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) (Text with EEA relevance) {SEC(2009) 639} {SEC(2009) 640}
Date: 2009-05-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, fact-finding mission, observation, satellite, satellite communications, terrestrial ecosystem

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 20.5.2009 
COM(2009) 223 final 

2009/0070 (COD) 

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) 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

{SEC(2009) 639} 
{SEC(2009) 640} 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

1.1. 

Context  

GMES is an Earth observation initiative led by the EU. Europe has decided to develop its own 
operational Earth observation capacity in order to reflect the EU’s growing responsibility in 
European  and  world  affairs.  Establishing  such  a  system  marks  a  strategic  choice,  with  a 
lasting  impact  on  the  further  political,  economic,  social  and  scientific  development  of  the 
EU1. 

Earth observation allows collection of information about the planet’s physical, chemical and 
biological  systems  or,  more  generally,  monitoring  of  the  natural  environment.  It  draws  on 
both  space-based  (i.e.  satellite)  and  non-space-based  facilities,  including  airborne,  seaborne 
and  ground-based  (“in  situ”)  installations.  Data  collected  via  satellites  and  in  situ 
infrastructure  are  processed  to  provide  information  services  allowing  better  management  of 
the environment and enhancing security for citizens. This will make it possible, for example, 
to  manage  natural  resources  and  biodiversity  more  efficiently,  to  monitor  the  state  of  the 
oceans and the chemical composition of the atmosphere, two key factors in climate change, to 
respond to natural and man-made disasters, including tsunamis, and to ensure more effective 
border surveillance.  

Over  the  last  thirty  years,  the  EU,  the  European  Space  Agency  (ESA)  and  their  Member 
States  have  made  substantial  R&D  efforts  in  the  field  of  Earth  observation,  with  a  view  to 
developing infrastructure and pre-operational Earth observation services2. 

However, with the exception of the field of operational meteorology, the data provided by the 
existing services either do not cover all the parameters needed by policy-makers3 or are not 
provided  on  a  continuous  basis,  in  particular  because  the  lifetime  of  the  service  or  the 
underlying observation infrastructure is limited due to budgetary and/or technical constraints. 
In other words, many of the existing Earth observation services in Europe are unreliable due 
to infrastructure gaps and lack of guarantees on their availability in the long term. This is a 
cause  for  concern  for  final  users  like  public  authorities,  but  also  for  downstream  service 
providers,  who  are  reluctant  to  invest  significantly  in  non-mature,  risky  markets  and  would 
face additional difficulties with raising capital for such investment. 

GMES was conceived to ensure operational Earth observation in environmental and security 
domains beyond operational meteorology. In this context, the general objectives of GMES are 
to: 

1 

2 

3 

See the Communication entitled “Global Monitoring for Environment and Security: we care for a safer 
planet” - COM(2008) 748, 12.11.2008, (“the 2008 Communication”). 
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  €624m  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). 
In particular,  information  of sufficient  quality  aggregated at  European  or  global  level  is  not  currently 
available to European policy-makers. 

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•  enable  sustainable  Earth  observation  services  tailored  to  the  needs  of  users,  including 
public policy-makers and private citizens. The GMES services will allow policy-makers in 
particular to: 

–  prepare national, European and international legislation on environmental matters, 

including climate change; 

–  monitor implementation of this legislation; 

–  have  access  to  comprehensive  and  accurate  information  concerning  security 

matters (e.g. for border surveillance); 

•  ensure the sustainability of the observation infrastructure necessary to provide the GMES 
services. This will be done either by establishing partnerships with infrastructure owners or 
by developing new infrastructure if the existing infrastructure is insufficient to produce the 
data needed for the GMES services; 

•  create  opportunities  for  greater  private-sector  use  of  information  sources,  thereby 
facilitating market take-up by value-adding service providers, many of which are small and 
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

1.2. 

Grounds for and objectives of the proposal 

GMES  comprises  both  development  activities  and  an  operational  phase.  Regarding 
development  activities,  funds  from  the  Seventh  Framework  Programme  (FP7)4  are 
contributing  to  development  of  space  infrastructure,  as  part  of  the  ESA  GMES  space 
component  programme,  and  financing  pre-operational  services  in  the  fields  of  land 
monitoring,  marine  monitoring,  atmosphere  monitoring,  emergency  response,  security  and 
climate change adaptation and mitigation. 

Following the Commission Communication entitled “Global Monitoring for Environment and 
Security:  From  Concept  to  Reality”5  and  the  orientations  of  the  Third  Space  Council, 
implementation  of  GMES  operations  is  following  a  phased  approach,  based  on  clearly 
identified  priorities,  starting  with  development  of  three  fast-track  services  on  emergency 
response, land monitoring and marine services. 

The first operational emergency management and land monitoring services are being financed 
as preparatory actions6. From 2011 to 2013, operational GMES services should be provided 
on a larger scale, building on and complementing development activities financed under the 
space  theme  of  the  Seventh  Framework  Programme,  and  intergovernmental  and  national 
activities. This Community action will focus on the full service chain for emergency response 
and  land  monitoring,  data  access  and  infrastructure  operations.  This  selection  is  based  on 
following specific criteria:  

4 

5 
6 

See Decision No 1982/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 
concerning the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological 
development and demonstration activities (2007–2013). 
COM(2005) 565, 10.11.2005. 
In line with Article 49(6)(b) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on 
the  Financial  Regulation  applicable  to  the  general  budget  of  the  European  Communities  (OJ  L  248, 
16.9.2002, p. 1). 

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•  sufficient technical maturity; 

•  continuity  with  preparatory  actions,  and  other  existing  activities  outside  the  research 

framework programmes, such as Corine land cover; 

•  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, 
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. 

These priorities have been discussed extensively in the aftermath of the Lille GMES Forum 
organised  by  the  French  presidency,  including  consultations  within  the  GMES  Advisory 
Council. Stakeholders agreed that it will be necessary to complement existing research funds 
in the period 2011 – 2013 in order to launch services on an operational basis in areas where 
there  is  a  risk  of  service  interruption.  They  also  acknowledged  that  the  marine  and 
atmospheric  monitoring  activities  are  on  good  track.  Owing  to  the  institutional  or  scientific 
nature of the European actors involved in their implementation, FP7 seems adequate enough, 
at this stage, both in volume and as a legal instrument, to allow establishing a capacity which 
is very close to operational conditions for marine and atmosphere services. 

A  fully  fledged  GMES  programme  is  expected  to  be  in  place  in  the  course  of  the  next 
multiannual financial framework (from 2014). 

The objective of this proposal is to establish a legal basis for the GMES programme and EC 
funding  of  GMES  initial  operations  (2011–2013),  as  indicated  in  the  2008  Communication 
which the Council welcomed in its conclusions of 2 December 2008, in order to: 

•  enable  the  provision  of  emergency  response  services  (including  emergency  maps  and 
reference  maps)  to  various  emergency  response  actors  at  Community  and  Member  State 
level, as well as the key relevant United Nations agencies, including in the areas of civil 
protection,  humanitarian  aid  and  crisis  management  between  2011  and  2013  on  a  24/7 
basis, so that they can respond to emergencies and humanitarian disasters more efficiently 
and effectively; 

•  enable  the  provision  of  land  monitoring  services  (in  particular,  pre-processed  data,  pan-
European  land  cover  products,  high-resolution  maps  of  cities,  soil  maps  and  thematic 
maps)  to  public  authorities  (including  environmental  agencies)  in  Europe  between  2011 
and 2013, so that they will be better able to perform their policy-making, implementation 
and  monitoring 
the 
implementation of the Soil Thematic Strategy7 and the assessment of ecosystems; 

land  monitoring  services  could  support, 

inter  alia, 

tasks; 

7 

COM(2006) 231, 22.9.2006. 

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•  contribute  to  the  production  and  availability  to  public  of  environmental  information,  in 
line, in particular, with the principles of the Aarhus Convention8, the INSPIRE Directive 
and the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS)9; 

•  stimulate,  by  lowering  the  cost  of  access  to  information,  the  growth  of  the  downstream 
Earth  observation  sector  in  terms  of  jobs,  innovation  and  international  competitiveness 
between 2011 and 2013. 

1.3. 

Financing GMES: from R&D to operations 

Research  and  development  aspects  of  GMES  are  currently,  and  will  continue  to  be,  co-
financed at European, intergovernmental and national levels,  based on partnerships between 
players in the sector. Part of the cost of development and operation of all the space-based10 
and in situ installations providing data for the GMES services will be borne by the Member 
States  and  intergovernmental  organisations,  as  EC  financing  of  the  total  costs  for  all  the 
necessary infrastructure could violate the proportionality and subsidiarity principles. Instead, 
the EC will concentrate on domains where Community intervention will provide clear added 
value. 

The EU will both coordinate these partnerships and manage its own contribution to GMES. 
With the exception of a limited contribution to operation of the emergency response and land 
monitoring  services  financed  as  preparatory  actions,  this  contribution  currently  consists,  in 
particular, of co-financing the following research activities under the space theme of FP7: 

•  space  infrastructure  development11  carried  out  by  ESA  to  fill  gaps  in  existing  space 

infrastructure; 

•  research on integration of in situ data and space data; 

•  pre-operational service development. 

For  pre-operational  services,  research  is  used  to  develop  service  chains,  by  implementing 
individual  prototypes,  tested  over  selected  areas  of  Europe  to  make  sure  that  they  work 
satisfactorily.  The  funding  is  focusing  mainly  on  development  of  the  processing  chain  and 
efforts to validate the concepts and the technologies and services developed. 

Enabling operational services over the period 2011–2013 is the next challenge facing GMES. 
Investment  is  needed  to  roll  out  products  based  on  prototypes  developed  in  the  previous 
research activities in order to meet the demand in terms of data volumes to be processed for 
full  pan-European  or  global  coverage  and  steady-state  operation  on  a  24/7  basis,  with  the 
shortest possible response times. 

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9 
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11 

The  Aarhus  Convention  of  25  June  1998  on  Access  to  Information,  Public  Participation  in  Decision-
Making  and  Access  to  Justice  in  Environmental  Matters  gives  everyone  the  rights  to  receive 
environmental  information  held  by  public  authorities  (“access  to  environmental  information”),  to 
participate  in  environmental  decision-making  and  to  review  procedures  to  challenge  public  decisions 
made  without respecting  the two  above-mentioned  rights  or  environmental  law  in  general  (“access  to 
justice”). 
See also section 1.4. 
Existing  space  missions  that  will  provide  data  for  GMES  include  Spot,  TerraSAR-X,  EUMETSAT 
satellites, CosmoSkymed, DMC Deimos, Ikonos, GeoEye, Quickbird and ENVISAT. 
ESA is currently developing five “sentinel” missions under its GMES space component programme. 

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FP7  is  an  R&D  tool  and,  as  such,  not  designed  to  support  GMES  initial  operations  to  the 
extent that these need to be ensured on a more permanent basis. At the same time, research 
and development activities will continue, e.g. in the field of product validation. Therefore, it 
will be necessary to use both operational and research funding simultaneously in the future, 
with  each  type  of  funding  addressing  different  but  complementary  needs.  For  the  period 
2011–2013,  this  means  that  the  FP7  funds  already  allocated  to  the  space  theme  should  be 
supplemented  by  additional  non-research  funds  under  the  proposed  Regulation  to  cover 
GMES initial operations. The GMES governance framework will ensure consistency between 
the  research  and  operational  activities.  For  the  design  and  technical  implementation  of 
services, the Commission will rely on the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and Eurostat services. 

1.4. 

Consistency with the other policies and objectives of the Union 

The  Commission  will  ensure  complementarity  and  consistency  with  other  Community 
policies, in particular in relation to competition, the European GNSS programmes, protection 
of  personal  data,  civil  protection  and  humanitarian  aid,  cohesion  policy  and  agricultural 
policy. In addition, GMES is a tool for cooperation linked to development, humanitarian aid 
and emergency situations worldwide and, more specifically, with Africa. 

Furthermore, the GMES services are considered essential not only because the main end-users 
are policy-makers, but also because they stimulate innovation and growth in the downstream 
sector. GMES is therefore fully in line with the Lisbon strategy. 

GMES  will  contribute  to  and  benefit  from  the  Shared  Environmental  Information  System 
(SEIS). First, GMES contributes to the availability of relevant data/products provided via its 
services. Second, SEIS could contribute to in situ data flows for GMES by enabling near real-
time  availability  of  data  (starting  with  data  covered  by  environmental  legislation,  the  initial 
focus  of  SEIS).  In  addition,  the  Commission  will  ensure  coherence  of  GMES  with  the 
collection  of  data  needed  for  environmental  policy  in  the  context  of  the  European  Data 
Centres, in particular insofar as land monitoring is concerned. 

As outlined in the 2008 Communication, GMES needs to be compliant with the Infrastructure 
for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) framework. INSPIRE is based on a Directive12 
that covers spatial data held by public authorities in the Member States. It places no obligation 
on  Member  States  to  create  new  geospatial  data  sets,  whereas  the  objective  of  GMES  is  to 
ensure the continuous availability of operational Earth observation services. 

2. 

CONTENT  OF  THE  REGULATION  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT  AND  OF  THE 
COUNCIL ON THE EUROPEAN EARTH OBSERVATION PROGRAMME (GMES) AND ITS 
INITIAL OPERATIONS (2011 – 2013) 

As outlined in section 1.2, the specific objective of the proposed Regulation is to establish a 
legal  basis  for  the  GMES  programme  and  EC  funding  of  GMES  initial  operations,  which 
should  ensure  the  continuity  of  GMES  components  after  2011,  selected  on  the  basis  of  the 
criteria  described  above.  GMES  initial  operations  (2011–2013)  will  be  managed  by  the 
Commission  in  the  framework  of  the  overall  GMES  activities  of  the  EU,  which  also  cover 
research  activities  of  the  EU  and  activities  of  GMES  partners.  It  is  of  key  importance  to 
ensure complementarity with FP7 in terms of both funding and organisational arrangements. 

12 

OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, p. 1. 

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Article  1  of  the  proposed  Regulation  GMES  defines  the  subject  matter  of  the  Regulation, 
namely  the  establishment  of  a  Community  programme  for  Earth  observation  (the  "GMES 
programme") and the rules for the implementation of GMES initial operations (2011 – 2013).  

Article  2  determines  the  overall  content  of  the  GMES  programme,  which  will  include  a 
service component, a space component and an in situ component.  

Article 3 describes the scope of GMES initial operations which will build on and complement 
activities financed under the space theme of the Seventh Framework Programme and national 
activities. The  objectives in each  of the fields are set  out in  the Annex to the proposal. The 
activities  listed  in  Article  2  were  determined  in  line  with  the  modular  approach  to 
implementation of GMES. In the light of the criteria described in section 1.2. above, GMES 
initial operations (2011–2013) should comprise action in the following fields: 

(a) 

emergency response services;  

(b) 

land monitoring services; 

(c) 

measures to support take-up of services by users; 

(d) 

data access; 

(e) 

the GMES space component. 

The  fact  that  initial  operations  are  to  be  launched  earlier  for  emergency  response  and  land 
monitoring  services  than  for  other  GMES  services  does  not  mean  that  the  EU  will  not 
contribute  to  operation  of  other  services  (including  marine  and  atmosphere  monitoring 
services) after 2013. After 2013, the EU intends to sustain the full set of GMES services in an 
operational context.  

Article 4 lays down organisational arrangements for GMES initial operations. In particular, it 
states that the Commission will not only manage its own contribution to GMES but also be 
responsible  for  overall  coordination  of  the  activities  of  the  GMES  partners,  i.e.  Member 
States,  which  shall  take  the  necessary  steps  to  ensure  the  efficient  implementation  of  the 
GMES initiative at Member State level. As outlined in the 2008 Communication, the overall 
governance framework must be distinguished from the technical implementation level, which 
should  be  entrusted  mainly  to  European  entities  which  interact  with  public  and  private 
players, including the European Space Agency (ESA), and specialised agencies of the EU13. 
Consequently, technical implementation of the GMES space component will be entrusted to 
ESA.  In  addition,  Article  4  states  that  the  Commission  should  ensure  the  coherence  of  the 
GMES programme with other Community policies.  

Article 5 defines the legal forms Community funding could take. 

Article  6  contains  rules  concerning  participation  by  non-EU  countries  in  the  GMES 
programme. Given the global nature of GMES, it is essential to provide for participation by 
non-EU countries, when agreements and procedures so allow. Article 7 on funding lays down 

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To include the European Environment Agency (EEA), the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), 
the European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC), the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European 
Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (FRONTEX). 

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the  overall  financial  envelope  for  a  Community  financing  of  GMES  initial  operations. 
Appropriations  will  be  authorised  annually  in  line  with  the  Financial  Regulation.  As  in  the 
European  GNSS  programmes,  non-EU  countries  and  international  organisations  should  be 
free  to  contribute  financially  or  in  kind  to  the  programmes  on  the  basis  of  appropriate 
agreements. 

Article 8 contains the objectives of the data and information policy for actions financed under 
the GMES programme. The main objective is full and open access14, taking into consideration 
that  full  and  open  access  could  be  restricted,  in  particular  in  order  to  ensure  adequate 
protection of data and information for security reasons.  

Article 9 provides for regular monitoring of the action financed under the Regulation, in line 
with applicable EC rules and best practice. The interim and ex-post evaluation reports will be 
submitted to the European Parliament and the Council. 

Article 10 covers implementing measures. The details of implementation and the annual work 
programmes  will  be  decided  by  a  committee  procedure.  The  annual  work  programme  will 
contain,  in  particular,  a  more  detailed  description  of  activities  in  line  with  the  priorities  of 
GMES. The committee established under Article 11 of the proposed Regulation will assist the 
Commission  with  implementation  of  GMES  initial  operations,  whereas  the  FP7  programme 
committee in its space configuration will continue to assist the Commission with management 
of FP7 funds. 

Article 11 provides for establishment of a comitology committee in accordance with Council 
Decision  1999/468/EC  of  28  June  1999  laying  down  the  procedures  for  the  exercise  of 
implementing powers conferred on the Commission15. 

Article  12  contains  rules  on  protection  of  the  Community’s  financial  interests,  in  order  to 
ensure that appropriate measures are taken to prevent irregularities and fraud. 

3. 

CONSULTATION OF INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

The proposal for a Regulation on the European Earth observation programme (GMES) and its 
initial  operations  is  based  on  extensive  consultations  and  accompanied  by  an  Impact 
Assessment.  In  2006,  the  Commission  intensified  its  consultations  with  stakeholders, 
including: 

•  thematic workshops with users of the future service; 

•  establishment  of  “Implementation  Groups”  composed  of  representatives  of  users.  The 
Implementation  Groups  prepared  recommendations  on  the  scope,  architecture  and 
implementation plans for the services, including the necessary infrastructure requirements; 

•  consultation of national GMES coordinators in the GMES Advisory Council; 

14 

15 

As  outlined  in  the  2008  Communication,  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. 
OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. 

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•  regular  bilateral  meetings  between  the  European  Commission’s  GMES  Bureau  and 

stakeholders from industry, regions and elsewhere; and 

•  organisation of conferences on GMES by successive EU Presidencies. 

The stakeholder consultation clearly demonstrated that users cannot rely on research projects 
alone. They need access to reliable and accurate data and information that is made available in 
a  timely  fashion  or,  for  emergency  services,  even  in  rush  mode.  To  achieve  this  goal, 
according to stakeholders it is necessary to: 

•  take  the  necessary  steps  to  expand  the  preparatory  operational  budget  line  introduced  in 

2008 in order to cover initial operations of GMES services; 

•  define  the  scope  of  activities  in  a  way  that  complements  existing  financing  and 

programmatic schemes; 

•  establish partnerships in order to ensure sustainable operational services; 

•  ensure that, as a user-driven initiative, service specifications correspond to user needs; and 

•  facilitate  market  take-up  by  the  value-adding  service  industry  (including  SMEs)  by 

ensuring an open data and information policy. 

In  addition  to  the  baseline  (“Do  nothing”)  scenario,  the  Impact  Assessment  report  analyses 
three options for implementation of GMES initial operations: (i) open method of coordination 
only,  (ii)  regulatory  intervention,  and  (iii)  Community  financing.  The  Impact  Assessment 
demonstrates that Community financing is regarded the best option, as it is likely to be more 
cost-effective,  even  in  comparison  with  the  best-case  scenario  for  the  other  options.  The 
analysis of the impact of Community financing has demonstrated that this option would offer 
value  for  money  and  give  the  downstream  sector  a  sustainable  basis  on  which  to  develop 
customised services. 

4. 

SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY 

The  subsidiarity  principle  applies  insofar  as  the  proposal  does  not  fall  under  the  exclusive 
competence of the Community. 

For  services  with  pan-European  (or  even  global)  coverage,  in  particular  pan-European  land 
cover  services,  Member  States  cannot  sufficiently  achieve  the  objectives  of  the  proposed 
action, as the inputs from different Member States have to be aggregated at European level. 
Provision of other Earth observation services covered by the proposal (e.g. emergency maps 
or thematic land monitoring maps of more limited geographical scope) can be better achieved 
by the Community for two reasons. First, more coherent and centralised management of input 
data from space-based or in situ sensors will allow economies of scale. Second, uncoordinated 
provision  of  Earth  observation  services  at  Member  State  or  regional  level  would  lead  to 
duplication  and  make  it  difficult  or  even  impossible  to  monitor  implementation  of  EC 
environmental  legislation  on  the  basis  of  transparent  and  objective  criteria.  If  information 
produced at Member State level is not comparable, it will not be possible for the Commission 
to  ascertain  whether  environmental  legislation  has  been  implemented  correctly  in  every 
Member State. 

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The proposal fully complies with the proportionality principle since (i) the operational GMES 
services  in  the  fields  of  land  monitoring  and  emergency  response  do  not  replace  existing 
services  but  complement  them  or  ensure  their  continuity  and  (ii)  service  provision  will  be 
centralised at Community level only when indispensable. 

5. 

CHOICE OF LEGAL INSTRUMENT 

The Commission proposes to establish the European Earth observation programme (GMES) 
by  Regulation,  i.e.  an  instrument  of  general  application  that  is  binding  in  its  entirety  and 
directly  applicable  in  all  Member  States.  This  is  because  the  proposed  basic  act  defines  the 
roles  and  responsibilities  not  only  of  the  Commission,  but  also  of  the  Member  States.  A 
Regulation is therefore the instrument best adapted to achieve the desired objective. 

6. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATION 

The  financial  statement  accompanying  this  proposal  for  a  Regulation  sets  out  budget 
appropriations for GMES initial operations. The proposal is compatible with the multiannual 
financial framework for 2007–2013.  

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2009/0070 (COD) 

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) 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular 
Article 157(3) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission16, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee17, 

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions18, 

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty19, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

At its meeting of 15 and 16 June 2001 in Gothenburg, the European Council agreed on 
a strategy for sustainable development, in order to mutually reinforce economic, social 
and  environmental  policies  and  added  an  environmental  dimension  to  the  Lisbon 
process. 

In the Resolution on the European Space Policy20 of 21.5.2007 adopted at the fourth 
joint  and  concomitant  meeting  of  the  Council  of  the  European  Union  and  of  the 
Council  of  the  European  Space  Agency  at  ministerial  level  (the  “Space  Council”, 
established in accordance with Article 8(1) of the Framework Agreement between the 
European Community and the European Space Agency21), the Council recognised the 
actual and potential contributions by space activities to the Lisbon strategy for growth 
and employment, in the form of providing enabling technologies and services for the 
emerging  European  knowledge  society  and  contributing  to  European  cohesion,  and 
underlined  that  space  is  a  significant  element  of  the  strategy  for  sustainable 
development. 

16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 

OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C 136, 20.6.2007, p. 1. 
OJ L 261, 6.8.2004, p. 64. 

EN 

11 

   EN 

 
 
                                                 
(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

(8) 

Global  Monitoring  for  Environment  and  Security  (GMES)  is  an  Earth  observation 
initiative  led  by  the  European  Community  and  carried  out  in  partnership  with  the 
Member States. Its objective is to foster better exploitation of the industrial potential 
of policies of innovation, research and technological development in the field of Earth 
observation  and  to  provide  information  services,  which  give  access  to  accurate  data 
and information in the field of environment and security under Community control and 
are  tailored  to  the  needs  of  a  wide  range  of  users.  Users  include  decision-makers  at 
European,  national,  regional  and 
implement 
environmental policies. 

levels  who  develop  and 

local 

In  order  to  achieve  the  objective  of  GMES  on  a  sustainable  basis,  it  is  necessary  to 
coordinate  the  activities  of  the  various  partners  involved  in  GMES,  and  to  develop, 
establish  and  operate  service  and  observation  capacity  meeting  demands  of  users. 
GMES will be a key tool to support biodiversity, ecosystem monitoring, and climate 
change mitigation and adaptation. 

GMES services are necessary in order to foster the use of information sources by the 
private sector on a continuous basis, thus facilitating innovation by service providers 
adding value, many of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

GMES  comprises  both  development  activities  and  operations.  Regarding  operations, 
in its third orientations adopted at the Space Council meeting of 28.11.2005, Council 
supported a phased approach for implementation of GMES based on clearly identified 
priorities,  starting  with  the  development  of  three  fast-track  services  in  the  field  of 
emergency response, land monitoring and marine services. 

The first operational services in the field of emergency response and land monitoring 
were  financed  as  preparatory  actions  in  accordance  with  Article  49(6)(b)  of  Council 
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation 
applicable  to  the  general  budget  of  the  European  Communities22  (hereinafter  “the 
Financial Regulation”). 

In  addition  to  the  development  activities  financed  under  the  space  thematic  area 
included in Decision No 1982/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 18 December 2006 concerning the Seventh Framework Programme of the European 
Community  for  research,  technological  development  and  demonstration  activities 
(2007-2013)23 (hereinafter “the Seventh Framework Programme”), Community action 
is  necessary  in  the  period  of  2011-2013  to  ensure  continuity  with  the  preparatory 
actions  and  to  establish  operational  services  on  a  more  permanent  basis  in  areas  of 
sufficient  technical  maturity  with  a  proven  potential  for  the  development  of 
downstream services, including emergency response and land monitoring. Marine and 
atmosphere  services  will  continue  to  be  developed  in  parallel  to  the  emergency 
management  and  land  monitoring  service  with  support  of  the  research  and 
development  funding  under  the  Seventh  Framework  Programme,  including  the 
establishment of a pre-operational capacity before 2013.  

22 
23 

OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. 
OJ L 400, 30.12.2006, p 1. 

EN 

12 

   EN 

 
                                                 
(9) 

In  its  Communication  entitled  “Global  Monitoring  for  Environment  and  Security 
(GMES):  we  care  for  a  safer  planet”24,  the  Commission  outlined  its  approach  to  the 
governance  and  financing  of  GMES  and  indicated  its  intention  to  delegate  technical 
implementation of GMES to specialised entities, including ESA for the GMES space 
component owing to its unique position and expertise. 

(10)  Operational services in the field of emergency mitigation and humanitarian responses 
are  necessary  in  order  to  coordinate  the  existing  capacity  of  the  Community  and  its 
Member  States  to  be  better  prepared,  respond  to  and  recover  from  natural  and  man-
made  disasters,  which  often  also  have  a  negative  impact  on  the  environment.  As 
climate change could lead to an increase in emergencies, GMES will be essential for 
climate  change  adaptation.  GMES  services  should  therefore  deliver  geospatial 
information  to  support  various  players  in  the  field  of  emergency  and  humanitarian 
responses. 

(11)  Land monitoring services are important for monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystems, 
climate  change  mitigation  and  adaptation  and  the  management  of  a  wide  range  of 
resources  and  policies,  most  of  which  relate  to  the  natural  environment:  soil,  water, 
agriculture,  forests,  energy  and  utilities,  built-up  areas,  recreational  facilities, 
infrastructure and transport. Operational land monitoring services are necessary at both 
European  and  global  levels,  developed  in  collaboration  with  Member  States,  third 
countries in Europe and partners outside Europe and with the United Nations. 

therefore  be  ensured  and  where  necessary 

(12)  The  provision  of  operational  services  financed  under  this  Regulation  depends  on 
access  to  data  collected  via  space  infrastructure  and  airborne,  seaborne  and  ground-
based facilities (“in situ infrastructure”) and survey programmes. Access to such data 
in-situ  data  collection 
should 
complementary  to  Community  and  national  activities  should  be  supported.  This  is 
particularly important where such data collection is not required under Community or 
national  law.  Finally,  the  continuous  availability  of  the  underlying  in  situ  and  space 
infrastructure  needs  to  be  ensured,  including  space  infrastructure  specifically 
developed  for  GMES  in  the  framework  of  the  ESA  GMES  space  component 
programme  (the  Sentinel  missions).  The  first  Sentinels  will  enter  their  initial 
operations phase starting in 2011. 

(13)  The  Commission  should  ensure  the  complementarity  of  GMES  related  research  and 
development activities under the Seventh Framework Programme, the EC contribution 
to  GMES  initial  operations,  activities  of  GMES  partners  and  already  existing 
structures, such as the European Data Centres. 

(14)  GMES  initial  operations  should  be  implemented  consistently  with  other  relevant 
Community  policies,  instruments  and  action,  in  particular  with  competitiveness  and 
innovation,  cohesion,  research,  transport  and  competition  policies,  the  European 
Global  Navigation  Satellite  Systems  (GNSS)  programme  and  protection  of  personal 
data. Furthermore, GMES should support development of the infrastructure for spatial 
information  in  the  Community  established  by  Directive  2007/2/EC  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  14  March  2007  establishing  and  Infrastructure  for 

24 

COM(2008) 748, 12.11.2008. 

EN 

13 

   EN 

 
                                                 
Spatial  Information  in  the  European  Community  (INSPIRE)25.  GMES  should  also 
complement the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS)26 and Community 
activities in the field of emergency response. 

(15)  The Agreement on the European Economic Area and the Framework Agreements with 
candidate and potential candidate countries provide for participation by those countries 
in Community programmes. Participation by other non-EU countries and international 
organisations  should  be  rendered  possible  by  the  conclusion  of  international 
agreements to that effect. 

the  prime  reference,  within 

(16)  For the entire duration of GMES initial operations, a financial envelope of EUR 107m 
constituting 
the 
Interinstitutional  Agreement  of  17  May  2006  between  the  European  Parliament,  the 
Council  and 
the  Commission  on  budgetary  discipline  and  sound  financial 
management27  should  be  established.  It  is  envisaged  that  this  financial  envelope  will 
be  complemented  by  an  amount  of  EUR  43  million  from  the  space  theme  of  the 
Seventh  Framework  Programme  for  research  actions  accompanying  GMES  initial 
operations. 

the  meaning  of  point  37  of 

(17) 

In  accordance  with  the  Financial  Regulation,  Member  States,  non-EU  countries  and 
international organisations should be free to contribute to the programmes on the basis 
of appropriate agreements. 

(18)  GMES  services  should  be  fully  and  openly  accessible.  This  is  necessary  to  promote 
the use and sharing of Earth observation data and information in accordance with the 
principles  of  the  SEIS,  INSPIRE  and  Global  Earth  Observation  System  of  Systems 
(GEOSS). 

(19)  The action financed under this Regulation should be monitored and evaluated in order 

to allow readjustments. 

(20)  The  measures  necessary  for  implementation  of  this  Regulation  should  be  adopted  in 
accordance  with  Council  Decision  1999/468/EC  of  28  June  1999  laying  down  the 
procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission28. 

(21) 

In  particular  the  Commission  should  be  empowered  to  adapt  the  Annex  to  technical 
and scientific progress. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to 
amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, they must be adopted in accordance 
with  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny  provided  for  in  Article  5(a)  of  Decision 
1999/468/EC. 

(22)  Appropriate measures should also be taken to prevent irregularities and fraud and the 
necessary  steps  should  be  taken  to  recover  funds  lost,  wrongly  paid  or  incorrectly 
used,  in  accordance  with  Council  Regulations  (EC,  Euratom)  No  2988/95  of 
18 December  1995  on  the  protection  of  the  European  Communities’  financial 

25 
26 
27 
28 

OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, p. 1. 
COM(2008) 46.final 
OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1. 
OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. 

EN 

14 

   EN 

 
                                                 
interests29  and  (Euratom,  EC)  No  2185/96  of 11  November  1996  concerning  on-the-
spot  checks  and  inspections  carried  out  by  the  Commission  in  order  to  protect  the 
European Communities’ financial interests against fraud and other irregularities30 and 
Regulation  (EC)  No  1073/1999  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of 
25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office 
(OLAF)31. 

(23)  Since  the  objective  of  this  Regulation,  namely  the  establishment  of  the  GMES 
programme and its initial operations, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member 
States because GMES initial operations will also comprise pan-European capacity and 
depend on coordinated provision of services throughout the Member States that needs 
to be coordinated at Community level and can therefore, by reason of the scale of the 
action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, 
in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In 
accordance  with  the  principle  of  proportionality,  as  set  out  in  the  same  Article,  this 
Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve these objectives, 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Article 1 
Subject-matter 

This Regulation establishes the European Earth observation programme (GMES) (hereinafter 
"GMES  programme")  and  lays  down  the  rules  for  the  implementation  of  GMES  initial 
operations. 

Article 2 
GMES programme 

1. 

The  GMES  programme  shall  build  on  the  research  activities  carried  out  under 
Decision No 1982/2006/EC (hereinafter “the Seventh Framework Programme”) and 
the GMES Space Component Programme of the European Space Agency. 

2. 

The GMES programme shall comprise the following: 

(a) 

a  service  component  ensuring  access  to  information  covering  the  following 
thematic areas: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

land monitoring; 

emergency management; 

security; 

monitoring of the marine environment; 

29 
30 
31 

OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1. 
OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2. 
OJ L 136, 31.5.1999, p. 1. 

EN 

15 

   EN 

 
                                                 
– 

– 

atmosphere monitoring; 

climate change adaptation and mitigation; 

(b) 

(c) 

a  space  component  ensuring  sustainable  spaceborne  observations  for  the 
thematic areas referred to in point (a); 

an  in  situ  component  ensuring  observations  through  airborne,  seaborne  and 
ground-based installations for the thematic areas referred to in point (a). 

Article 3 
 GMES initial operations (2011-2013) 

1. 

GMES  initial  operations  shall  cover  the  period  2011–2013  and  comprise  actions  in 
the following fields: 

(1) 

emergency response services;  

(2) 

land monitoring services; 

(3)  measures to support take-up of services by users; 

(4) 

(5) 

data access, including support to in situ data collection; 

the GMES space component. 

2. 

The  specific  objectives  of  the  actions  referred  to  in  paragraph  1  are  defined  in  the 
Annex. 

The Commission may adapt the Annex to technical and scientific progress. 

Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, shall 
be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in 
Article 11(2). 

Article 4 
Organisational arrangements 

1. 

2. 

The Commission shall ensure coordination of the GMES programme with activities 
at national, Community and international level.  

The  Commission  shall  manage  the  funds  allocated  to  the  activities  under  this 
Regulation in accordance with Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (hereinafter 
"the Financial Regulation") and shall ensure complementarity and consistency of the 
GMES  programme  with  other  relevant  Community  policies,  instruments  and  actions, 
relating in particular to competitiveness and innovation, cohesion, research, transport 
and  competition,  the  European  Global  Navigation  Satellite  Systems  (GNSS) 
programmes,  the  protection  of  personal  data,  Directive  2007/2/EC  (INSPIRE),  the 
Shared  Environmental  Information  System  (SEIS)  and  Community  activities  in  the 
field of emergency response. 

EN 

16 

   EN 

 
3. 

The  Member  States  shall  take  the  necessary  steps  to  ensure  the  implementation  of 
GMES  at  Member  State  level  and  potential  synergies  with  relevant  national, 
Community and international initiatives. 

The  European  Space  Agency  shall  be  entrusted  with  implementation  of  the  GMES 
space  component,  relying  on  the  European  Organisation  for  the  Exploitation  of 
Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) where necessary. 

Article 5 
Forms of Community funding 

1. 

Community funding may take, in particular, the following legal forms: 

(1) 

grants; 

(2) 

public procurement contracts. 

2. 

Community  grants  may  be  provided  in  specific  forms,  including  framework 
partnership agreement, or co-funding of operating or action grants. Operating grants 
to bodies pursuing objectives of general European interest shall not be subject to the 
degressivity provisions of the Financial Regulation. For grants, the maximum rate of 
co-financing shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure of Article 11(3). 

Article 6  
Participation of third countries 

The following countries may participate in the actions referred to in Article 2(1): 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

European  Free  Trade  Association  (EFTA)  countries  which  are  Contracting 
Parties to the EEA Agreement in accordance with the conditions laid down in 
the EEA Agreement 

the  candidate  countries,  as  well  as  potential  candidates  included  in  the 
stabilisation  and  association  process  in  accordance  with  the  Framework 
Agreements,  or  Protocol  to  an  Association  Agreement,  on  the  general 
principles for the participation of those countries in Community programmes, 
concluded with those countries 

the Swiss Confederation, other third countries not referred to in points (1) and 
(2), and international organisations, in accordance with agreements concluded 
by  the  European  Community  with  such  third  countries  or  international 
organisations, pursuant to Article 300 of the EC Treaty, which shall lay down 
the conditions and detailed rules for their involvement. 

Article 7 
Funding 

1. 

The  financial  envelope  allocated  to  the  implementation  of  this  Regulation  shall  be 
EUR 107 million. 

EN 

17 

   EN 

 
2. 

3. 

Appropriations  shall  be  authorised  annually  by  the  budgetary  authority  within  the 
limits laid down in the multi-annual financial framework. 

Third  countries  or  international  organisations  may  also  provide  additional  funding 
for the GMES programme.  

Additional  funds  referred  to  in  the  first  subparagraph  shall  be  treated  as  assigned 
revenue, in accordance with Article 18 of the Financial Regulation. 

Article 8 
GMES Data and Information Policy 

1. 

The  data  and  information  policy  for  actions  financed  under  the  GMES  programme 
shall have the following objectives: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

promoting the use and sharing of GMES information and data; 

full  and  open  access  to  information  produced  by  GMES  services  and  data 
collected through GMES infrastructure, subject to relevant security restrictions; 

strengthening  Earth  observation  markets 
downstream sector, with a view to enabling growth and job creation; 

in  Europe, 

in  particular 

the 

contributing  to  the  sustainability  of  the  provision  of  GMES  data  and 
information; 

2. 

1. 

2. 

(e) 

supporting the European research communities. 

The Commission shall implement the objectives of the GMES data and information 
policy for the service component, the space component and the in situ component, in 
particular  by  ensuring  that  grant  agreements,  procurement  contracts  and  delegation 
agreements  concluded  with  GMES  service  providers,  operators  of  GMES 
infrastructure  and  data  providers  are  in  line  with  the  objectives  referred  to  in 
paragraph 1. 

Article 9 
Monitoring and evaluation 

The Commission shall monitor and evaluate the implementation of actions referred 
to in Article 3(1). 

The Commission shall submit to the European Parliament, the Council, the European 
Economic  and  Social  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  an  interim 
evaluation report by 31 December 2012 and an ex-post evaluation report. 

EN 

18 

   EN 

 
1. 

2. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

1. 

2. 

Article 10 
Implementing measures 

The Commission shall adopt the annual work programme pursuant to Article 110 of 
the  Financial  Regulation  and  Articles  90  and  166  of  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom) 
No 2342/200232 in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 11(3); 

The financial allocation for the GMES programme may also cover expenses relating 
to preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities which are required 
directly  for  the  management  of  the  GMES  programme  and  the  achievement  of  its 
objectives,  and  in  particular  studies,  meetings,  information  and  publication  actions, 
together  with  all  other  technical  and  administrative  assistance  expenses  that  the 
Commission may incur for the management of the GMES programme. 

Article 11 
Committee 

The Commission shall be assisted by a committee (the “GMES Committee”). 

Where  reference  is  made  to  this  paragraph,  Article  5a(1)  to  (4)  and  Article  7  of 
Decision  1999/468/EC  shall  apply,  having  regard  to  the  provisions  of  Article  8 
thereof. 

Where  reference  is  made  to  this  paragraph,  Articles  4  and  7  of  Decision 
1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. 

The  period  laid  down  in  Article  4(3)  of  Decision  1999/468/EC  shall  be  set  at  two 
months. 

Article 12 
Protection of the Community's financial interests 

The Commission shall ensure that, when actions financed under this Regulation are 
implemented,  the  financial  interests  of  the  Community  are  protected  by  the 
application  of  preventive  measures  against  fraud,  corruption  and  any  other  illegal 
activities, by means of effective checks and by the recovery of amounts unduly paid 
and, if irregularities are detected, by effective, proportional and dissuasive penalties, 
in accordance with Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95,Regulation (Euratom, EC) 
No 2185/96 and Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999. 

For the Community actions financed under this Regulation, the notion of irregularity 
referred to in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 shall mean any 
infringement  of  a  provision  of  Community  law  or  any  breach  of  a  contractual 
obligation resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator, which has, or 
would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the Communities, by an 
unjustified item of expenditure. 

32 

OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 1. 

EN 

19 

   EN 

 
                                                 
3. 

Agreements  resulting  from  this  Regulation,  including  agreements  concluded  with 
participating  third  countries  and  international  organisations,  shall  provide  for 
supervision  and  financial  control  by  the  Commission,  or  any  representative 
authorised by it, and audits by the Court of Auditors, if necessary on-the-spot. 

Article 13 
Entry into force 

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union. 

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 

Done at Brussels,  

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

EN 

20 

   EN 

 
 
 
ANNEX  

Objectives of GMES initial operations (2011–2013) 

The actions referred to in Article 2(1) shall have the following objectives: 

(1) 

(2) 

emergency  response  services,  based  on  existing  activities  in  Europe,  shall 
ensure  that  Earth  observation  data  and  derived  products  are  made  available 
for  the  benefit  of  emergency  response  players  at  international,  European, 
national  and  regional  levels  to  different  types  of  disasters,  including 
meteorological  hazards  (including  storms,  fires  and  floods),  geophysical 
hazards (including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and landslides), 
deliberate  and  accidental  man-made  disasters  and  other  humanitarian 
disasters. As climate change could lead to an increase in emergencies, GMES 
emergency  response  will  be  essential  to  support  climate  change  adaptation 
measures in this area as a part of the prevention, preparedness, response and 
recovery activities in Europe; 

land monitoring services shall ensure that Earth observation data and derived 
products are made available for the benefit of European, national and regional 
authorities responsible for the environmental monitoring of biodiversity, soil, 
water, forests and national resources, as well as in general implementation of 
environmental  policies,  collection  of  geographical  information,  agriculture, 
energy,  urban  planning,  infrastructure  and  transport.  Land  monitoring 
services shall include monitoring of climate change variables; 

(3)  measures to support take-up of services by users shall include implementation 
of  technical  interfaces  adapted  to  the  specific  user  environment,  training, 
communication and development of the downstream sector; 

(4) 

(5) 

data access, including support to in situ data collection shall ensure that Earth 
observation data from a wide range of European missions and other types of 
infrastructure,  including  in  situ  infrastructure,  are  collected  and  made 
available to achieve the objectives of GMES and, in particular, the emergency 
response and land monitoring services; 

GMES  initial  operations  shall  ensure  the  operations  of  the  GMES  space 
component,  which  consists  of  space-borne  Earth  observation  infrastructure 
and  aims  at  ensuring  observation  of  Earth  sub-systems  (including  land 
surfaces,  atmosphere  and  oceans).  It  shall  be  based  on  existing  or  planned 
national  and  European  space  infrastructure  and  on  space  infrastructure 
developed in the GMES Space Component Programme. 

EN 

21 

   EN 

 
LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT 

1. 

NAME OF THE PROPOSAL: 

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).  

2. 

ABM/ABB FRAMEWORK 

Policy area(s): Enterprise. 

Activity/Activities: Competitiveness, industrial policy, innovation and entrepreneurship. 

3. 

BUDGET LINES 

3.1. 

Budget  lines  (operational  lines  and  related  technical  and  administrative 
assistance lines (ex-B.A lines)), including headings: 

New budget line: 02.02.15 

3.2. 

Duration of the action and of the financial impact: 

2011-2013 for commitments and 2011-2016 for payments. 

3.3. 

Budgetary characteristics (add rows if necessary): 

Budget line 

Type of expenditure 

New 

EFTA 
contribution 

Contributions 
from applicant 
countries 

Heading in 
financial 
framework 

02.02.15.XX  Comp 

Diff33 

YES 

YES 

YES 

02.01.04.05 

Comp/ 
Non-
comp 

Diff 

YES 

YES 

YES 

1a  

1a 

33 

Differentiated appropriations. 

EN 

22 

   EN 

 
                                                 
4. 

SUMMARY OF RESOURCES 

4.1. 

Financial resources 

4.1.1. 

Summary of commitment appropriations (CA) and payment appropriations (PA) 

EUR million (to 3 decimal places) 

Section 
No 

Expenditure type 

2011 

2012 

2013 

2014 

2015 

Total 

Operational expenditure34 

Commitment 
appropriations (CA) 

Payment appropriations 
(PA) 

8.1 

a 

b 

9 

39 

54 

4.5 

34.5 

42 

17 

4 

Administrative expenditure within reference amount35 

Technical & 
administrative assistance 
(NDA) 

8.2.4 

c 

1 

2 

2 

TTOOTTAALL  RREEFFEERREENNCCEE  AAMMOOUUNNTT  

Commitment 
appropriations 

Payment appropriations 

a+c 

b+c 

10 

41 

56 

5.5 

36.5 

44 

17 

4 

Administrative expenditure not included in reference amount36 

8.2.5 

2.1 

2.5 

2.8 

8.2.6 

0.3 

0.4 

0.4 

Human resources and 
associated expenditure 
(NDA) 

Administrative costs, 
other than human 
resources and associated 
costs, not included in 
reference amount (NDA) 

 102 

102 

5 

107 

107 

7.4 

1.1 

34 
35 
36 

Expenditure that does not fall under Chapter xx 01 of Title xx. 
Expenditure within Article xx 01 04 of Title xx. 
Expenditure within Chapter xx 01 other than Articles xx 01 04 or xx 01 05. 

EN 

23 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
Total indicative financial cost of intervention 

TOTAL  CA  including  cost  of 
human resources 

TOTAL  PA  including  cost  of 
human resources 

14.4 

45.9 

55.2 

7.9 

39.4 

47.2 

17 

4 

115.5 

115.5 

4.1.2.  Compatibility with financial programming 

(cid:133) 

Proposal is compatible with existing financial programming. 

Proposal will entail reprogramming of the relevant heading in the financial 

X 
framework. 

Proposal may require application of the provisions of the Interinstitutional 

(cid:133) 
Agreement37 (i.e. flexibility instrument or revision of the financial framework). 

4.1.3.  Financial impact on revenue 

(cid:133) 

Proposal has no financial impact on revenue. 

X 

Proposal has financial impact. 

4.2. 

Human resources FTE (including officials, temporary and external staff) – 
see details under point 8.2.1 

Annual requirements 

2011 

2012 

2013 

Total number of 
human resources 

18 

22 

24 

5. 

CHARACTERISTICS AND OBJECTIVES 

5.1. 

Needs to be met in the short or long term 

As  outlined  in  Chapter  1  of  the  Explanatory  Memorandum,  GMES  is  an  Earth 
observation  initiative.  It  draws  on  both  space-based  (i.e.  satellite)  and  non-space-based 
facilities,  including  airborne,  seaborne  and  ground-based  (“in  situ”)  installations.  Data 
collected  via  satellites  and  in  situ  infrastructure  are  processed  to  provide  information 
services  in  the  fields  of  land  monitoring,  marine  monitoring,  atmosphere  monitoring, 
emergency response, security and climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

37 

See points 19 and 24 of the Interinstitutional Agreement. 

EN 

24 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
GMES is currently co-financed at European, intergovernmental and national levels, based 
on  partnerships  between  the  different  players.  With  the  exception  of  a  limited 
contribution  in  particular  to  operation  of  an  emergency  response  and  land  monitoring 
service financed as preparatory action38, this contribution currently consists, in particular, 
of research and development activities under FP7. 

From  2011  to  2013,  the  envelope  available  within  the  Seventh  Framework  Programme 
(FP7)  will  have  to  be  topped  up  in  response  to  the  following  needs:  First,  initial 
operational GMES services should be provided on a larger scale in order to pave the way 
for  the  fully  fledged  GMES  programme  to  be  established  under  the  next  multiannual 
financial  framework  (from  2014).  Second,  some  of  the  pre-operational  service  projects 
financed under FP7, in particular emergency and land-monitoring services, have reached 
a degree of maturity that allows a transition to operational services (i.e. on a non-research 
basis) even before the next multiannual financial framework.  

Access  to  emergency  maps  should  be  organised  on  an  operational  basis  as  soon  as 
possible  in  order  to  allow  civil  protection  authorities  in  the  Member  States  to  respond 
more  effectively  to  man-made  or  natural  disasters  and  promote  closer  coordination 
between countries affected in the event of transnational emergencies. Effective delivery 
of civil protection services has a by no means negligible economic impact as it may be 
critical not only for protection of individuals’ safety but also for preservation of critical 
economic infrastructure. 

Land monitoring services will support policy-makers (including environmental agencies) 
in formulating, implementing and monitoring compliance of action addressing land use, 
land cover changes and urban management issues. 

Both  emergency  response  and  land  monitoring  services  depend  on  auxiliary  activities 
such as access to data. The datasets acquired for the services should be re-usable by users 
for further elaboration, i.e. by acquiring multi-user licences within the limits allowed by 
the budget. Beyond that, the infrastructure necessary to collect the data also needs to be 
operated. 

This  proposal  is  targeted  at  public  and  private  organisations  and  businesses  providing 
Earth observation-based services. 

5.2. 

Value-added  of  Community  involvement  and  coherence  of  the  proposal 
with other financial instruments and possible synergy 

As  the  Explanatory  Memorandum  demonstrates,  Community  financing  is  the  most 
suitable form of intervention to address these needs. 

For pan-European products, Member States cannot sufficiently achieve the objectives of 
the proposed action, as the inputs from different Member States have to be aggregated at 

38 

In line with Article 49(6)(b) of the Financial Regulation. 

EN 

25 

   EN 

 
                                                 
European  level.  Provision  of  other  services  (e.g.  emergency  maps  or  thematic  land 
monitoring  maps  of  more  limited  geographical  scope)  can  be  better  achieved  by  the 
Community  for  two  reasons.  First,  more  coherent  and  centralised  management  of  input 
data  from  space-based  or  in  situ  sensors  will  allow  economies  of  scale.  Second, 
uncoordinated provision of Earth observation services at Member State level would lead 
to duplication and make it difficult or even impossible to monitor implementation of EC 
environmental legislation on the basis of transparent and objective criteria. 

By ensuring  greater  use of these services throughout the EU by an ever wider range of 
potential  users,  the  Community  can  also  contribute  to  maximising  the  added  value  of 
such services and to reaping the full economic and social benefits stemming from strong 
development of downstream markets, leading to creation of new jobs and new innovative 
services in the private sector. 

At  present  there  are  no  other  financial  instruments  focusing  specifically  on  the  needs 
addressed  by  this  proposal.  However,  there  will  be  links  between  the  actions  to 
implement  this  programme  and  research  activities  in  these  fields  funded  by  the  EC 
Framework Programmes. These links are highly desirable as they demonstrate successful 
completion of the research phase and phasing-in of an operational stage, which may be 
granted support from this programme. 

The  Commission  will  ensure  complementarity  and  consistency  with  other  Community 
policies,  in  particular  in  relation  to  competition,  transport,  the  European  GNSS 
programme,  protection  of  personal  data,  cohesion  policy39,  INSPIRE  and  SEIS.  In 
addition, GMES should be a tool for cooperation linked to development, humanitarian aid 
and emergency situations worldwide and, more specifically, with Africa. 

Further,  the  GMES  services  are  considered  essential  not  only  because  the  more  direct 
users  are  policy-makers,  but  also  because  they  stimulate  innovation  and  growth  in  the 
downstream sector. GMES is therefore fully in line with the Lisbon strategy. 

5.3. 

Objectives,  expected  results  and  related  indicators  of  the  proposal  in  the 
context of the ABM framework 

This  proposal  is  linked  to  the  Community  competitiveness,  industrial,  innovation  and 
entrepreneurship policies and has the following objectives: 

(1) 

(2) 

39 

enable initial operational GMES services, tailored to the needs of users, including 
public policy-makers and private citizens; 

contribute  to  the  sustainability  of  the  observation  infrastructure  necessary  to 
enable the GMES services; 

Section 1.1.2 of the Community Strategic Guidelines on Cohesion for 2007–2013 underlines the 
need  to  strengthen  the  links  between  environmental  protection  and  growth  and  makes  specific 
reference to GMES. 

EN 

26 

   EN 

 
                                                 
(3) 

create  opportunities  for  increased  private  sector  usage  of  information  sources, 
thereby facilitating innovation by value-adding service providers. 

In  particular,  development  of  Earth  observation-based  services  plays  a  key  role  in 
enhancing  competitiveness  and  innovation  in  industries  in  this  sector  and  in  the 
downstream  markets.  Sustainable  provision  of  Earth  observation-related  services  in 
Europe  still  requires  consistent  public  intervention.  This  is  not  only  because  of  market 
failures in answering diverse public needs but also because the downstream market is a 
non-mature market relying heavily on public funding and whose development has, until 
today,  been  significantly  curbed  by  uncertainties  about  the  affordability  and  long-term 
availability  of  the  basic  services  and  the  data  they  build  upon.  Achievement  of  the 
specific objectives outlined above will therefore contribute to growth and job creation in 
an  innovative  sector,  the  downstream  segment  of  which  is  made  up  mainly  of  SMEs. 
These  services  will  facilitate  access  to  key  data  required  in  policy  formulation  at  local 
and  regional  level  in  fields  such  as  agriculture,  including  forestry,  and  water 
management. For example, they could contribute to improving road network design and 
maintenance.  Ultimately,  this  will  also  have  an  impact  on  assessing  climate  change 
better. 

The  emergency  component  is  expected  to  lead  to  more  effective  delivery  of  civil 
protection services, contributing to avoiding loss of life and mitigating damage to critical 
economic  infrastructure,  by  allowing  better  forecasting  of  the  areas  subject  to 
environmental  risks,  access  to  more  timely  and  accurate  mapping  services  during 
disasters  and  better  management  of  the  crisis  after  the  event  has  occurred.  The 
operational objectives, outputs, results and related indicators are summed up in the table 
below. 

EN 

27 

   EN 

 
Operational 
objective 

Output 

Output target indicator 

Results 

Result indicator 

Impact 

Impact indicator 

1. To enable the 
provision of 
emergency response 
services 

1.1. European mapping 
service for emergency 
response 

Mapping activated on 
demand at European level 

Improved 
availability and 
timeliness of map 
delivery 

Demand 
satisfied within 
budget available 

1.2. Product integration 
for emergency response 

Dedicated mapping 
activated on demand 

Enhanced 
availability of 
dedicated regional 
mapping service 

2.  To  enable 
provision  of 
monitoring services 

the 
land 

2.1. Periodic land cover 
mapping service 

Pan-EU land cover and hot 
spot land cover maps 
service 

Enhanced 
availability of 
mapping service  

Demand 
satisfied within 
budget available 

Degree of 
satisfaction of 
relevant user 

More timely 
and reliable 
access to data 
and 
information 
produced by 
the action 

2.2. Dynamic land 
monitoring activities 

Essential climate variables 
produced on a daily basis  

Steady flow of data 

3. To support take-up 
of services by users 

3. Measures to support 
take-up of operational 
services by users 

Accompanying measures 
(including interfaces and 
training) to stimulate use of 
information by users  

Technical interfaces 
in place and users 
aware of services 

Enhanced 
awareness of 
users and use of 
services 

EN 

28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. To provide 
financial support for 
GMES space 
component 
operations 

4. Routine operations of 
sentinels 1A, 2A and 
3A40 and data access-
related ground segment 
operations 

Grants supporting sentinel 
operations 

Routine operations 
of the three sentinels 
ensured 

No disruption of 
operations  

Routine 
operations 
ensured over 
the duration of 
the action 

5. Acquisition and 
provision of data  

5. Data procurement in 
support of service 
operations 

Contract for data 
acquisition/access 

Multi-user licences 
for data  

Enhanced data 
availability and 
access 

40 

The Sentinels are space missions developed in the framework of an ESA optional programme co-financed by the EU. 

EN 

29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
5.4.  Method of implementation (indicative) 

Show below the method(s)41 chosen for implementation of the action. 

X 

Centralised management 

X Directly by the Commission 

X Indirectly by delegation to: 

(cid:133) 

Executive agencies 

X 

Bodies set up by the Communities as referred to in Article 185 
of the Financial Regulation 

X  National  public-sector  bodies/bodies  with  public-service 

mission 

X International organisations 

Shared or decentralised management 

With Member States 

With Third countries 

X 

Joint management with international organisations (European Space Agency) 

The various actions will be implemented directly by the Commission by means of: 

–  Grants awarded by means of an open call for proposals; 

–  Grants awarded to designated beneficiaries identified in the annual work programme; 

–  Tendering procedures. 

41 

If more than one method is indicated please provide additional details in the “Relevant comments” 
section of this point. 

EN 

30 

   EN 

 
                                                 
6. 

MONITORING AND EVALUATION 

6.1.  Monitoring system 

A monitoring system will be put in place to ensure the highest quality outputs and most 
efficient  use  of  resources.  Monitoring  will  run  throughout  the  life  of  the  programme.  It 
will be based on feedback about the programme from institutional users and beneficiaries, 
including data review and data collection by means of targeted surveys.  

6.2. 

Evaluation 

6.2.1.  Ex-ante evaluation 

An  extended  impact  assessment  integrating  ex-ante  evaluation  requirements  has  been 
undertaken.  Following  comparative  assessment  of  the  available  policy  options,  the 
preferred policy option was identified and the associated impact, risks, assumptions and 
cost-effectiveness were assessed. This proposal is fully consistent with the conclusions of 
the assessment. 

6.2.2.  Measures  taken  following  an  intermediate/ex-post  evaluation  (lessons  learned 

from similar experience in the past) 

This  proposal  builds  on  the  experience  acquired  during  development  of  GMES  as  a 
research initiative over the last ten years. This experience proves that, while funding for 
research is still necessary to continue development of GMES, it has become necessary to 
support delivery of some key Earth observation services in order to reap the full benefits 
of the investments made so far and to respond to the needs identified above. 

6.2.3.  Terms and frequency of future evaluation 

Eighteen months after the start of the programme, an external interim evaluation will be 
undertaken of the results achieved and of the qualitative aspects of implementation of the 
programme. Two years after the end of the programme, an external ex-post evaluation of 
its results and impact will be submitted. 

7. 

ANTI-FRAUD MEASURES 

Administrative  monitoring  of  the  contracts,  grants  and  related  payments  will  be  the 
responsibility  of  the  central  Commission  services  and/or  EC  Delegations  in  beneficiary 
countries. 

Particular attention will be paid to the nature of expenditure (eligibility), to keeping to the 
budget (actual costs) and to verifying supporting documents and relevant documentation. 

EN 

31 

   EN 

 
8. 

DETAILS OF RESOURCES 

8.1. 

Objectives of the proposal in terms of their financial cost 

(Headings of objectives, action and outputs should 
be provided) 

Type of output 

Av. 
cost 

2011 

2012 

2013 

TOTAL 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

Commitment appropriations in EUR million (to 3 decimal places) 

OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVE No 1  

Emergency response services  

- Output 1.1: European mapping service for emergency 
response 

Service 

- Output 1.2: Product integration for emergency 
response 

Service 

Sub-total Objective 1 

OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVE No 2 

Land monitoring services 

- Output 2.1: Periodic land cover mapping service 

Service 

- Output 2.2: Dynamic land monitoring activities 

Service 

Sub-total Objective 2 

OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVE No 3  

Take-up of the services by users 

3 

1 

2 

7 

1.7 

4.3 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

3 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

2 

3 

1 

4 

8 

2 

10 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

2 

5 

1 

6 

11 

2 

13 

- Output 3: Measures to support take-up of operational 
services by users 

Set of accompanying 
measures 

1.7 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

2 

EN 

32 

9 

3 

12 

21 

5 

26 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Total 
cost 

5 

40 

40 

(Headings of objectives, action and outputs should 
be provided) 

Type of output 

Av. 
cost 

2011 

2012 

2013 

TOTAL 

Sub-total Objective 3 

1.7 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

2 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

No of 
outputs 

OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVE No 4  

GMES space component operations 

- Output 4: Support for space infrastructure operations 

Satellite operations 

Sub-total Objective 4 

OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVE No 5 

Type of output 

Access to data for the services   

- Output 5: Acquisition of data and support for data 
access 

Dataset 

Sub-total Objective 5 

TOTAL COSTS 

COSTS FOR RESEARCH ACTIVITIES 
FINANCED UNDER THE FP7 SPACE THEME 
ACCOMPANYING INITIAL OPERATIONS 

TOTAL (INCLUDING FP 7): 

EN 

- 

- 

1 

1 

15 

15 

1 

1 

25 

25 

- 

- 

20 

20 

Av. 
cost 

2011 

2012 

2013 

TOTAL 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

No of 
outputs 

Total 
cost 

1 

1 

1 

1 

10 

10 

41 

15 

56 

10 

10 

56 

18 

74 

24 

24 

107 

43 

150 

8 

8 

1 

1 

4 

4 

10 

10 

20 

33 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8.2. 

Administrative expenditure 

8.2.1.  Number and type of human resources 

DG ENTR calculates the staffing needs for this initiative as follows. 

Types of 
post 

Staff to be assigned to management of the action using existing and/or additional 
resources (number of posts/FTEs) 

2011 

2012 

2013 

Year n+3 

Year n+4 

Year n+5 

11 

6 

A*/AD 

B*, 
C*/AST 

Officials 
or 
temporary 
staff42 
(XX 01 
01) 

Staff financed43 by 
Article XX 01 02 

Other staff44 
financed by Article 
XX 01 04/05 

1 

0 

12 

8 

2 

0 

12 

9 

3 

0 

TOTAL 

18 

22 

24 

The DG will seek to rationalise its organisational set up by seeking increased synergies and 
re-examine  its  staffing  situation  in  the  light  of  circumstances  pertaining  at  the  time  and  in 
particular in the light of the findings of the Commission's ongoing HR screening process. It is 
expected that by exploring these means sufficient internal redeployment possibilities will be 
identified to cover the majority of staff needed for this initiative. If the full number of staff 
needed cannot be identified in this process, the user DGs will make a request for the balance 
of the staff needs in the respective APS exercise.  

8.2.2.  Description of tasks deriving from the action 

–  Policy  officers  (AD/SNE):  responsible  for  programme-related  policy  design  and  overall 

coordination; 

–  Programme  managers  (AD):  responsible  for  programme  implementation,  monitoring  and 

evaluation; 

–  Assistant  programme  managers  (AST):  responsible  for  assisting  programme  managers  in 

their tasks; 

–  Finance  and  contracts  assistants  (AST/contract  agents):  responsible  for  management  of 

grants and contracts; 

–  Administrative assistants (AST): responsible for administrative and secretarial support. 

42 
43 
44 

Cost of which is NOT covered by the reference amount. 
Cost of which is NOT covered by the reference amount. 
Cost of which is included in the reference amount. 

EN 

34 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
8.2.3. 

Sources of human resources (statutory) 

Posts  currently  allocated  to  management  of  the  programme  to  be  replaced  or 

(cid:133) 
extended 

(cid:133) 

Posts pre-allocated within the APS/PDB exercise for year n 

X 

Posts to be requested in the next APS/PDB procedure 

Posts to be redeployed using existing resources in the managing DG (internal 

X 
redeployment) 

Posts required for year n although not foreseen in the APS/PDB exercise of the 

(cid:133) 
year in question. 

The needs for human and administrative resources will be covered in the allocation 
that  can  be  granted  to  the  managing  DG  in  the  annual  procedure  in  the  light  of 
budgetary constraints. 

8.2.4.  Other  administrative  expenditure  included  in  reference  amount  (XX  01  04/05  – 

Expenditure on administrative management) 

Budget line 

(number and heading) 

1. Technical and administrative 
assistance (including related staff costs) 

Executive agencies45 

Other technical and administrative 
assistance 

- intra muros  

- extra muros46 

Total technical and administrative 
assistance 

EUR million (to 3 decimal places) 

2011  2012  2013  Year n+3  Year n+4  
and later 

TOTAL 

1 

1 

2 

2 

2 

2 

8.2.5.  Financial cost of human resources and associated costs not included in the reference 

amount 

Type of human resources 

2011 

2012 

2013 

Year n+3  Year n+4  Year n+5 

EUR million (to 3 decimal places) 

45 

46 

Reference  should  be  made  to  the  specific  legislative  financial  statement  for  the  executive  agency  (or 
agencies) concerned. 
Technical  and  administrative  assistance  related  to  grant  coordination  at  level  of  Member  States  for 
activity 1 and land monitoring. 

EN 

35 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
and later 

Officials and temporary staff 
(XX 01 01) 

2.1 

2.4 

2.6 

Staff financed by Article XX 01 02 
(auxiliary, SNE, contract staff, etc.) 

0.06 

0.14 

0.2 

(specify budget line) 

Total cost of human resources and 
associated costs (NOT in reference 
amount) 

2.1 

2.5 

2.8 

EN 

36 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Calculation – Officials and temporary staff 

Reference should be made to point 8.2.1, if applicable. 

€122 000 per official per year 

€73 000 per SNE per year 

€64 000 per contract agent per year 

Calculation – Staff financed under Article XX 01 02 

2011 – 1 contract agent 

2012 – 1 contract agent + 1 SNE 

2013 – 2 contract agents + 1 SNE 

8.2.6.  Other administrative expenditure not included in reference amount 

EUR million (to 3 decimal places) 

2011 

2012 

2013  Year 
n+3 

Year 
n+4 

Year 
n+5 

TOTAL 

XX 01 02 11 01 – Missions 

0.023 

0.025 

0.030 

XX 01 02 11 02 – Meetings and conferences 

0.208 

0.208 

0.208 

XX 01 02 11 03 – Committees47  

0.139 

0.139 

0.139 

and 
later 

0.078 

0.624 

0.417 

XX 01 02 11 04 – Studies and consultations 

XX 01 02 11 05 – Information systems 

2. Total other management expenditure 
(XX 01 02 11) 

3. Other expenditure of an 
administrative nature (specify including 
reference to budget line) 

Total administrative expenditure, other 
than human resources and associated 
costs (NOT included in reference 
amount) 

0.350 

0.352 

0.357 

1.059 

0.350 

0.352 

0.357 

1.059 

Calculation – Other administrative expenditure not included in reference amount 

47 

Specify the type of committee and the group to which it belongs. 

EN 

37 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
Maximum of 20 two-day missions per year at an average daily cost of €750 each= €30 000 

6 two-day meetings involving an average of 30 participants at €1 044 (€860 travel + €92 per 
diem * 2 days) = €187 920 

3 committee meetings: €860 per participan t * 54 participants (per year) = €139 320 

The human and administrative resources needed will be covered within the allocation that can 
be granted to the managing DG in the annual procedure in the light of budgetary constraints. 

8.2.7. 

Implementation – human resources 

To  calculate  the  human  resources  necessary  for  this  action  the  following  analyses  were 
undertaken: 

–  Identification of the implementation mechanisms for delivery of the various outputs; 

–  Identification  of  the  main  broad  categories  of  tasks  required  by  the  implementation 

mechanisms; 

–  Identification  of  the  number  of  times  that  the  task  is  repeated  over  the  duration  of  the 

action; 

–  Estimation of the staff requirements in full-time equivalents (FTE) per task per year. 

Summary description of implementation mechanisms 

Operational 
objectives 

Output 

Implementation mechanisms 

the 
1.  To  enable 
provision 
of 
emergency response 
services 

1.1. European mapping 
service for emergency 
response 

1.2. Product integration 
for emergency response 

2. To allow 
provision of land 
monitoring services 

2.1. Periodic land cover 
mapping service 

Procurement to establish rapid service mapping on 
demand; other mapping on demand covering different 
phases of the response cycle; reference mapping; map 
validation and control; data archiving, referencing and 
dissemination functions. Management of the 
procurement cycle. Follow-up of service. Coordination 
of other relevant service providers. 

Call for proposals for grants targeted at relevant 
entities in this field focusing on specific information 
for end-users at regional level on the basis of data 
provided at EU level. Management of call for proposal 
cycle. Follow-up of implementation of grants. 
Coordination needed between the different civil 
protection organisations.  

Activities at European level: Procurement to establish 
the following services at European level: image pre-
processing; access to reference data; multiple land 
cover and land cover change products; map validation 
and control; data archiving, referencing and 
dissemination functions. Management of the 
procurement cycle. Follow-up of the service. 
Coordination of other relevant service providers. 

EN 

38 

   EN 

 
Activities at regional level: Call for proposals for 
grants targeted at relevant entities in this field with a 
view to deriving European products from aggregation 
of inventories existing in Member States using a 
common object-oriented model. Follow-up of 
implementation of grants. Coordination needed 
between the relevant organisations. 

Procurement to establish a service for production, on a 
daily basis, of a set of bio-geophysical parameters in 
real time and at global level. Management of the 
procurement cycle. Follow-up of the service. 
Coordination of other relevant service providers.  

Procurement for provision of a service aimed at 
stimulating use of data and information by end-users 
and to “plug” the GMES services to the user-specific 
environment and information flow. Management of 
the procurement cycle. Follow-up of the service. 
Coordination of other relevant service providers. 

Funding for ESA-operated activities possibly under 
joint management. Management of joint management 
agreement. Procurement of in situ data and 
management of the procurement cycle. Follow-up of 
relevant activities. 

2.2. Dynamic land 
monitoring activities 

3. To support take-
up of services by 
users 

3. Measures to support 
take-up of operational 
services by users 

4. and 5 To provide 
financial support 
for GMES space 
component and data 
access 

4. Routine operations of 
sentinels 1A, 2A and 
3A[1], data access-
related ground segment 
operations and data 
access agreements with 
data owners 

Human resources required per output and task 

Output 

Broad task category 

No of 
tasks 

2011 
(FTE) 

2012 
(FTE) 

2013 
(FTE) 

1.1. European 
mapping 
service for 
emergency 
response 

1.2. Product 
integration for 
emergency 
response  

(a) Procurement design, publication, evaluation 
and contracting 

1 

1 

(b) Follow-up of the contracted mapping service 

(c) Coordination of European mapping 

(d) Financial processing and administrative 
follow-up of the activity  

Total 1.1: 

(a) Grants – Call for proposals design, publication, 
evaluation and contracting 

2 

3 

3 

0.5 

0.5 

0.25 

0.5 

1 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

1.75 

3 

0.75 

1.5 

0.5 

2 

0.5 

(b) Follow-up of grants for specific mapping 
activities 

15 

0.25 

1 

1 

EN 

39 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
2.1. Periodic 
land cover 
mapping 
service 

(c) Coordination at European level of relevant 
operators 

3 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

(d) Financial processing and administrative 
follow-up of the activity  

15 

1 

1.5 

1.5 

Total 1.2: 

Total objective 1: 

(a)  Procurement  design,  publication,  evaluation 
and contracting 

(b) Follow-up of contracted services 

(c) Grants – Call for proposals design, publication, 
evaluation and contracting 

(d) Follow-up of grants 

(e) Coordination at European level of relevant 
operators 

2.5 

3.5 

4.25 

5 

3.5 

5.5 

1 

0.5 

1 

2 

0.25 

0.5 

0.5 

0 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

3 

9 

3 

9 

3 

(f) Financial processing and administrative follow-
up of procurement and grants for the activity  

18 

1.5 

2.5 

3 

Total 2.1: 

3.75 

5 

6.5 

(a) Procurement design, publication, evaluation 
and contracting 

1 

0.75 

(b) Follow-up of contracted services 

2 

0.25 

0.5 

0.5 

2.2 Dynamic 
land 
monitoring 
activities 

(c) Dissemination and accompanying measures 

3 

0.75 

0.75 

(d) Financial processing and administrative 
follow-up of the activity  

3 

0.75 

0.75 

0.75 

Total 2.2: 

Total objective 2: 

3. Take-up of 
operational 
services 

(a) Procurement design, publication, evaluation 
and contracting 

(b) Follow-up of contracted services 

(c) Coordination activities 

(d) Financial processing and administrative 
follow-up of the activity  

1.75 

5.5 

1 

0.25 

1 

2 

2 

2 

2 

7 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

2 

8.5 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

Total objective 3 

1.25 

1.5 

1.5 

EN 

40 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. and 5 
GMES space 
operations 
and data 
access 

(a)  Preparation  of  joint  management  agreement 
with ESA 

(b) Operational supervision of agreement 

(c) Coordination at national/Member State level 

(d) Administrative and financial monitoring of the 
agreement 

Total objective 4 and 5 

Management, 
expert advice 
and overheads 

(a) Management – Head of Unit 

(b) Financial coordination  

(c) Legal advisor 

(d) Space specialist 

(e) Users interface – contact person 

(f) Secretariat  

Total overheads 

1 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

1 

1 

1 

0.5 

0.5 

1 

1 

2 

6 

Total human resources required 

18 

1 

0.5 

0.5 

2 

1 

1 

0.5 

0.5 

2 

1 

0.5 

0.5 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2 

6.5 

22 

6.5 

24 

EN 

41 

   EN