Fitness Check (evaluation) of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC)
Date: 2017-10-20
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy



IMMC.Ares%282017%295128184.ENG.xhtml.PART-2017-474917V1.docx











EVALUATION ROADMAP  






Roadmaps aim to inform citizens and stakeholders about the Commission's work to allow them to provide feedback and to participate effectively in future consultation activities. Citizens and stakeholders are in particular invited to provide views on the Commission's understanding of the problem and possible solutions and to share any relevant information that they may have.






Title of the evaluation




Fitness check of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive






Lead DG – responsible unit 




DG ENV Unit C1






Indicative Planning 


(planned start date and completion date)




Planned Start Date : Q4 2017


Planned completion date: Q3 2019






Additional Information




http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/index_en.html






The Roadmap is provided for information purposes only. It does not prejudge the final decision of the Commission on whether this initiative will be pursued or on its final content. All elements of the initiative described by the document, including its timing, are subject to change.









A. Context, purpose and scope of the evaluation






Context






The Water Framework Directive (WFD
1
) is the most comprehensive instrument of EU water policy. Its main objective is to protect and enhance freshwater resources with the aim of achieving good status of EU waters by 2015. The main tools to implement the Directive are the River Basin Management Plans (RBMP) and the Programmes of Measures which are made in 6 year cycles. 


The RBMP is a comprehensive document which should describe the actions envisaged to implement the WFD.  The RBMPs cover many aspects of water management and identify all actions and measures to be taken within the River Basin District in order to deliver the objectives of the WFD, including non-deterioration of water status and the achievement of good status in all water bodies, unless an exemption is applied.


The Commission has so far published four implementation reports
2
 describing progress made in implementing the WFD. The Commission is currently assessing the second River Basin Management Plans and the first Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMP), covering the period 2009-2015 and will publish its implementation report in the first semester of 2018.


The Water Framework Directive and its 'daughters'
3
 as well as the Floods Directive are implemented through a Common Implementation Strategy
4
, which consists of a large network of Member State and stakeholder representatives (associations, business representatives, NGOs etc.), and which will be a key mechanism for exchange with stakeholders also during the evaluation process.


This fitness check will be linked to the review of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive
5
, for which a Roadmap has recently been published
6
. The measures under this Directive are essential for the achievement of the WFD objectives, and are explicitly integrated in the WFD Programmes of Measures as "basic measures". 






Purpose and scope






The foreseen fitness check evaluates the WFD as foreseen in Articles 19(2) of this Directive and will cover also two Directives directly linked to the WFD: the Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC) and the Environmental Quality Standards Directive (2008/105/EC), the so-called "daughter-directives" of the WFD. It will also include the Floods Directive (FD, 2007/60/EC), which has been the catalyst for introducing a risk management approach in the dealings of Member States with significant floods across the EU. 


The fitness Check will look at the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value of the Water Framework Directive (and its 'daughters') and the Floods Directive. This will include an assessment of the potential for regulatory simplification and burden reduction. A quantitative assessment of actual costs and benefits including impacts on business will be carried out in as far as possible. The fitness check may identify areas where simplifications or improvements to the legislation or its implementation could be possible and therefore may serve as the basis for further action by the European Commission.


The fitness check will cover the performance of these key directives in all Member States and over the whole lifespan of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive to date, meaning the two cycles of RBMPs and Programmes of Measures and the first cycle of FRMPs. The Commission will publish in early 2018 implementation reports on these management plans, which will be the starting point of this fitness check. These implementation reports will show the current status in European water bodies and the actions taken by Member States to achieve those objectives. They will point out the main shortcomings identified in the WFD and FD implementation, but will also highlight the progress made in the different areas since the first cycle of RBMPs. They will also contribute to understand the developments that the Directives have brought about to contribute to a sound water management in Member States and at EU level.






B. Better regulation






Consultation of citizens and stakeholders






The consultation of citizens and stakeholders will provide important information for this fitness check. 


There are many relevant stakeholders for this consultation, as water is essential for many economic activities and for the environment, e.g. the competent authorities in Member States (i.e. all authorities in charge of water related policies, including environment, agriculture, transport, energy, etc.), the water related industry (economic and innovation sectors), as well as any interested non-professional organised entity (local or interest oriented), and environmental NGOs. Finally, the general public, as individual citizens are also an important stakeholder group for this consultation.


Consultation activities will be carried out by both the Commission services and the contractor supporting the evaluation. They will be done also within the existing Common Implementation Strategy, which provides for a well-established framework for the consultation with Member States competent authorities and main stakeholders, including representatives from the economic sector and NGOs.


The following consultation activities are foreseen (non-exhaustive list):


• An online public consultation available in all EU official languages, to be launched in the first semester of 2018 for both the WFD and Floods Directive. 


• A European Water Conference in the third quarter of 2018; elements for discussion with authorities and stakeholders will be the Commission's implementation report on the 2nd RBMPs and the 1st Flood Risk Management Plans as well as the results of the public consultations.


• A range of other meetings can be expected with the above-mentioned stakeholders in 2017 and 2018, either organised by the Commission or at the request of stakeholders, which will generate additional inputs.  


A report with a summary of all consultation activities' results will be published on the consultation page
7
 once all consultation activities are closed.






Data collection and methodology






The Water Framework Directive was not subject to an impact assessment when it was adopted in 2000. The Groundwater Directive and the Environmental Quality Standards Directive have been subject to impact assessments. A cross-check will be made on whether what was envisaged in the Impact Assessments has been achieved in practice. 


The following sources of information and reports will be used as inputs to the fitness check (non-exhaustive list): 


- 2012 fitness check of EU Water Policy
8
 


- Guidance documents issued within the context of the Common Implementation Strategy 


- Reporting of the River Basin Management Plans
9
, on the basis of which the Commission is currently preparing an implementation report (to be publish in the first semester of 2018) and the EEA produces its State of Water report (also expected in 2018).


- The impact assessment which accompanied the proposal for the FD
10
; 


- The impact assessment which accompanied the proposal for the EQSD
11
;


- Reporting of the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment
12
, the Flood Hazard and Risk Maps
13
, and the Flood Risk Management Plans
14



- A Common Implementation Strategy Working Group Floods (WGF) report on experience from the 1st cycle of implementing the Floods Directive in the Member States
15
.


- The results of the next implementation report under the Nitrates Directive
16
, as the measures under this Directive are explicitly included in the "basic measures" of the WFD Programmes of Measures.


- National reports under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive
17
, which are to be published in 2018.


- "Study on EU integrated policy assessment for the freshwater and marine environment, on the economic benefits of EU water policy and on the costs of its non-implementation" which provides a modelling tool that could be used also in the course of this evaluation
18



- Several on-going and planned studies will provide further inputs to the fitness check, and in particular, a contract for an integrated assessment looking, inter alia, at the interplay of water with other policies (started in mid-2017).  And also the specific contract to support the evaluation in order to help identify and fill evidence gaps and perform an underlying analysis, which will be launched at the end of 2017.


- In addition to this, this fitness check will also integrate the outcome of the evaluation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, which will be done in parallel, and of the next implementation report under the Nitrates Directive. The measures foreseen in these Directives are an integral part of the WFD implementation.











(1)
 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32000L0060
 



(2)
 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/impl_reports.htm
 



(3)
 The Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC) and the Environmental Quality Standards Directive (2008/105/EC) are the so-called "daughter-directives" of the WFD



(4)
 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/objectives/implementation_en.htm
 



(5)
 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:31991L0271
 



(6)
 
http://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/initiatives/ares-2017-4989291



(7)
 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/index_en.html
 



(8)
 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/blueprint/index_en.htm
 



(9)
 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/wise_wfd
 



(10)
 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52006SC0066
 



(11)
 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-dangersub/lib_pri_substances.htm#prop_2011_docs
 



(12)
 
CDR link
 



(13)
 
CDR link
 



(14)
 
CDR link



(15)
 
https://circabc.europa.eu/w/browse/ec110327-9521-468f-b6b8-cc32b1245c3c
 



(16)
 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:31991L0676
 



(17)
 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32008L0056
 



(18)
 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/blue2_en.htm