Marine Strategy Framework Directive: Transposition and Implementation State of Play on Legal Aspects European Commission DG Environment Marine Environment and Water Industry Unit MSCG 5 November 2015, Brussels

Conformity checking of MSFD transposition State of play Pilots and infringements Reporting under Art 8-9-10 and Art 11 Follow-up to Article 12 Recommendations Regional / Bilateral Follow- ups Letters from Member States PoMs and Strategic Environmental Assessments Objectives of the presentation: - to present the state of play of transposition conformity check - to present status of reporting Disclaimer: simply update on where we are, not an indication of any future action (closing or opening procedures) DG ENV

Transposition - Conformity Checking Pilots Conformity study assessed and no pilot or pilot closed No more issues Conformity study assessed and pilot open Conformity study not yet assessed Pilot yet to be open BE RO IE PL DK LV FI DE ES LT FR IT SI HR NL BG PT CY SE MT UK EE NB All Member States have transposed the MSFD into their national legislation, although PL only completed this in early 2013 following legal action from the European Commission (C- 245/12 - Commission / Poland). After receipt of the national legislation, the Commission undertakes a conformity check for each Member State's legislation, excluding landlocked Member States who are not concerned by this exercise (AT, CZ, HU, LU, SK). Main message: Conformity checking on transposition has been done by batch, taking group of country after group of country: 3 batches Be careful, the above doesn't mean that the tranposition is fine Conformity checking = studies, that are being assessed, to evaluate whether necessary to open pilot / request clarifications. This has been done for the 1st batch, a number of pilots that had been open are now closed (more details on pilots under this 1st batch on following slide) We are aware a number of countries are currently taking action to resolve the problems !! Possibly additional pilots for remaining countries once conformity study assessed !! DG ENV

MSFD Scoreboard Last updated 4 Nov 2015 Art. 26 Art. 7 Art. 8/ 9/10 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine-policy/implementation/scoreboard_en.htm Last updated 4 Nov 2015 Art. 26 Art. 7 Art. 8/ 9/10 Art 11 Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Art. 26 Art. 7 Art. 8/ 9/10 Art 11 Latvia Lithuania Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovenia Spain Sweden UK Based on fish scoreboard available on website http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine-policy/implementation/scoreboard_en.htm Compared to last version from November, more "green" in the Article 11 column, but still some reports missing that were due more than a year ago. Received Part received Not received

Non-reporting Pilots Pilot currently open for non-reporting of monitoring programme: Greece [Malta] – Report received on 30 Oct 2015 UK Infringement: Poland – Non reporting of environmental targets. Letter of formal notice Oct 2015. DG ENV

Follow-up Art. 12 Recommendations (8-9-10) Article 12 Recommendations on Art 8-9-10 EC Report adopted on 20 Feb 2014 Letters to MS sent on 22 April 2014 Regional meetings Meeting with Black Sea MS: 26-27 March 2014 Meeting with Mediterranean MS: 9-10 April 2014 Meeting with HELCOM MS: 14-15 May 2014 Meeting with OSPAR MS: 22-23 May 2014 Bilateral meetings Meeting with PT: 16 December 2014 Meeting with PL: 17 December 2014 Meetings' Conclusions all available on CIRCA

Follow-up to Article 12 Recommendation MS Replies (Status 29 May 2015) Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovenia Spain Sweden UK MS sent a reply to the Commission MS did not send a reply to the Commission A progress report on updated GES and targets will be published along with the package published probably in March 2016 Commission's report on MS monitoring programmes Commission's recommendation on MS monitoring programmes Progress report on Art 8-9-10. We have assessed, out of the above letters, which MS have updated their GES and targets compared to the ones reported in 2012. The following 6 MS seem to have communicated updated GES and/or taregts: BG, CY, IE, IT, PT, RO. These are the ones on which the progress report will focus. MS replies now all available on CIRCA.

PoMs and Strategic Env Assessment Reminder about importance of assessing whether SEA Directive applies to your PoMs SEA Directive objective: ensure that an environmental assessment is carried out for plans and programmes Conditions apply => SEA Directive applies to PoMs depending on their content and the types of measures included NB Also mentioned in Recommendation on PoMs I would like to recall that the objective and principles of the SEA Directive apply on their own merits. The SEA Directive has a broader scope compared to the MSFD, and where appropriate, it has to be applied before the adoption of the programmes referred in Article 13 of the MSFD. The objective of the SEA Directive is to ensure that an environmental assessment is carried out for plans and programmes, within the meaning of Article 2(a) and 3 of the Directive. The programme of measures fulfil the conditions of Article 2(a), as they are required by EU law and are subject to an adoption process; they also fulfil one of the conditions of Article 3 (as they are related to water management). The last condition (i.e. whether a particular programme of measures shall set the framework for future development consent of projects listed in the EIA Directive) is also relevant. In this light, the programme of measures has to be examined with a view to verifying whether the measures covered by its content include any conditions to be complied with when projects are implemented. The last condition, however, is without prejudice to the application of Article 3(2)(b) of the SEA Directive (i.e. SEA triggered, if a programme of measures is likely to have effects on Natura 2000 sites) and Article 7 of the Aarhus Convention, which can be applicable to the these programmes. The SEA Directive would therefore apply to the programmes of measures depending on their content and the types of measures included therein. Member States are responsible to decide whether MSFD programmes should be subjected to an environmental assessment, or not, based on its content. However, based on the experience with the handling of different programmes, we can assume that it is very likely that the programme of measures will set the framework for projects and thus will have to undergo an SEA. The above position is coherent with the Commission's Guidance on the implementation of Directive 2001/42/EC [http://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/eia/pdf/030923_sea_guidance.pdf ] and with the case-law which was developed in the meantime.

Thank you!