Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the Common position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council Directive on the assessment and management of floods
Date: 2006-12-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, environmental policy, environmental risk prevention, flood

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 6.12.2006 
COM(2006) 775 final 

2006/0005 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

Common position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council 
Directive on the assessment and management of floods 

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2006/0005 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

Common position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council 
Directive on the assessment and management of floods 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council 
(document COM(2006)15 final – 2006/0005 COD): 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

Date of adoption of the Common Position: 

18.1.2006

17.5.2006

13.6.2006

23.11.2006

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The objective of the proposed Directive is to reduce and manage the risks which floods pose 
to  human  health,  the  environment,  infrastructure  and  property.  It  proposes  a  three-step 
approach with a preliminary flood risk assessment to identify areas where a significant flood 
risk  exits,  and  subsequently  flood  mapping  and  the  development  of  flood  risk  management 
plans  of  those  river  basin  districts,  including  coastal  areas.  Coordination  within  river  basins 
shared by several Member States and third countries, coordination with the Water Framework 
Directive  (2000/60/EC)  and  public  participation  shall  be  ensured  in  all  steps.  The  proposed 
Directive  provides  considerable  flexibility  to  Member  States  to  determine  the  level  of 
protection required and the measures to be taken to achieve this level of protection, and the 
timetables for implementing flood risk management plans. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

3.1 

General Comments 

The Commission accepted totally, in part or in principle 59 (including one separate vote) of 
the 76 amendments proposed by the European Parliament in the first reading. 35 of these 59 
amendments are incorporated in the Common Position.  

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The Commission accepted all amendments which led to further clarifications on the links to 
Directive 2000/60/EC, on the importance of climate change considerations and on the use of 
existing instruments. 

The  Commission  rejected,  in  particular,  amendments  which  limited  the  application  of  the 
Directive to floods with specific causes, which introduced too detailed requirements or which 
could create unclear legal situations. 

3.2 

Detailed Comments 

3.2.1 

Parliamentary Amendments accepted by the Commission and incorporated in full or 
in part in the Common Position 

The following amendments were adequately introduced into the Common Position : number 1 
(title), 2, 11, 16, 25 (recitals), 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 39, 40, 52, 66 and 86 (articles). 

Whilst the principle of solidarity in shared river basins included in amendments 6, 8 and 12 is 
reflected in the Common Position recitals, the specific considerations added on cooperation to 
find compensatory areas (amendment 6) and on non-sustainable river management as a cause 
of increased risk (amendment 8) are not reflected in the Common Position. 

Amendments  7  and  10  are  introduced  in  principle  by  a  brief  reference  to  climate  change  in 
recital  2.  The  partly  introduced  amendment  38  (Article  5)  also  adds  the  obligatory 
consideration  of  "foreseeable  land  use  or  climate  change"  in  the  preliminary  flood  risk 
assessment, which is not reflected in the Common Position either. 

The partly introduced amendment 20 also stresses the importance of public participation. 

Amendments  17,  24,  31,  37,  41,  55  and  71  introduce  requirements  for  the  use  of  existing 
instruments,  which  are  in  principle  incorporated  in  the  Common  Position  (Article  13). 
However,  the  European  Parliament's  requirements  that  such  existing  assessments,  maps  and 
plans shall meet the requirements of the relevant articles in the Directive are more stringent 
than  the  less  stringent  equivalence  criteria  of  the  Common  Position.  The  Common  Position 
also extends the date by when these instruments shall be considered available to qualify for 
the  exemptions  possible  under  this  Article  to  the  deadline  of  12  December  2012,  whereby 
amendment 71 refers to the date of entry into force. 

Although  the  parts  of  amendments  35  and  60  (identical  wording)  on  costs  and  benefits  are 
reflected in the Common Position (Article 7), these amendments also introduce cost recovery 
and  internalisation  of  environmental  and  resource  costs,  which  the  Commission  accepts, 
provided  it  is  coherent  with  the  principles  and  procedures  for  cost  recovery  as  applied  in 
Directive 2000/60/EC. 

Amendments 46 and 48 add important details required in the flood risk maps, which could be 
considered covered by the Common Position (Article 6.5.d). 

Amendment  49  is  partly  incorporated  in  the  Common  Position  (Article  6.5.c)  as  regards 
focusing  on  specific  sources  of  pollution  and  specific  sensitive  areas  for  environmental 
damage, rather than for estimating the potential environmental and economic damage. Not all 
relevant sources introduced by the amendment are however covered in the Common Position, 
notably diffuse sources of pollution and smaller non-IPPC (Directive 96/61/EC) installations. 

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The amendment also introduces the requirement to consider damage to terrestrial ecosystems, 
which is not covered in the Common Position.  

Although flood plains and their role as flood retention areas and conveyance routes are taken 
in the Common Position, amendment 54 adds a more detailed analysis of flooding processes 
and long term developments to the flood risk management plan (Article 7). This should be 
seen  in the context  of the simplifications made by the Council to the preliminary flood risk 
assessment (Article 4).  

Although  parts  of  amendment  56  on  cross  border  cooperation  are  retained  in  the  Common 
Position,  the  specific  requirement  that  flood  risk  management  plans  (Chapter  IV)  shall  be 
established  involving  local  and  regional  authorities  and  that  human  uses  of  flood  plains 
shall be adapted to the identified risk are not included. The Commission however supports 
the  Common  Position's  wording  in  this  Article  related  to  non-structural  measures  and  the 
reduction of the likelihood of flooding. 

Although  the  spirit  of  the  first  part  of  amendment  61  is  mostly  retained  in  the  Common 
Position  (Article  7.4),  the  addition  of  "other  measures"  that  may  increase  the  flood  risk 
upstream or downstream is not maintained. 

Although the spirit of amendment 64 is maintained in the Common Position (Article 8), this 
amendment also specifies that international agreements can be used for the implementation 
of this Directive as regards third countries. 

Although  amendment  68,  which  emphasises  all  obligations  under  the  Aarhus  Convention 
including  on  public  participation,  is  reflected  in  principle  in  the  Common  Position  (Article 
10), it is noted that the Common Position replaces public participation with consultation in the 
relevant title. 

3.2.2 

Parliamentary  Amendments  accepted  by  the  Commission  but  not  in  the  Common 
Position 

On  the  recitals,  amendments  3  and  4  add  more  details  and  considerations  on  risks  to  the 
environment  and  on  the  causes  of  increased  flood  risks,  in  particular  factors  influenced  by 
humans,  notably  climate  change.  Amendment  5  (recital)  on  the  importance  of  vertical 
coordination (national, regional and local authorities) is not taken up in the Common Position. 
Although  the  reference  to  the  Charter  on  Fundamental  Rights  is  maintained  (recital  19), 
amendment  9  also  adds  a  reference  to  the  Council  conclusions  of  14  October  2004,  in 
particular  the  increased  risks  of  floods  due  to  climate  change,  a  reference  which  is  not 
included in the Common Position. Amendment 13 specifies the importance of integration of 
flood risk management in other EU policies. Amendment 15 adds consideration of low flood 
risk areas as potential flood mitigation areas; however, the Common Position refers to areas 
for  potential  retention  of  floods  (Article  7).  Amendment  18  emphasises  the  importance  of 
addressing  potential  environmental  pollution  associated  with  flood  events  in  the  plans. 
Amendments 19 and 21 add technical details in relation to flood forecasting.  

Amendment  34  mainly  concerns  consideration  of  subsidence  in  the  preliminary  flood  risk 
assessment.  Amendment 36  suggests  an  assessment  of  effectiveness  of  existing  man  made 
structures in the preliminary flood risk assessment (Article 4).  

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Amendment  58  adds  that  an  assessment  of  rescue  and  recovery  measures  shall  also  be 
included in the flood risk management plans, which means adding the review part of the flood 
risk management cycle to the focus of this Directive. 

the 
Amendment  62  adds  a  communication 
implementation  timetable  in  river  basins  shared  between  different  Member  States,  within 
the six-year-period between flood risk management plans. 

regarding  changes 

requirement 

to 

The  separate  vote  on  Article  13  (Article  9  in  the  Common  Position)  strengthens  the  close 
coordination  and  integration  between  this  proposed  directive  with  that  of  Directive 
2000/60/EC,  whereby  the  Council's  Common  Position  limits  the  requirements  by  removing 
the  requirement  of  close  coordination  and  by  making  such  coordination  optional  (Article  9, 
recital 16). 

Amendment  69  on  information  to  the  public  as  part  of  the  preparedness  measures  was 
proposed to be included in the public participation article, but the Commission felt this could 
also be introduced in the flood risk management plans (Article 7). 

Amendment 73 requires the Commission to report on the impacts of climate change in its 
regular report on implementation. 

Amendment 74 introduces the requirement to prioritise possible measures according to the 
degree  they  aim  at  facilitating  the  implementation  in  relation  to  the  objectives  of  Directive 
2000/60/EC (which is already in force and already affects flood risk management choices). 

3.2.3 

Parliamentary  Amendments  rejected  by  the  Commission  but  part  of  the  Common 
Position 

Amendments  44  (on  mapping  of  areas  subject  to  erosion),  57  (the  part  on  non-structural 
measures), 59 (introduced in Common Position in the Annex as examples of other legislation 
for which summaries of relevant measures should be included in the flood risk management 
plans)  and  65  (on  coordination  in  shared  river  basin  districts)  were  rejected  by  the 
Commission on grounds of subsidiarity or duplication with other obligations. However, in the 
context  of  the  global  package  of  the  Common  Position,  the  Commission  can  accept  these 
amendments as introduced in the Common Position. 

3.2.4 

Parliamentary amendments rejected by the Commission and not incorporated in the 
Common Position 

Amendments number 14, 23, 27, 42, 43, 47, 50, 51, 53, 63, 70, 72, 75 and 85 were rejected 
both  by  the  Commission  and  the  Council.  Amendment  45  (linguistic)  is  redundant  with  the 
Common Position text. 

In addition to acceptable editorial modifications in amendment 22 (recital 17), the Common 
Position  rejects  the  modifications  in  relation  to  the  application  of  Article  4(7)  of  Directive 
2000/60/EC  on  overriding  public  interest,  as  does  the  Commission,  since  the  provisions  of 
that Directive are already clear. 

3.2.5 

Additional Changes made to the Proposal by the Council 

The  Common  Position  contains  a  significant  number  of  changes  compared  to  the 
Commission’s  original  proposal.  In  presentational  terms,  the  text  has  been  streamlined  with 

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several of the Articles in the original text being merged and recitals simplified. However, all 
of the essential elements in the Commission’s original proposal are retained. 

In terms of the substance, the most important changes in the Common Position as compared 
to the original proposal and that are not reflected in the Parliaments amendments, concern the 
streamlined  preliminary  flood  risk  assessment,  strengthened  international  cooperation  and 
weakened coordination with Directive 2000/60/EC. 

Restriction in the definition of floods of the types of floods concerned by the Directive : 
The Common Position adds an inclusive list of types of floods that are to be covered by the 
Directive, but also includes the possibility to exclude sewerage floods from the application of 
the Directive (Article 2.1, recital 9). 

Smaller units of management than river basin districts : The Common Position establishes 
that coastal areas and individual river basins may be used as units of management (Article 3.2 
and consequential amendments, recital 16). 

Streamlining of the preliminary flood risk assessment and the consideration of climate 
change  :  The  Common  Position  streamlines  and  simplifies  the  preliminary  flood  risk 
assessment,  in  particular  as  regards  the  assessment  of  the  future  potential  extent  and 
consequences  of  floods  and  factors  changing  flood  risks  (Article  4.2).  This  includes  the 
consideration  of  climate  change,  which  has  been  weakened  by  making  it  optional  until  the 
first  review  of  the  preliminary  flood  risk  assessment  in  2018  (Article  14,  recital  14).  The 
European  Parliament,  on  the  other  hand,  maintains  the  Commission's  level  of  ambition  as 
regards  climate  change,  and  in  addition  proposes  more  detailed  requirements  in  the 
preliminary flood risk assessment. The Commission can accept the common positions delay 
of  climate  change  considerations  only  in  the  view  of  an  overall  compromise,  but  added  a 
statement to the Council conclusions that citizens expect that the impact of climate change on 
flood risk is properly assessed and considered. 

Timetable  :  The  Common  Position  changes  the  date  for  the  finalisation  of  the  first 
preliminary  flood  risk  assessment  to  22  December  2012,  rather  than  3  year's  after  the  entry 
into force of the Directive (Article 4.3). 

Cooperation in shared river basin : This is strengthened in the common position in relation 
to all three stages of the Directive, in the preliminary flood risk assessment (Article 4.2 and 
5.2), the flood  maps  (Article  6.2), as well  as in relation to the flood risk management plans 
(Articles 7.4 and 8). 

Maps  :  limited  requirements  to  map  different  probability  scenarios  depending  on  the 
type  of  floods  :  The  Common  Position  introduces  the  possibility  to  only  map  the  low 
probability  scenario  (most  extreme  scenario)  for  groundwater  floods  (Article  6.7)  and  for 
coastal floods where there are appropriate protection measures in place (Article 6.6). Mapping 
of  the  high  probability  floods  (less  extreme  scenario)  has  also  been  made  optional  (Article 
6.3.c). Other changes introduced are clarifications that maps shall be made at the appropriate 
scale,  that  the  flood  extent  shall  be  shown  in  the  flood  hazard  maps  and  how  to  describe 
potential damage to economic activities and the environment in the flood risk maps. 

Flood risk management plans : The Common Position introduces the possibility to produce 
more  than  one  flood  risk  management  plan  in  the  river  basin  district,  provided  these  are 

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coordinated at the level of the river basin district (Articles 7 and 8). It also lays down specific 
cooperation possibility requirements in international sub-basins. 

It furthermore requires that "objectives of flood risk management" are established, rather than 
the  desired  "level  of  protection",  thus  accepting  that  it  may  not  be  possible  to  guarantee  a 
specific  level  of  protection  in  the  light  of  unpredictable  natural  hazards  like  floods.  It  also 
introduces the possibility to increase risks upstream or downstream countries provided there is 
agreement between the parties concerned (Article 7.4). 

The Common Position also includes a number of other clarifications of the role of the flood 
risk management plans (Article 7) (links to the maps in Chapter III, specific consideration of 
the  protection  of  ports  infrastructure  and  navigation,  the  specification  that  flood  forecasting 
and early warning systems as part of preparedness shall be in focus, the explicit possibility to 
use controlled floods of certain areas to reduce overall risk) which do not change the essential 
components of the proposed Directive. 

Implementing measures and amendments : The Common Position introduces a deadline for 
specifying  technical  formats  for  reporting  to  the  Commission  to  two  years  before  the 
respective  deadline.  It  also  limits  the  possible  adaptation  of  the  Directive  to  scientific  and 
technical progress by Committee procedure to the Annex only (Article 11). 

Correlation  table  :  The  Common  Position  moves  the  requirement  to  provide  a  correlation 
table with the transposition (from Article 17 to recital 22). 

In the annex  a  requirement  to  describe  the method  for cost-benefit analysis of measures in 
shared  river  basins  is  included,  as  is  a  report  on  monitoring  mechanisms  for  the 
implementation, along with certain clarification as the formats for components of the plans. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission considers that the Common Position, adopted unanimously by the Council, 
represents  an  improvement  on  the  flood  risk  management  plans  and  on  international 
cooperation  and  can  therefore  support  it.  The  Commission  recognises  that  there  are 
outstanding concerns relating to delay of the considerations of potential future developments, 
including climate  change, in  the preliminary flood  risk  assessment  and  that there have been 
modifications  of  coordination  requirements  with  Directive  2000/60/EC.  The  Commission 
made two statements for inclusion in the Council minutes (see Annex).  

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1. 

Commission statement on climate change 

ANNEX 

The Commission regrets that the political agreement did not include a text which would have 
ensured that the impact of climate change on flood risk was properly assessed and considered. 

The  Commission  nevertheless  hopes  and  expects  that  Member  States  will  take  into  account 
projected  impacts  of  climate  change.  Anything  else  would  be  incomprehensible  to  our 
citizens. 

2. 

Commission statement on the correlation table (Article 17, ex-Article 19) 

The  Commission  wishes  to  highlight  its  proposal,  in  accordance  with  the  objectives  of  the 
inter-institutional  agreement  on  better  lawmaking,  concerning  the  establishment  by  the 
Member  States  of  tables  that  demonstrate  the  correlation  between  the  Directive  and  the 
transposition measures taken by the Member States, so as to allow the Commission to verify 
the conformity of national measures with the provisions in Community legislation. 

The  Commission  will  not  block  a  political  agreement  by  the  Council.  The  Commission 
however expects that this issue, which is of a horizontal nature, will be assessed jointly by the 
institutions. 

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