REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the implementation of the Council Recommendation on promoting health-enhancing physical activity across sectors
Date: 2016-12-05
Institutions: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission
Subjects: European cooperation, World Health Organisation, approximation of policies, health care, physical education, public awareness campaign, sport

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 5.12.2016  
COM(2016) 768 final 

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

on the implementation of the Council Recommendation on promoting health-enhancing 
physical activity across sectors 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT 

The  Council  requested  the  Commission  to  report  on  progress  on  implementing  the  Council 
Recommendation  on  promoting  health-enhancing  physical  activity  (HEPA)  across  sectors 
(hereinafter referred to as the 'Council Recommendation'),1 adopted in November 2013, every 
three years, and on its added value. This progress report covers the 2014-2016 period. 

Most people in Europe do not reach the minimum levels of physical activity recommended by 
the  World  Health  Organisation  (WHO).2  In  particular,  people  with 
low  socioeconomic 
backgrounds,  minority  ethnic  groups,  and  people  with  disabilities  are  not  physically  active 
enough. EU Member States acknowledged the need to boost HEPA policies at national level and 
recognised  the  benefits  of  action  at  EU  level,  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  Council 
Recommendation on HEPA in 2013, based on a proposal from the Commission. More recently, 
the Council adopted conclusions on the promotion of motor skills, physical and sport activities 
for  young  children.3  It  invited  Member  States  to  raise  awareness  of  the  benefits  of  regular 
physical activity from early childhood onwards and to encourage children to be more active by 
implementing cross-sector policies, for example in the education, youth and health sectors. 

The  Council  Recommendation  encourages  EU  Member  States  to  work  across  sectors  and  to 
involve  policy  areas  such  as  sport,  health,  education,  environment  and  transport  in  their 
national  strategies  and  action  plans.  It  also  encourages  Member  States  to  cooperate  closely 
with each other and the Commission by regularly exchanging information and best practices. In 
addition,  the  Council  recognised  that  more  reliable  and  timely  information  on  the  situation 
across  the  EU  was  essential  to  support  national  and  regional  policy-making,  and  therefore 
proposed  a  monitoring  framework  based  on  the  EU  Physical  Activity  Guidelines4  (‘the  HEPA 
monitoring framework’). 

2.  METHOD 

The HEPA monitoring framework is composed of 23 indicators covering different thematic areas 
relevant  for  HEPA:  international  physical  activity  recommendations  and  guidelines,  a  cross-
sector  approach,  sport,  health,  education,  environment  (including  urban  planning  and  public 
safety), working environment, senior citizens, evaluation, and public awareness. 

The  Council  Recommendation  called  on  each  EU  Member  State  to  appoint  a  national  physical 
activity  focal  point  to  coordinate  the  collection  of  information  for  the  HEPA  monitoring 

1 OJ C 354, 4.12.2013, p. 1. 

2 Figures from the 2014 Special Eurobarometer on Sport and Physical Activity indicate that 6 out of every 
10 people above 15 years of age never or seldom exercise or play a sport, and more than half never 
or seldom engage in other kind of physical activity, such as cycling or walking, household chores or 
gardening. Similarly, according to the WHO, only 34 % of 13-15 year olds are active enough to meet 
the current WHO recommendation for children and young people. 

3 OJ C 417, 15.12.2015, p.46. 

4 EU Physical Activity Guidelines. Recommended Policy Actions in Support of Health-Enhancing Physical 

Activity. Brussels: European Commission; 2008. 

2 

 
 
                                                            
framework at national level. All 28 EU Member States designated their focal points by mid-2014 
and the network of physical activity focal points was launched in Rome in October 2014. Data 
for use in the HEPA monitoring framework was collected in 2015, in cooperation with the WHO. 
With the Commission’s support, the network met in January 2015 and June 2015 to share and 
discuss  difficulties  encountered,  and  in  April  2016  and  September  2016  to  discuss  lessons 
learned and future rounds of data collection. 

In addition, the Commission worked with a consortium of researchers led by the University of 
Erlangen-Nurnberg  (Germany)  to  provide  the  focal  points  with  assistance  on  the  HEPA 
monitoring  framework.5  The  consortium  also  carried  out  an  independent  assessment  of  the 
monitoring  framework  and  of  the  process  (HEPA  study).6  As  part  of  this  study,  a  specific 
situation analysis was conducted in several countries, to collect feedback, lessons learned and 
suggestions related to the implementation of the HEPA monitoring framework, and to provide 
the  Commission  with  recommendations  for  improving  different  elements  of  the  monitoring 
framework and of the support provided to Member States. 

This  progress  report  is  based  on  contributions  from  the  Member  States,  received  mainly 
through the network of physical activity focal points and from the WHO. The report builds on 
the HEPA study mentioned above. 

3.  WHO DATABASE ON NUTRITION, OBESITY AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (NOPA) AND COUNTRY FACTSHEETS 

ON HEPA 

All data collected through the HEPA monitoring framework fed into the existing WHO European 
database  on  nutrition,  obesity  and  physical  activity  (NOPA).7  NOPA’s  main  components  are 
epidemiological  and  prevalence  data,  policy  actions  and  good  practices  related  to  nutrition, 
obesity and physical activity. The Commission supported the WHO’s further development of the 
physical  activity  parts  of  the  database,  to  adapt  it  to  the  HEPA  monitoring  framework  and  to 
improve the user interface. 

The Commission supported and closely cooperated with the WHO Regional Office for Europe to 
compile Member States’ contributions into country factsheets on HEPA.8 These factsheets were 
released  at  the  occasion  of  the  European  Week  of  Sport  in  September  2015.  They  present 
country-specific overviews on HEPA (including good practices), and include an analysis of HEPA 
trends and situation in the EU. The WHO Regional Office for Europe reported that in May 2016 
the country factsheets ranked in the top 20 products consulted on the WHO’s website. 

5 Webinar training sessions were provided, as was ongoing support via phone and an email hotline. 

6 Study on the implementation of the EU Physical Activity Guidelines — Final Report — Friedrich-
Alexander University, Erlangen-Nürnberg (http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/study-on-the-
implementation-of-the-eu-physical-activity-guidelines-
pbNC0116019/?CatalogCategoryID=CdcKABstHUgAAAEjBJEY4e5L). 

7 http://www.whonopa.eu/. 

8 http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/physical-activity/country-work. 

3 

 
 
                                                            
4.  HEPA POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL 

In  this  first  round  of  data  collection  under  the  HEPA  monitoring  framework,  27  of  28  EU 
countries9  took  part  in  the  survey  on  implementing  the  23  indicators.  The  data  collected 
presents a good overview of the state of play of HEPA promotion in the EU. It can be consulted 
in  the  WHO’s  NOPA  database.  An  overview  is  provided  in  the  country  factsheets  on  physical 
activity published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Commission. 

Following the adoption of the  Council Recommendation in November 2013, all 27 respondent 
countries have developed national policies or action plans in one or more of the sectors covered 
by the HEPA monitoring framework. Notably, Member States adopted new policies in the sport 
sector  (13  Member  States),  the  health  sector  (10  Member  States),  the  education  sector  (8 
Member  States),  in  the  environment,  urban  planning  and  public  safety  sector  (including 
transport; 3 Member States) and in the senior citizens sector (3 Member States). However, of 
the  152  policies  and  action  plans  reported,  many  had  already  started  before  the  Council 
Recommendation was adopted. 

An  indicator  is  considered  implemented  when  a  Member  State  has  introduced  a  policy  or 
programme  that  is  tracked  using  the  indicator.  There  are  23  indicators  in  the  monitoring 
framework;  23  countries  have  implemented  10  or  more  indicators,  while  five  countries  have 
implemented 20 or more. Only one country fully addressed and implemented all 23 indicators 
of the monitoring framework. It is notable that only seven countries have implemented policies 
covering all thematic areas of the monitoring framework. 

The figure below illustrates the number of indicators implemented by 27 EU Member States. 

9 Greece did not take part in the survey. 

4 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
An  overview  of  the  results  of  the  HEPA  monitoring  framework  by  thematic  area  is  presented 
below.10 

National policy recommendations on physical activity for health have been put in place by 19 
countries. Of these, 18 target adults, 17 address young people and 16 are aimed at older adults. 
In 10 countries, the national recommendations were based on the WHO recommendations. One 
country’s  recommendations  followed  the  EU’s  physical  activity  guidelines.  Eight  countries 
followed other international recommendations or a combination of them. 

A  total  of  16  countries  reported  having  a  fully  developed  and  implemented  specific  national 
coordinating  mechanism  for  promoting  HEPA.  One  country  reported  strong  cross-ministry 
cooperation which had the same effect as a coordinating mechanism, and four more countries 
plan to introduce a mechanism within two years. 

National ‘sport for all’ policies were implemented in 22 countries. Seven countries implemented 
policies that were not dedicated exclusively to ‘sport for all’, but included ‘sport for all’ as one of 
the topics. 

‘Sport  clubs  for  health’  programmes  (which  encourage  sport  clubs  to  invest  in  health-related 
sport activities and in promoting health as linked to sport activities) were implemented in seven 
countries. Two more countries plan to implement such programmes in the near future. 

Some countries addressed the needs of more than one target group in an integrated way, while 
others  addressed  particular  target  groups  depending  on  the  HEPA  sector.  In  particular,  10 
countries  reported  having  implemented  specific  frameworks  to  support  access  to  recreational 
or  exercise  facilities  for  socially  disadvantaged  groups  (immigrants  or  socially  vulnerable 
people).  Two  Member  States  focused  more  on  using  sport  as  an  integral  component  of 
rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for disabled people. 

HEPA  policies  were  implemented  in  the  health  sector  in  22  countries.  Training  on  physical 
activity  was  included  in  curricula  for  health  professionals  in  17  countries.  In  14  countries, 
physical  activity  was  included  in  training  modules  for  doctors  and  physiotherapists;  in  eight 
countries it was included in training modules for nurses. In addition, 13 countries put in place 
programmes  to  promote  physical  activity  counselling  by  health  professionals.  These 
programmes  related  mostly  to  preventing  non-communicable  diseases  and  provided  guidance 
to health professionals, sometimes in the form of free online courses.  

In  19  countries,  HEPA  policies  were  implemented  in  relation  to  the  environment,  urban 
planning, and public safety (including transport). Walking was reported to be among the three 
main modes of transport for daily activities in 20 countries; cycling was among the top three in 
eight countries. Furthermore, some countries introduced measures such as tax incentives (e.g. 
VAT refunds on bikes purchased, tax exemptions and/or employee compensation for walking or 
cycling to work), high parking fees and congestion charges. 

10 Promoting physical activity for health in the European Union: current state of surveillance, policy 
development and implementation: Jelena Jakovljevic, Joao Breda, Olivier Fontaine, Susanne 
Hollmann, Alfred Rutten, Gauden Galea [not yet published]. 

5 

 
 
                                                            
14 countries reported having implemented active travel-to-work schemes (one more plan to do 
so in the near future), while 12 countries put in place schemes to encourage physical activity in 
the workplace (six more plan to do so in the near future). 

Four  countries  reported  having 
improving 
infrastructure for leisure-time physical activity11 at national level, and six more countries plan 
to do so in the near future.   

implemented  the  European  guidelines  for 

HEPA  policies  were  implemented  in  the  education  sector  in  19  countries.  While  all  Member 
States implemented a measure that requires a certain number of mandatory physical education 
hours in schools (varying from one to almost five depending on the grade and country/region), 
six countries allowed for a combination of mandatory and optional physical education classes in 
primary  schools,  and  five  allowed  this  in  secondary  schools.  Several  countries  also  reported 
having  implemented  various  school-related  HEPA  promotion  programmes:  active  breaks 
between  lessons  (eight  countries),  active  breaks  during  school  lessons  (four  countries),  and 
extra-curricular  activities  (11  countries).  To  encourage  active  travel  to  school,  nine  countries 
reported  having  implemented  programmes  with  measures  to  make  cycling  and  walking  to 
school safer. HEPA was included in the training of physical education teachers in 20 countries.  

Community interventions to promote physical activity among  senior citizens  were reported in 
13 countries, including two countries with plans to implement such projects in the near future 
(e.g. programmes to strengthen older adults’ balance and coordination, including frailty and fall 
prevention, education and exercise counselling). 

Successful  communication  campaigns  to  raise  public  awareness  of  the  benefits  of  physical 
activity  and  to  increase  the  number  of  people  who  are  physically  active  were  reported  by  18 
countries.  One  country  reported  as  many  as  14  different  campaigns.  While  some  campaigns 
targeted all citizens, others were aimed at vulnerable groups, such as children or senior citizens. 
The outreach of the campaigns was sometimes nationwide, while at other times it was limited 
to a region or city. 

5.  MEASURING THE PREVALENCE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY  

Monitoring  trends  and  changes  in  the  population’s  level  of  physical  activity  over  time  is 
important for developing, evaluating and improving national policies on physical activity. Under 
the HEPA monitoring framework, physical activity levels in the EU Member States were reported 
as  percentages  of  adults,  children  and  adolescents  who  were  reaching  the  minimum  levels  of 
physical activity recommended by the WHO.12 

Systems to monitor the population’s physical activity levels were reported to be in place in 17 
Member States (5 more are expected within two years). However, these systems were based on 

11 For more information on the Commission-funded project ‘Improving infrastructure for leisure time 

physical activity in the local arena’ (IMPALA) see 
http://www.impalaeu.org/fileadmin/user_upload/IMPALA_guideline_draft.pdf. A follow-up 
Erasmus+ project is implemented in 2015-2017 (IMPALA.net). 

12 http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_recommendations/en/. 

6 

 
 
                                                            
a  variety  of  different  survey  instruments  and  questionnaires.  Furthermore,  several  countries 
reported data on physical activity levels from more than one source or instrument. 12 countries 
provided data on adults’  physical activity levels from independent  national studies. Data from 
EU surveys were also reported (six countries reported Eurobarometer data13 and two countries 
used  European  Health  Interview  Survey14  results  as  their  national  data  on  physical  activity 
levels).  One  country  also  reported  data  from  the  objective  measurement  of  physical  activity, 
using devices such as accelerometers. Data for children and adolescents mostly came from the 
in  School-aged  Children  survey,15  which  provides  a 
largely  accepted 
Health  Behaviour 
standardised  source  of  data  for  international  comparisons  and  observation  of  trends,  or  from 
nationally representative studies. Where no national data were available, estimates of physical 
activity levels were extracted from the WHO’s Global Health Observatory.16 

The  reported  data  revealed  big  differences  within  and  between  countries,  depending  on  the 
survey  instruments  and  methodologies  used.  Notably,  there  were  significant  differences 
between data obtained via some national surveys, EU surveys such as the Eurobarometer and 
the  European  Health  Interview  Survey,  and  especially  the  WHO  Global  Health  Observatory 
estimates.  Member  States  reported  that  they  were  aware  of  this  issue  and  the  related 
difficulties with ensuring the validity and comparability of physical activity data in the EU. The 
publication of contradictory data from different survey instruments was identified as a concern 
for the promotion of physical activity, and as an issue that needs to be addressed. 

6. 

COOPERATION ON HEPA BETWEEN MEMBER STATES AND WITH THE COMMISSION 

The  Council  Recommendation  encourages  Member  States  to  cooperate  closely  among 
themselves and with the Commission on promoting HEPA, by engaging in a process of regular 
exchange  of  information  and  best  practices.  The  Commission  was  invited  to  facilitate  these 
exchanges and to support the Member States in their work in this area. 

The Expert Group on Heath-Enhancing Physical Activity, set up under the EU Work Plan for Sport 
2014-2017,17  was  charged  with  coordinating 
the  Council 
Recommendation.  Presentations  of  good  practices  in  promoting  HEPA  (including  EU  funded 
research18),  from  Member  States  and  observer  organisations,  were  systematically  included  in 
the  meetings,19  to  facilitate  the  exchange  of  experience  and  lessons  learned.  In  addition,  the 
expert group compiled a set of good practices from all Member States and sport organisations 

implementation  of 

the 

13 http://ec.europa.eu/health/nutrition_physical_activity/docs/ebs_412_en.pdf. 

14 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-

explained/index.php/Glossary:European_health_interview_survey_%28EHIS%29. 

15 http://www.hbsc.org/. 

16 http://www.who.int/gho/en/. 

17 (2014/C 183/03) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:42014Y0614 %2803 %29. 

18 7th Framework Programme and Horizon 2020 projects 

19 See meeting reports: http://ec.europa.eu/sport/policy/cooperation/expert-groups-2014-2017_en.htm. 

7 

 
 
                                                            
who attended the meetings as observers.20 This was to provide inspiration for those countries 
that  are  in  the  process  of  developing  or  modifying  their  national  strategies  and  policies.  The 
network  of  focal  points  also  created  opportunities  to  exchange  information  and  for  peer-
learning  (various  presentations  from  Member  States  were  systematically  included  in  the 
network’s meetings as well). 

The Commission supported the WHO in providing technical assistance to several Member States 
who were developing and implementing national physical activity guidelines. More specifically, 
it  supported  the  development  and  implementation  of  a  toolkit  that  aims  to  improve  the 
promotion of HEPA in primary health care settings in Croatia, and the development of a national 
strategy on physical activity in Malta and Portugal. 

In  addition,  the  sport  chapter  of  the  Erasmus+  Programme,21  which  covers  the  2014-2020 
period,  includes  in  its  objectives  the  promotion  of  awareness  of  the  importance  of  HEPA, 
through increased participation in and equal access to sport for all. In 2014 and 2015, the EU co-
financed a total of 26 collaborative partnerships aiming to encourage participation in sport and 
physical activity. These projects were implemented in a significant number of Member States, 
thus  reaching  out  to  the  European  citizens  in  their  local  environments,  and  targeted  various 
sections  of  the  population,  including  children,  the  elderly  and  people  with  disabilities.  The 
Erasmus+ programme supported the efforts of a variety of stakeholders coming from academia, 
public authorities, NGOs and sport clubs in implementing the EU physical activity guidelines in 
the Member States. 

Finally, Member States and the Commission also work together in the context of the European 
Week of Sport, a Europe-wide initiative launched in 2015 and aiming to raise awareness of the 
benefits  of  sport  and  physical  activity,  regardless  of  age,  background  and  fitness  level.  Five 
partnerships were co-financed in the context of the European Week of Sport in 2015, and eight 
in 2016. The first two editions were successful. 31 European countries were involved, and the 
initiative  was  organised  in  partnership  with  major  sport  and  sport-related  organisations,  who 
committed  to  organising  events  and  more  generally  to  promoting  physical  activity.  The 
European  Capitals  and  Cities  of  Sport  Federation,  who  decides  on  the  European  Capital  and 
Cities of Sport awards every year, was among these partners. 

7. 

EUROPEAN STATISTICS ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY 

As  sport  has  gained  an  important  place  in  European  strategies  and  programmes,  there  is  an 
increasing need for harmonised and comparable statistics to strengthen evidence-based policies 
in this field. The Council Recommendation invited the Commission to examine the possibility of 
producing European statistics on physical activity levels based on data collected under the HEPA 
monitoring framework. 

20 http://ec.europa.eu/sport/policy/cooperation/expert-groups-2014-2017_en.htm. 

21 https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/node_en. 

8 

 
 
                                                            
In 2016, Eurostat and the Commission started to disseminate harmonised statistics on physical 
activity  performance,  based  on  already  existing  EU  surveys.22  In  particular,  the  European 
statistical programme for 2013-201723 sets out the provisions under which statistics on physical 
activity  are  to  be  provided.  In  2016,  data  on  physical  activity  levels  and  the  practice  of  sport, 
fitness and recreational activities will be disseminated from the second edition of the European 
Health  Interview  Survey24  (EHIS)  and  the  Time  Use  Surveys.25  Under  the  current  public  health 
statistics  framework  regulation,  the  third  edition  of  the  EHIS  survey  is  planned  for  2019; 
subsequent  surveys  will  be  carried  out  under  the  upcoming  regulation  on  social  microdata 
survey  collections,  which  will  increase  their  frequency  from  five  to  six  years.  Eurostat,  the 
Commission and the Member States are working together to agree on the survey instruments. 

In the context of the HEPA monitoring framework, only two Member States used data from EHIS 
to report on physical activity levels. The main limitation of this survey is that it does not include 
slow  recreational  activities.  Furthermore,  it  does  not  assess  to  what  extent  the  WHO’s 
recommendations on physical activity are met by the population, as is required under the HEPA 
monitoring framework. Such limitations have to be addressed if the EHIS survey is to be used as 
a uniform physical activity monitoring tool across the EU. 

8. 

EVALUATION OF THE COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION’S ADDED VALUE 

The  Council  Recommendation  provided  Member  States  with  an  impetus  to  address  physical 
inactivity  through  public  policy.  Of  the  total  152  policies  and  actions  plans  reported  by  the 
Member  States  across  all  sectors  relevant  for  HEPA  promotion,  37  were  adopted  after  the 
Recommendation was adopted in November 2013. It can be expected that the WHO’s Physical 
Activity  Strategy  for  the  European  Region  2016–2025  will  further  strengthen  the  incentive  for 
Member States to act in this area.26 

The  Council  Recommendation  also  contributed  to  improving  the  monitoring  of  health-
enhancing  physical  activity  in  the  EU  Member  States,  from  epidemiological  data  to  policy 

22 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/4031688/7203321/KS-04-15-823-EN-N.pdf/b911c74d-c336-

421e-bdf7-cfcba4037f94. 

23 Regulation (EU) No 99/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2013 on the 

European statistical programme 2013-17, OJ L 39, 9.2.2013, p. 12. 

24 EHIS is a general population survey that provides information on health status, health determinants 
(such as physical activity) and healthcare activities in the EU. It is currently carried out every five 
years, under Regulation 1338/2008 on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at 
work (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-
explained/index.php/Glossary:European_health_interview_survey_%28EHIS%29 ). 

25 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-RA-08-014. 

26 This physical activity strategy, adopted in September 2015, was prepared in the light of the existing 
voluntary global targets set out in the WHO’s global action plan for the prevention and control of 
non-communicable diseases 2013–2020, endorsed by the Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly in May 
2013. A 10 % relative reduction in the prevalence of insufficient physical activity by 2025 is one of its 
nine global targets. 

9 

 
 
                                                            
developments. As a result, several countries have expanded, intensified or even formalised their 
national cross-sector networks, or plan to do so in the future. 

The  data  collected  under  the  HEPA  monitoring  framework  provided,  for  the  first  time,  an 
overview  of  the  implementation  of  HEPA-related  policies  and  actions  across  the  EU.  This 
information  made  it  possible  to  compare  the  state  of  play  of  HEPA  policy  implementation 
between EU Member States and facilitated the exchange of good practice, providing inspiration 
for those countries that are in the process of developing or modifying their national strategies 
and  policies.  The  outcomes  will  benefit  national  authorities  and  stakeholders  as  they  identify 
policy needs and progress. The data collected under the HEPA monitoring framework are also 
useful for some of the monitoring indicators on physical activity in the Member States’ Action 
Plans on Childhood Obesity.27 The first round of monitoring constitutes a baseline against which 
subsequent rounds of monitoring will be assessed to measure evolution and progress. 

Using  evaluation  plans  to  assess  the  impact  and  effectiveness  of  policies  and  action  plans  at 
national level is crucial.  Out of 152 reported policies or action plans, most (116) contained an 
evaluation  plan.  However  there  was  no  information  reported  on  whether  these  evaluations 
were carried out.  

Overall,  the  focal  points’  contributions  to  the  HEPA  monitoring  framework  were  good,  which 
should  be  considered  very  positive  for  a  first  round  of  monitoring.  For  future  rounds  of  data 
collection, it will be useful to modify the survey instrument for several indicators and to define 
some  indicators  more  precisely  to  reduce  the  margin  for  interpretation  (e.g.  which  status 
guidelines  should  have  to  be  reported).  This  would  make  it  possible  to  perform  better  cross-
country data comparisons. 

The assessment of the first round of monitoring reveals specific national contexts and problems 
that  arose  when  respondents  answered  the  survey.  First,  the  cross-sector  nature  of  the  HEPA 
monitoring  framework  remains  a  possible  challenge.  Focal  points  could  have  missed  some 
information  at  national  level  because  they  did  not  have  the  relevant  network  contacts  or 
resources outside of their own sector.  Secondly, some schemes  and policies  are implemented 
not by national governments but mostly at regional or local level (e.g. in federalist countries), or 
have  to  be  implemented  by  stakeholders  who  do  not  report  back  to  governments.  The 
monitoring  exercise  did  not  explore  in  detail  any  achievements  at  regional  and  local  level. 
Future  rounds  of  monitoring  under  the  HEPA  monitoring  framework  could  be  improved  to 
better  capture  efforts  at  these  levels.  Thirdly,  Member  States  provided  some  information  on 
HEPA funding but, as financial support for HEPA comes from different policies and budget lines 
at national level or from several levels of government, thorough reporting on this indicator was 
not possible at this stage. 

The structured cooperation with the WHO in the context of the Council Recommendation has 
proved to be mutually beneficial, and included joint dissemination activities and improvement 

27 

http://ec.europa.eu/health/nutrition_physical_activity/docs/childhoodobesity_actionplan_2014_202
0_en.pdf. 

10 

 
 
                                                            
of  the  NOPA  database.  In  particular,  the  focal  points  found  the  support  provided  by  the 
Commission, WHO and the scientific experts useful. 

The Commission received positive feedback on the country factsheets from the focal points and 
the Council Working Party on Sport. The factsheets’ content and format were both considered 
to  be  appropriate.  It  was  suggested  that  the  factsheets  be  revised  every  three  years,  as  this 
would make it possible to follow up planned schemes and policies in a timely way. 

9. 

CONCLUSIONS 

This  review  of  the  implementation  of  the  Council  Recommendation  for  2014-2016  shows 
several positive developments, including: the adoption of many new policies and action plans at 
national level; the strengthening of cross-sector cooperation at national level; improvement of 
monitoring  at  national  level;  provision  of  an  overview  of  HEPA-related  policies  and  actions  in 
the  EU  which  serves  as  a  very  rich  source  of  data  for  further  analysis;  and  improved  cross-
border cooperation based on an exchange of best practices. 

Ultimately,  the  success  of  promoting  HEPA  largely  depends  on  Member  States’  capacity  to 
implement  the  Council  Recommendation  effectively  across  sectors,  and  to  offer  citizens  a 
framework  that  favours  an  active  lifestyle.  The  Commission  will,  however,  also  further 
strengthen its cooperation with key stakeholders in the Member States. 

The  data  collected  makes  it  possible  to  identify  gaps  in  public  policies  at  national  level. 
Nevertheless,  assessing  the  impact  and  effectiveness  of  existing  policies  and  action  plans  at 
national level also remains crucial. This requires reliable data on the levels of physical activity in 
the  population.  The  publication  of  contradictory  data  from  different  survey  instruments  was 
identified as an issue that needs to be addressed. 

The  Commission  welcomes  that  Member  States  continue  to  invest  in  the  monitoring  and 
surveillance of HEPA. Future rounds of monitoring will build on the first round of data collection 
and should be easier. Collecting data is not an end in itself; its value depends on in how far the 
data can forecast epidemiological trends and if it can identify policy needs and gaps, and good 
practices that could be shared. 

Building  on  good  practices  identified  across  the  EU  and  beyond,  and  on  existing  networks, 
structures  and  funding  instruments,  the  Commission  will  continue  its  work  to  support  the 
Member  States.  It  will  explore  the  possibility  of  providing  further  technical  and  scientific 
assistance  during  future  rounds  of  monitoring.  The  Commission  considers  that  it  would  be 
useful  to  further  strengthen  its  cooperation  with  the  WHO  and  the  research  community, 
particularly in order to improve the comparability of data collected across the EU. 

The  Commission  will  submit  the  next  report  on  the 
implementation  of  the  Council 
Recommendation and its added value within three years. It will precede this exercise with a new 
round of data collection under the HEPA monitoring framework and a second release of country 
factsheets on physical activity. 

11