Commission staff working document accompanying the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council - On the European Earth observation programme (GMES) and its initial operations (2011 – 2013) - Summary of the impact assessment
Date: 2009-05-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, environmental protection, fact-finding mission, observation, research and development, satellite

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 20.5.2009 
SEC(2009) 640 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

accompanying the  

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

On the European Earth observation programme (GMES) and its initial operations 
(2011 – 2013) 

SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

{COM(2009) 223} 
{SEC(2009) 639} 

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

This  Impact  Assessment  has  been  prepared  by  the  Commission  services  to  support  the 
Commission proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the 
European  Earth  observation  programme  (GMES)  and  its  initial  operations  (2011–2013).  It 
also provides  an ex-ante evaluation in line with Article 21(1) of the Implementing Rules of 
the Financial Regulation1.  

GMES  is  currently  and  will  continue  to  be  co-financed  at  European,  intergovernmental  and 
national  levels,  based  on  partnerships  among  the  different  players.  The  EU  will  both 
coordinate  these  partnerships  and  manage  its  own  contribution  to  GMES,  which  consists  of 
development activities and an operational phase. 

Regarding development activities, this contribution currently consists, in particular, of the co-
financing of research activities under FP 7 und FP 62. First operational services in the field of 
emergency  management  and  land  monitoring  are  financed  under  preparatory  actions  in 
addition to some other operational elements in the land domain (Corine Land Cover, Urban 
Atlas).  

In the beginning of the next decade (2011 – 2013), operational services could be provided at a 
larger  scale.  Investments  could  be  needed  to  set  up  the  appropriate  infrastructure  for  the 
required service processing chain and the roll-out of products based on prototypes developed 
in the previous research actions. FP7 is an R&D tool and thus not designed to support GMES 
initial operations to the extent that these need to be ensured on a more permanent basis. It is 
thus necessary to establish appropriate mechanisms for a Community intervention. This is a 
challenge  that  the  proposed  Regulation  is  intended  to  address.  The  fully-fledged  GMES 
programme,  under  which  the  EU  contribution  to  the  overall  GMES  initiative  could  be 
financed in the long run, is expected to be in place during the EU's next multiannual financial 
framework (from 2014). The overall financing needs of GMES after 2013 will be subject to 
future analysis led by the Commission, on the basis of defined cost-sharing principles and a 
cost assessment based on the scope of services.  

In  this  context,  it  should  be  recalled  that  the  long-term  GMES  funding  approach  should  be 
developed in a modular way. This means that new expansions in the scope of GMES services 
and  every  new  evolution  of  GMES  will  be  assessed  against  the  criterion  of  cost  efficiency, 
user  needs  and  EU  policy  interests.  For  the  period  2011  –  2013,  activities  in  the  following 
fields will be funded in the framework of GMES initial operations: 

•  emergency response services;  

1 

2 

Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules 
for  the  implementation  of  Council  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No  1605/2002  on  the  Financial 
Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 1), 
as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 478/2007 of 23 April 2007 (OJ L 111, 
28.4.2007, p. 13). 
In  FP6,  the  EU  spent  €100m  on  GMES  projects,  while  ESA  invested  another  €100m  in  the  GMES 
service elements projects. In the space theme of the specific programme "cooperation" of FP7, the EU 
will  make  €430m  available  for  GMES  service  project s  and  procurement  of  data  for  these  services 
between  2007  and  2013.  An  additional  €624  m  from  the  space  theme  of  FP  7  will  be  contributed  to 
development  of  the  ESA  GMES  space  component  programme,  which  amounts  to  €  2246  m  (2008 
economic conditions) in total (including funds from ESA Member States). 

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•  land monitoring services; 

and auxiliary activities including: 

•  measures supporting the take-up of services by users; 

•  data access; 

•  GMES space component. 

The  following  specific  criteria  were  used  for  the  selection  of  activities  for  GMES  initial 
operations. 

•  sufficient technical maturity; 

•  continuity with the preparatory action 2008-2010; 

•  proven potential for the development of downstream services; 

•  service  providers  are  industry  players  and  would  therefore  cease  activities  without 
additional  intervention  from  the  EU,  whereas  in  the  field  of  marine  and  atmosphere 
monitoring, services are provided mainly by public institutions that will be able to continue 
activities  (albeit  probably  at  a  less  ambitious  scale)  before  2013  without  Community 
support; and 

•  regarding  emergency  services,  it  is  clear  that  it  would  be  preferable  to  make  available 
emergency maps on an operational basis to civil protection authorities already in 2011, and 
not 2014. 

The Impact Assessment is based on an extensive stakeholder consultation, which confirmed 
the  environmental  and  policy  need  for  GMES  services.  Lack  of  operational  emergency 
response and land monitoring services under EU coordination in the period 2011–2013 would 
result in the following problems: 

•  there  is  a  risk  that  once  the  existing  research  projects  end  (in  2011),  during  the  period 
covered  by  the  proposed  Regulation  civil  protection  authorities  would  either  have  no 
access  at  all  to  emergency  maps  or  would  continue  to  produce  them  on  their  own  in  an 
uncoordinated  manner,  in  which  case  they  would  have  to  rely  on  data  purchased  at  very 
high prices;  

•  users  of  land  monitoring  services  (e.g.  environmental  agencies)  would  face  comparable 
problems between 2011 and 2013, including lack of continuous availability of the relevant 
products and non-availability of Earth observation data (in particular, satellite data) under 
reasonable conditions; 

•  without  Community  action  in  the  period  2011–2013  enabling  initial  operational  land 
monitoring and emergency response services, there is a risk of an unacceptable interruption 
between the research projects providing pre-operational services and the services provided 
in a fully fledged GMES programme from 2014; 

•  there  is  a  risk  that  a  long  gap  between  the  end  of  the  research  activities  and  the  start  of 
fully fledged operations after 2014 would significantly weaken the boost to the industry’s 

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competitiveness  and  the  emergence  of  commercially  viable  solutions  between  2011  and 
2013. 

In response to this challenge, the specific objectives of the proposed Regulation are to: 

•  enable the provision of emergency response services to civil protection authorities; 

•  enable  the  provision  of  land  monitoring  services  to  public  authorities  (including 

environmental agencies) in Europe; 

•  contribute to the production and availability of environmental information to the public; 

•  stimulate  the  growth  of  the  downstream  Earth  observation  sector  in  terms  of  jobs, 

innovation and international competitiveness. 

The operational objectives of the proposed Regulation are: 

•  to enable the provision of the following operational emergency response services between 

2011 and 2013: 

–  European mapping service for emergency response; and 

–  product integration for emergency response; 

•  to enable the provision of the following operational land monitoring services between 2011 

and 2013: 

–  periodic land cover mapping service; 

–  dynamic  land  monitoring  activities,  including  essential  climate  variables  to 

support climate change monitoring;  

•  to perform auxiliary activities between 2011 and 2013, including measures to support take-
up of operational services by users, data procurement to support services and GMES space 
component operations. 

The  policy  options  open  to  address  the  objectives  defined  in  Chapter  3  of  the  Impact 
Assessment are: 

•  Baseline scenario ("Do nothing"); 

•  Option 1: Open method of coordination only; 

•  Option 2: Regulatory action; 

•  Option 3: Community financing. 

These options are not mutually exclusive. All three could possibly be combined. For the sake 
of clarity, however, the impact of each of these options is analysed separately. Furthermore, 
GMES initial operations will be implemented within the governance framework described in 
detail in the Communication entitled “Global Monitoring for Environment and Security: we 
care  for  a  safer  planet”,  COM(2008) 748  of  12.11.2008,  and  the  accompanying  Impact 

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Assessment.  Finally,  the  analysis  of  the  different  options  is  based  on  the  assumption  that 
GMES  data  and  information  will  be  fully  and  openly  accessible.  The  Commission  will 
continue  to  explore  whether  the  development  of  market  opportunities  and  cost  based  user 
charges  could  eventually  allow  the  reduction  of  the  proportion  of  public  investment  after 
2014. 

The  table  set  out  below  compares  the  options  in  the  light  of  the  above  objectives  and  the 
principle of cost-effectiveness. 

Option  Likelihood of achieving the 

objectives and corresponding 
benefits 

Total cost (including Community and 
Member State (MS) budgets) 

Cost-
effectiveness 

1 

2 

3 

+ 

+ 

+++ 

Community budget: 
- 
•Appropriations 
•Human resources 
+ 
•Admin. expenditure  + 

Community budget: 
- 
•Appropriations 
+ 
•Human resources 
•Admin. expenditure  + 

Community budget: 
++ 
•Appropriations 
•Human resources 
+ 
•Admin. expenditure  + 

Costs in 
MS 

++++ 

Costs in 
MS  

++++ 

Costs in 
MS 

+++ 

+ 

+ 

+++ 

The likelihood of achieving the objectives is discussed in sections 5.2.1, 5.3.1 and 5.4.1 of the 
Impact Assessment. Options 1 and 2 are considered unlikely to achieve the specific objectives 
of  GMES  initial  operations  owing  to  (i)  problems  with  provision  of  pan-European  services, 
(ii)  the  lack  of  capacity  and  know-how  in  some  Member  States  and  (iii)  the  lack  of 
sustainability (in particular for budgetary reasons). 

Section 5.4 and Annex V quantify the benefits which would materialise if objectives are fully 
met.  In  the  reference  year  (2012),  annual  benefits  linked  directly  to  GMES  would  include 
€135m  for  flood  services,  €9m  for  wildfire  serv
and  €56m  for  urban  planning,  taking  into  consid eration  that  these  figures  (i)  are  based  on 
conservative assumptions and (ii) do not include benefits relating to, for example, emergency 
response  to  volcanic  eruptions  and  earthquakes,  nor  benefits  linked  to  efficiency  gains  in 
agriculture and rural development.  

ices,  a  minimum  of  €75m  for  deforestation 

Regarding costs, it is not sufficient to focus on EC costs only, which would add up to € 150m 
for the whole period covered by GMES initial operations (2011–2013), (including € 43 m for 
accompanying research activities financed under FP 7). Costs at Member State level must also 
be  taken  into  consideration.  Although  no  detailed  estimates  for  the  costs  incurred  by  the 
Member States are available, previous experience from the Corine land cover programme and 
data submitted by the EEA show that they could be three times higher than the EC costs. It is 
assumed that both options 1 and 2 would lead to higher overall costs for the EU and Member 
States due to (i) higher costs for procurement of the data needed to provide the services, given 
the lack of economies of scale and countervailing buying power, and (ii) the need to duplicate 
infrastructure in the case of totally decentralised provision of the service. 

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Option  3  is  therefore  the  preferred  option  for  the  period  2011–2013,  as  it  has  been 
demonstrated  that  this  option  would  (i)  make  it  highly  likely  that  the  specific  objectives  of 
GMES initial operations would be met, and (ii) could reduce the overall costs, including by 
means  of  centralised  procurement  of  the  data  needed  for  the  services.  In  any  event,  EU 
financing should be accompanied by coordination activities. No EC regulation specifically on 
GMES is likely to enter into force during the period covered by the proposed Regulation. 

Evaluation tasks will be carried out in three phases (ex ante, interim and ex post). In addition 
to this Impact Assessment, it is envisaged that the Commission will carry out evaluations of i) 
the  preparatory  action,  and  (ii)  data  access  activities,  in  order  to  prepare  the  first  work 
programme  for  operational  activities.  Additionally,  an  interim  evaluation  report  will  be 
prepared no later than the end of 2012. Finally, an ex post evaluation will be prepared after 
the end of initial operational activities. 

The  Commission  will  ensure  that  contracts  and  grants  concluded  in  the  framework  of 
operational  emergency  and  land  monitoring  services  provide  for  supervision  and  financial 
control  by  the  Commission,  if  necessary  by  means  of  on-the-spot  checks,  including  sample 
checks, and audits by the Court of Auditors. If need be, the Commission could be assisted by 
external  technical  experts  when  monitoring  the  implementation  of  the  programme.  On  the 
basis of the results of the on-the-spot checks, the Commission will ensure that, if necessary, 
the scale or the conditions of allocation of the financial contribution originally approved and 
also the timetable for payments are adjusted. 

In addition to financial supervision, the Commission will put in place mechanisms to ensure 
the  continuous  quality  of  the  services  provided.  Finally,  the  Commission  will  organise  user 
fora in order to ascertain that services are user-driven. 

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