groups but not in all.
Explain figure: current state of play is illustrated using the traffic light approach:
green – on track, yellow – some problems/delays but possible to finish, red – major problems, may not finish. White cells: open issues, e.g. not clear if intercalibratable.
Each table shows one of 4 water categories. Across: GIGs, downward BQEs.
Each cell is an intercalibration group.
As you can see for rivers the work is mainly on track, for lakes only half the groups are on schedule. For transitional and coastal waters the work has progressed significantly since April 2010 (with some MS very active now) but the delays are still considerable.
Overall, 43 % of the intercalibration groups are on track, 37 % have problems or delays, and 20 % will most likely not finish by June 2011.
Given the intention to close IC at the end of phase 2 and in order to close the gaps and improve the results as much as possible ECOSTAT has discussed the possibility of extending the final deadline by a maximum of 6 months.

5. Requests for extension of deadlines from June to December 2011
rivers
lakes
Geographical regions (GIGs) X X
Biological quality elements
transitional waters
coastal waters X X
GIGs were offered to submit requests for the extension of deadlines to the IC Steering Group (JRC) by the end of October 2010.
The requests were to be duly justified by technical or scientific arguments. A lack of resources cannot be accepted as a reason for not completing intercalibration. Intercalibration has been going on for at least 6 years now and intercalibration is an obligation for all MS.
This slide gives an overview of the extension requests received.
In total, 36 of 68 biological quality element groups in different GIGs have requested an extension.
These request were presented to the SCG at their meeting on November 2010.

6. Reasons for extension of deadlines
The following reasons were given for the extension of deadlines:
achievement of significantly better results
inclusion of recently developed national methods or methods in the process of finalisation
delays in the collection of data sets
possibility to benefit from the results of the WISER project regarding common metrics and data sets (results available in spring 2011)
need to check Phase 1 IC results
JRC and DG ENV have assessed the arguments provided and believe they are sound and that an extension up to the end of 2011 would give these groups the chance
to complete intercalibration where otherwise this would not be possible
to significantly improve the quality of the intercalibration results and thereby enhance comparability.

7. Limitations of intercalibration
In some cases there may be scientific reasons why WFD compliant assessment methods cannot be developed or intercalibrated.
The WISER Project will provide support to the IC groups
on the development or refinement of biological assessment methods
help develop common metrics for intercalibration
provide arguments where scientific knowledge is insufficient to develop methods fully compatible with WFD requirements
make proposals on how to at least partially intercalibrate such BQEs in order to implement the provisions of the WFD as much as possible.
Where intercalibration reaches its limitations, GIGs should provide justifications of why intercalibration cannot be completed as agreed in the Intercalibration Guidance Document.
These arguments should be given in the milestone reports on the intercalibration results. They will be included in the IC Technical Report of Phase 2 and considered for inclusion in the Commission Decision.

8. Finalisation of the intercalibration exercise
This final phase of intercalibrating ecological status requires a strong commitment and active participation of the Member States.
For some groups (especially coastal/transitional) the work is seriously delayed and may not deliver results in time. JRC is making every effort to improve the situation, but it remains each MS’ responsibility to complete intercalibration for their methods.
After the end of Phase 2 MS can continue with intercalibration on their own but the Commission will not be facilitating the exercise anymore. The only issue that remains is the intercalibration of good ecological potential.
The results of the intercalibration exercise will be subject to a scientific peer review in early This will be an integral part of the assessment by the Commission in preparation of the Commission Decision in 2012.
The Commission reserves its right to use legal mechanisms against MS that have not concluded intercalibration. In any case it should be noted that the obligation to develop and apply assessment methods for all quality elements is independent of whether intercalibration is concluded or not.

9. The Water Directors are invited to
take note of the state of play of intercalibration Phase 2.
agree to the extension of the deadline for delivery of the final intercalibration results until December 2011 for those groups specified in the Annex.
help secure the necessary human resources and financial support to complete the intercalibration work in general by June 2011 and where extensions have been granted by December 2011.
agree to conclude the intercalibration of good ecological status with the end of Phase 2.