Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Towards a Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) {SEC(2008) 111} {SEC(2008) 112}
Date: 2008-02-01
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, EU national, EU programme, access to EU information, dissemination of EU information, public authorities

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 1.2.2008 
COM(2008) 46 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Towards a Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) 

{SEC(2008) 111} 
{SEC(2008) 112} 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Towards a Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This Communication sets out an approach to modernise and simplify the collection, exchange 
and  use  of  the  data  and  information  required  for  the  design  and  implementation  of 
environmental policy, according to which the current, mostly centralised systems for reporting 
are  progressively  replaced  by  systems  based  on  access,  sharing  and  interoperability.  The 
overall aim is to maintain and improve the quality and availability of information required for 
environmental  policy,  in  line  with  better  regulation,  while  keeping  the  associated 
administrative burdens to a minimum. 

In  the  first  place,  a  set  of  principles  are  proposed  on  the  basis  of  which  the  collection, 
exchange and use of environmental data and information should be organised in the future. A 
key  step  in  the  implementation  of  this  approach  will  be  to  modernise  the  way  in  which 
information required in various pieces of environmental legislation is made available, through 
a  legislative  instrument  to  be  proposed  in  2008  which  will  probably  take  the  form  of  a 
revision to the current "standardised reporting directive" 91/692/EC. 

Such  a  revision  will  also  provide  an  immediate  opportunity  to  repeal  a  limited  number  of 
obsolete reporting requirements, and will also lead to further simplification and modernisation 
along the following lines: 

•  it  will  help  to  stimulate  further  streamlining  of  information  requirements  in  thematic 
environmental legislation by providing a coherence and up-to-date overall framework; 

•  it is likely to stimulate similar developments in international conventions, which according 
to  estimates  are  responsible  for  around  70%  of  environmental  reporting  requirements  to 
which EU Member States are subject; 

•  it  will  encourage  improvements  in  the  way  that  data  collection  and  exchange  within 

Member States is organised. 

This Communication also describes other accompanying measures, to be taken at European, 
national and local level that will be necessary to implement the principles set out below. 

2. 

PRINCIPLES UNDERPINNING THE SHARED ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION SYSTEM 

The  principles  upon  which  the  Shared  Environmental  Information  System  (SEIS)  is  to  be 
based are as follows: 

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•  information should be managed as close as possible to its source; 

•  information should be collected once, and shared with others for many purposes; 

•  information  should  be  readily  available  to  public  authorities  and  enable  them  to  easily 

fulfil their legal reporting obligations; 

•  information  should  be  readily  accessible  to  end-users,  primarily  public  authorities  at  all 
levels from local to European, to enable them to assess in a timely fashion the state of the 
environment and the effectiveness of their policies, and to design new policy; 

•  information  should  also  be  accessible  to  enable  end-users,  both  public  authorities  and 
citizens, to make comparisons at the appropriate geographical scale (e.g. countries, cities, 
catchment areas) and to participate meaningfully in the development and implementation 
of environmental policy; 

•  information should be fully available to the general public, after due consideration of the 
appropriate level of aggregation and subject to appropriate confidentiality constraints, and 
at national level in the relevant national language(s); and 

•  information  sharing  and  processing  should  be  supported  through  common,  free  open-

source software tools. 

These  principles  are  the  product  of  several  studies  and  expert  reflection  over  several  years, 
and  are  designed  to  ensure  that  environmental  information  is  organised  as  effectively  as 
possible,  and  in  particular  to  ensure  that  the  investments  currently  allocated  towards 
monitoring and other information-gathering processes lead to the greatest possible benefits in 
terms of the use that is made of the resulting data. They recognise that, while there is a vast 
amount  of  data  collected  by  public  authorities  across  the  EU  (whether  at  local,  regional, 
national  or  European  level),  this  data  is  not  always  used  efficiently,  either  because  of  the 
existence  of  such  data  is  not  widely  known  or  because  of  a  range  of  obstacles  of  a  legal, 
financial, technical and procedural nature.  

3. 

WHY IS SEIS NEEDED? 

The Sixth Environment Action Programme (6EAP) confirmed that sound information on the 
state  of  the  environment  and  on  the  key  trends,  pressures  and  drivers  for  environmental 
change  is  essential  for  the  development  of  effective  policy,  its  implementation,  and  the 
empowerment of citizens more generally. As the environment is a public good that belongs to 
everyone, it is equally essential for this information to be widely shared and available.  

Europe has a long history of sharing environmental information. Environmental information 
systems  have  been  used  to  good  effect  to  underpin  reporting  by  Member  States  on 
implementation  of  Community  environmental  legislation,  and  more  recently  to  support 
various policy-driven indicator processes put in place by the EU and Member States. Today, 
however, we face new challenges relating to the 6EAP priorities—most notably adaptation to 
climate change, halting biodiversity loss and managing natural resources—which will require 
us to make even more effective use of existing information. Recent experience of forest fires, 
floods and droughts underline the demand for accurate environmental information to be made 
quickly and easily available. 

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Alongside  the  new  challenges  there  are  also  new  opportunities.  In  particular,  technology  is 
now making  it  possible to  provide real-time data, allowing immediate decisions to be taken 
and, in some instances, to save lives. Provided that certain technical requirements are met—
relating, for example, to harmonisation of formats and interoperability of data systems—data 
can  increasingly  be  combined  to  perform  the  kind  of  integrated  analyses  on  which  good 
policy depends.  

4. 

OZONE WEB: AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT CAN BE DONE 

In  2006,  22  countries  provided  near  real-time  ozone  values  on  a  regular  basis  to  European 
Environment  Agency  (EEA),  while  five  others  were  involved  in  the  project  by  undertaking 
the set-up procedure. The Ozone web project delivered an initial result in July 2006 when a 
pilot was published on the EEA website. A gradual increase in data provision continued until 
the end of the summer when around 700 measurement stations across Europe were providing 
data for the near real-time ozone website. 

The  site  gives  data  providers,  air  quality  experts,  as  well  as  EU-citizens  the  opportunity  to 
have an overview of the situation at European level as well as follow the development of air 
quality  in  a  specific  region  and  inform  users  about  local  air  quality  information  sites  by 
linking to national and regional ozone websites. Comparison of air quality conditions across 
national and regional borders is facilitated. 

For the general public, the EEA near real-time ozone website displays measured ozone levels 
in  a  map  interface  and  provides  background  information  on  wider  air  quality  impacts.  The 
information on the EEA website is as recent as two hours old in many instances. If full EU 
coverage  could  be  achieved  the  system  could  be  used  to  provide  information  relating  to 
summer ozone reporting to the Commission. The EEA plans to expand Ozone web to other 
pollutants but in order to work properly all Member States need to participate. A completed 
system therefore could provide information for the citizens, data needed by researchers, state 
of the environment information for the EEA and compliance information for the Commission. 

Ozone web provides a current, real-world example of the kind of services that an open, shared 
environmental  information  system  will  enable,  and  thus  provides  proof  of  concept  for  the 
SEIS.  However,  it  is  limited  to  a  single  pollutant.  This  type  of  approach  needs  to  be 
generalised a much wider range of environmentally-relevant information in order to underpin 
the integrated analyses that are required to address the challenges of the 21st century. 

5. 

WHAT BENEFITS WILL THE SEIS BRING? 

5.1. 

Simplification and efficiency 

While the benefits of a political commitment around the principles set out above go beyond 
simplification  per  se,  they  provide  the  conceptual  framework  that  is  necessary  in  order  to 
simplify current reporting and monitoring obligations. 

As  noted  in  the  introduction,  a  key  step  in  implementing  the  SEIS  approach  will  be  to 
modernise  the  legal  provisions  relating  to  the  way  in  which  information  required  in 
Community environmental legislation is made available. By doing away with paper reporting, 
the processes for making information available will be made simpler, more flexible and more 
efficient.  

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As also noted in the introduction, provided that such a proposal is accompanied by political 
commitment around the SEIS principles it will also lead to further simplification benefits in 
relation to (i) the content of information requirements in thematic environmental legislation, 
(ii)  the  content  and  procedure  for  reporting  at  international  level,  and  (iii)  more  efficient 
organisation of data-gathering activities within Member States. 

By  enabling  more  efficient  use  to  be  made  of  available  data,  SEIS  will  facilitate  further 
streamlining and prioritisation of the information requirements that are currently contained in 
thematic environmental legislation. This is likely to have knock-on effects in relation to the 
international conventions that are responsible for a large part of the reporting burden currently 
falling  on  national  administrations,  many  of  which  have  a  geographical  coverage  similar  to 
that of the EU. Finally, in terms of cost the analysis indicates that some of the greatest savings 
can be made by improving the efficiency of data-gathering activities within Member States. 
Greater  harmonisation  and  prioritisation  of  monitoring  activities  organised  at  national  and 
regional level is likely to be particularly effective in improving the cost-efficiency of current 
investments. 

5.2. 

Better regulation, better policy 

While  simplification  is  an  essential  part  of  the  better  regulation  agenda,  it  must  also  be 
recognised  that  better  regulation—and  better  policy  more  generally—depends  on  a  high 
quality of relevant and timely information. Clearly, reductions in administrative burden must 
be designed in such a way that they indeed lead to an improvement, and not a deterioration, in 
the quality of public policy and regulation. 

Political commitment around the principles set out above will help to achieve this by allowing 
available data to be harnessed effectively. Given that environmental data and information is of 
potential  use  to  a  great  many  players  for  many  purposes,  improving  the  mechanisms  for 
collecting, exchanging and using the data can be expected to significantly increase in the use 
that is made of environmentally-relevant data, together with a significant reduction in cost for 
the  users.  This  will  improve  the  effectiveness  of  environmental  policy  across  the  entire 
agenda,  including  for  example  adaptation  to  climate  change,  protection  of  biodiversity, 
management  of  water  resources,  and  prevention  and  management  of  environmental  crises 
such as floods and forest fires.  

5.3. 

Empowering citizens 

Alongside  the  benefits  in  relation  to  administrative  simplification  and  better  regulation, 
commitment to the principles set out above will also help to empower European citizens by 
making  relevant,  timely  information  available  to  them,  enabling  them  to  take  informed 
decisions  concerning  their  environment,  including  taking  appropriate  action  in  cases  of 
emergency, and to influence public policy. Providing useful information that the public needs 
– and packaged in their own languages - will also help to foster a re-engagement of citizens 
with the European project. 

6. 

WHAT WILL SEIS COST? 

When  assessing  the  costs  of  implementing  the  SEIS  principles,  it  is  important  to  recognise 
that  many  relevant  activities  are  already  ongoing,  and  the  main  challenge—and  the  reason 
why a more formal political commitment around these principles is required—is to align these 

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activities  more  effectively.  Some  of  the  most  important  activities  at  European  and  national 
level are summarised in section 7. 

Some further investment is likely to be necessary in order to achieve full implementation of 
the SEIS principles outlined in section 2, however. These can be categorised as follows. 

•  Ongoing  efforts  to  implement  the  INSPIRE  directive  will  need  to  be  given  increased 
political and administrative attention, and be adequately resourced, at both European and 
national level. 

•  Institutions,  governmental  or  otherwise,  involved  in  the  collection  and  processing  of 
environmentally-relevant data will have to review, and in some cases may have to change 
their organisational and business models to render their existing systems interoperable and 
link them to an integrated "system of systems". 

•  EU  institutions  and  bodies  will  need  to  continue  or  reinforce  efforts  to  update  and 
streamline legislative requirements while ensuring that existing reporting systems, most of 
which currently take a centralised approach, are designed or adapted to be compatible with 
an increasingly interoperable distributed network. 

•  Further investments will be needed to create new data that is not currently collected but is 
found  to  be  essential  to  support  policy,  or  possibly  to  harmonise  monitoring  and  data 
systems,  although  such  investments  will  be  offset  by  better  prioritisation  of  data 
requirements and repeal of obsolete obligations.  

7. 

CURRENT EFFORTS TO BUILD SEIS 

Various initiatives contributing to implementation of the SEIS principles have been taken at 
European level, and with the engagement of the Member States, to address these challenges 
and to take advantage of the possibilities that evolving information technology offers. These 
include the following. 

•  In  recent  years  the  Commission  has  proposed  or  is  working  on  several  measures  that 
achieve  substantial  streamlining  of  legislative  reporting  requirements.  Measures  already 
proposed  include  the  thematic  strategy  on  air  pollution  (CAFE).  The  review  of  the  IPPC 
directive  (96/61/EC)  is  looking  inter  alia  at  the  coherence  of  its  provisions  (including 
reporting  requirements)  with  those  of  directives  on  large  combustion  plants  and  waste 
incineration  and  a  project  has  recently  been  launched  to  identify  inter-linkages  between 
monitoring and reporting requirements in various pieces of legislation in the fields of air 
pollution and climate change, and to provide concrete suggestions for streamlining. 

•  Ongoing  developments  in  the  context  of  thematic  environmental  legislation  are 
increasingly  recognising  the  need  to  adopt  a  more  modern  approach  to  the  production, 
exchange  and  use  of  data  and  information.  An  example  of  this  is  the  Water  Information 
System for Europe (WISE), which was initially designed as a reporting tool in the context 
of the Water Framework Directive and is now being extended  to integrate reporting data 
flows  from  a  number  of  existing  and  upcoming  water-related  directives  as  well  as  water 
relevant statistical data by 2010.  

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•  Directive  2007/2/EC  establishing  an  infrastructure  for  spatial  information  in  Europe 
(INSPIRE). This directive was adopted in March 2007 and contains provisions aiming to 
improve the accessibility and interoperability of spatial data. INSPIRE is based on similar 
principles  to  SEIS  and  successful  implementation  of  this  Directive  will  go  a  long  way 
towards overcoming existing inefficiencies relating to the use and usability of spatial data 
stored by public authorities. It is important to recognise, however, that INSPIRE will not 
directly address data of a non-spatial or non-numerical nature, will not by itself guarantee 
organisational  consolidation  within  Member  States,  and  will  not  lead  directly  to  an 
improvement in the quality and comparability of data. 

•  Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to environmental information (the Aarhus directive) 
gives citizens a right to environmental information held or produced by public authorities, 
including  information  on  the  state  of  the  environment,  but  also  on  policies  or  measures 
taken, or on the state of human health and safety where this can be affected by the state of 
the environment. Applicants are entitled to obtain this information within one month of the 
request  and  without  having  to  say  why  they  require  it.  In  addition,  public  authorities  are 
obliged to actively disseminate environmental information in their possession. 

•  The  Global  Monitoring  for  Environment  and  Security  (GMES)  initiative  aims  to  provide 
operational  information  services  based  on  Earth  monitoring  data  obtained  from  satellites 
and in-situ observations on water, air and land. These services will specifically address the 
needs of policy makers at all levels, from EU to local. GMES is initially focusing on the 
development  of  three  "fast  track  services"—land,  marine  and  emergency  response—with 
preparations  for  implementing  a  fourth  service  on  atmosphere  having  started  recently. 
These  fast-track  services  offer  a  good  opportunity  to  consolidate  and  improve  existing 
monitoring  systems  in  Europe  by  helping  to  identify  and  address  gaps  in  currently 
available  data  and  information  products  and  to  ensure  their  sustainable,  operational 
provision.  

•  Both  the  Community  and  Member  States  are  full  members  of  the  Group  on  Earth 
Observation (GEO), which aims at building a Global Earth Observation System of Systems 
(GEOSS), and are therefore committed to the GEO principles of interoperability and data 
sharing.  Initial  activities  in  this  area  have  focused  on  improving  data  access  and  data 
sharing,  advancing  the  development  of  interoperability  between  systems  through 
international  standards  and  other  interoperability  arrangements,  developing  mechanisms 
for  the  sharing  and  use  of  data  and  information  products,  and  developing  detailed 
specifications  and  demonstrations  of  the  underlying  architecture  and  user-interface 
components. 

•  As  part  of  the  EU's  maritime  policy  a  European  Marine  Observation  and  Data  Network 
will be set up to provide a common gateway for researchers and service providers of high 
quality marine data—geological, physical, chemical, biological—as well as of the human 
activity that has an impact on our seas and oceans. 

•  Various Commission-funded research and non-research activities focus on distributed open 
the  research  Framework 
systems  for  environmental  management.  These 
Programmes,  eTEN,  eContent  and  more  recently  the  CIP  policy  support  programme.  In 
addition,  in  the  context  of  the  IDABC  Programme  the  Commission  developed  in  2004  a 
European  Interoperability  Framework,  in  close  collaboration  with  Member  States.  This 
document defines a set of recommendations and guidelines with regard to organizational, 

include 

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semantic and technical aspects of interoperability for Pan-European eGovernment Services 
(PEGS) so that public administrations, enterprises and citizens can interact across borders 
and  across  sector.  A  Commission  Communication  presenting  a  revised  version  of  the 
document is planned to be adopted in 2008. 

•  The  European  Environment  Agency  of  course  plays  a  crucial  role  in  collecting  and 
providing  environmental  information,  with  the  help  of  its  European  environment 
information  and  observation  network  (EIONET).  EIONET  is  a  network  of  some  900 
experts  from  over  300  national  environment  agencies  and  other  bodies  dealing  with 
environmental  information  in  37  European  countries,  as  well  as  five  European  Topic 
Centres (ETCs) working on specific environmental themes. EIONET also benefits from an 
infrastructure for supporting and improving data and information flows (Reportnet), which 
integrates different web services and allows for distributed responsibilities. Reportnet has 
initially been mainly used for reporting environmental data to EEA, but is now also hosting 
some of the Commission's environmental reporting information. 

In  addition  to  these  European  initiatives,  various  initiatives  at  national,  regional  and  local 
level are also helping to make SEIS a reality. Among these can be mentioned: 

•  a  German  Environmental  Information  Portal  (PortalU)  covering  several  hundred 
thousand web sites and data bases from public institutions operating at the Federal 
and Länder levels; 

•  the  Irish  North-South  Share  Risk  Assessment  Reporting  Tool,  involving  an 
interactive  map  and  database  system  for  use  by  the  public  and  specialist  users 
alike; 

•  in  Italy,  an  Environmental  Information  and  Monitoring  System  (EIMS)  being 
developed  by  the  Agency  for  Environmental  Protection  and  Technical  Services 
and the regional Environmental Agencies Systems; 

•  in the Netherlands, the RIVM portal for environmental professionals launched in 

September 2007; 

•  also  in  the  Netherlands,  a  recent  review  jointly  commissioned  by  various 
governmental bodies concerning monitoring and reporting obligations and efforts 
relative  to  the  environment,  nature  and  water  in  the  Netherlands  in  terms  of 
international, European, national and inter-provincial regulation;  

•  Austria  aims  to  have  100%  electronic  reporting  and  has  already  succeeded  in 
reporting all data requested by EEA as part of its annual "priority data flows"; 

•  an e-Reporting project of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, whose 

software testing is expected to take place imminently; 

•  the UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment Strategy, adopted by the UK Marine 
Assessment  Policy  Committee  in  May  2006,  which  aims  to  shape  the  UK’s 
capability  to  provide  and  respond  to  the  evidence  required  for  sustainable 
development  within  a  clean,  healthy,  safe,  productive  and  biologically  diverse 
marine ecosystem. 

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8. 

WHAT ACTIONS ARE NECESSARY TO REALISE SEIS? 

Political commitment around the principles set out in this Communication is the first step for 
implementing SEIS, since it will send a clear signal to the many players, inside and outside 
government, whose efforts need to be channelled towards an integrated project that will serve 
many different individual purposes. It will also help to avoid the risk that ongoing activities 
continue  to  be  fragmented  and  therefore  less  effective  than  they  could  be  in  addressing  the 
challenges  described  in  this  Communication.  This  leadership  needs  to  be  accompanied  by 
concrete action within Member States to ensure adequate coordination of national information 
activities. 

Ongoing  activities  at  European,  national  and  regional  level,  including  those  described  in 
section 5, need to be reinforced and co-ordinated in line with SEIS. Within the Commission, 
priority  will  be  given  to  the  implementation  of  the  INSPIRE  directive  and  further 
development  of  the  GMES  initiative,  as  a  basis  for  improving  respectively  the  sharing  of 
environment-related  data  and  information  within  Europe  and  the  provision  of  services  to 
public policy makers and citizens. The success of both these activities in solving the problems 
they have been designed to address will be carefully monitored, along with the possible need 
to launch complementary initiatives. In this way, it will be ensured that SEIS, INSPIRE and 
GMES are mutually supportive. 

As  noted  above,  a  key  step  in  implementing  SEIS,  and  especially  to  trigger  the  expected 
simplification  benefits,  will  be  to  modernise  the  legal  provisions  relating  to  way  in  which 
information  required  by  environmental  legislation  is  made  available.  It  is  expected  that  this 
will be done by revising the Standardised Reporting directive 91/692/EC, which needs to 
be  updated  and  brought  into  line  with  the  SEIS  principles.  To  this  end,  the  Commission 
intends  to  come  forward  with  a  relevant  legislative  proposal  in  2008,  including  a  repeal  of 
outdated  provisions  in  the  current  standardised  reporting  directive.  Although  the  current 
standardised reporting directive (SRD) applies only to relatively small proportion of reporting 
obligations in environmental legislation, the envisaged provisions in the revised directive to 
modernise the way in which the information is made available could cover essentially all of 
the more than 100 existing environmental reporting obligations. The proposed new directive 
will  also  set  out  the  principles  and  objectives  of  the  SEIS  as  legal  obligations.  The 
Commission  will  also  take  the  opportunity  of  further  amendments  to  environmental 
legislation  to  ensure  that  the  SEIS  principles  are  systematically  integrated  into  existing 
reporting and monitoring provisions wherever possible. 

The  Commission  will  continue  its  efforts  to  streamline  the  content  of  information 
requirements  in  thematic  environmental  legislation  and  bring  them  into  line  with  the 
principles set out in this Communication. Further analysis, building on ongoing work within 
thematic environmental policy and GMES, will be needed to clarify real data and information 
requirements and to develop the required legal and/or financial instruments. The Commission 
will  also  use  its  participation  in  relevant  international  fora  to  push  for  similar  efforts  in 
relation  to  international  obligations.  Member  States  will,  for  their  part,  need  to  support  the 
Commission  in  pushing  for  streamlining  in  international  fora,  and  take  further  steps  to 
streamline and simplify data-gathering procedures at national and regional level.  

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has a crucial role to play in implementing the 
SEIS  and  has  been  a  leading  proponent  of  many  of  the  principles  described  in  this 
Communication.  As  it  continues  to  fulfil  its  mandate  to  provide  timely  and  reliable 
environmental  information,  it  will  be  essential  for  EEA  to  make  SEIS  the  centre  of  its 

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strategy. The EEA's Reportnet tool needs to be taken up fully by the EEA member countries, 
and  will  need  to  be  progressively  adapted  to  be  compatible  with  the  emerging  distributed 
European system. 

In  order  to  ensure  adequate  funding  of  the  necessary  infrastructure,  Community  financial 
support  will  be  allocated  for  this  purpose  through  the  Research  Framework  Programmes, 
LIFE+, the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and the Structural 
Funds. Since not all these programmes are designed to sustain operational infrastructures, the 
success of SEIS will also depend on adequate allocations from national and regional budgets 
towards the necessary actions and objectives as set out above. 

A  significant  improvement  in  the  availability  of  information  and  cost-effectiveness  of 
investments  needed  to  produce  it  will  only  come  about  if  there  is  further  harmonisation  of 
existing  monitoring  systems  and  cross-thematic  co-ordination  of  their  planning  and 
implementation  in  Member  States.  Examples  of  the  need  for  cross-thematic  co-ordination 
would  include  in-situ  monitoring  of  freshwater,  soil,  land  use  and  biodiversity  in  an 
ecosystem context, and the role of in-situ monitoring to validate space observation data. With 
this  in  mind,  the  Commission  will  publish  a  report  within  three  years  outlining  which 
measures are most necessary and will, if necessary, come forward with appropriate legislative 
proposals. 

While  this  Communication  focuses  primarily  on  developing  SEIS  within  the  EU,  the  above 
principles will also be promoted in the context of relations with third countries, in particular 
accession candidate and neighbouring countries, and efforts will be made to ensure that SEIS 
will be open to participation from these countries. 

The Commission services will draw up in 2008, in collaboration with Member States and the 
EEA,  a  detailed  implementation  plan  for  achieving  the  objectives  outlined  in  this 
Communication.  This  implementation  plan  will  in  particular  provide  further  details  on  how 
SEIS will be put in place, taking full account of the associated costs and benefits. This will 
cover,  in  addition  to  the  more  technical  aspects,  issues  relating  to  legal,  financial, 
organisational, procedural and business model aspects to the extent that they are not already 
being satisfactorily addressed. 

EN 

10 

   EN