REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species
Date: 2019-02-19
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, biodiversity, delegated legislation, ecosystem, environmental protection, environmental risk prevention, import restriction, invasive species, powers of the institutions (EU), transfer of competence

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 19.2.2019  COM(2019) 85 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species  
 
 
1.  Background 

Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 on invasive alien species1 (hereafter the IAS Regulation) sets 
out the framework to address the impact of invasive alien species on biodiversity and related 
ecosystem  services  and  empowers  the  Commission  to  adopt,  update  and  review  a  list  of 
invasive  alien  species  of  Union  concern  by  means  of  implementing  acts.  For  this,  the 
Commission  is  assisted  by  a  Committee  consisting  of  Member  States'  representatives  (the 
IAS Committee). 

Before  considering  the  inclusion  of  a  species  on  the  list  of  invasive  alien  species  of  Union 
concern, a thorough risk assessment needs to be carried out for that species backed by robust 
science addressing all the elements set out by Article 5(1) of the IAS Regulation. 

Article  5(1)  of  the  IAS  Regulation  sets  out  all  the  elements  needed  to  produce  a  risk 
assessment capable of underpinning decision-making. The IAS Regulation recognises that it 
may  be  useful  to  specify  further  those  elements,  including  by  providing  a  methodology  for 
the risk assessment. Furthermore, scientific practices in the domain of risk assessments may 
evolve and such developments would need to be integrated in the practice of developing risk 
assessments for the purpose of the IAS Regulation. 

Article  5(3)  of  the  IAS  Regulation  empowers  the  Commission  to  adopt  delegated  acts  to 
further  specify  the  type  of  evidence  acceptable  regarding  the  capability  of  establishing  a 
viable population  and spreading in  the  environment  of invasive alien species and provide a 
detailed description of the elements of risk assessments. This description should include the 
methodology to be applied taking into account relevant national and international standards. 

2.  Legal Basis 

This report is required under Article 29(2) of the IAS Regulation. Pursuant to this provision, 
the  delegation  of  power  referred  to  in  Article  5(3)  is  conferred  on  the  Commission  for  a 
period  of  five  years  from  1  January  2015.  The  Commission  is  also  required  to  prepare  a 
report with respect to this delegation power, at the latest nine months before the end of that 
five-year period. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 29(2), the delegation of power shall 
be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the 
Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period. 

3.  Exercise of the delegation 

The  Commission  exercised  the  empowerment  in  2018.  On  30  April  2018,  the  Commission 
adopted  the  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2018/9682  (hereafter  the  Delegated 
Regulation), which was published in the Official Journal on 10 July 2018 after the expiry of 
the scrutiny period of the European Parliament and the Council. It  entered into force on 30 
July 2018. 

1 Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the prevention and 
management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species, OJ L 317, 4.11.2014, p. 35. 
2 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/968 of 30 April 2018 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  with  regard  to  risk  assessments  in  relation  to  invasive  alien  species,  OJ  L  174, 
10.7.2018, p. 5. 

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This Delegated Regulation has been developed on the basis of a number of studies and on the 
best  available  scientific  literature.  Furthermore,  the  Scientific  Forum3,  the  expert  group 
established by the IAS Regulation with the mandate to provide scientific advice in relation to 
its  implementation,  has  been  closely  involved  in  its  preparation,  while  the  draft  Delegated 
Regulation was also open for public feedback. 

Article 5(3) of the IAS Regulation provides the legal basis for the adoption of the Delegated 
Regulation. In particular, Article 5(3) empowers the Commission to: 

a) further specify the type of evidence acceptable for the purposes of point (b) of Article 4(3); 

b) provide a detailed description of the application of points (a) to (h) of Article 5(1); 

c)  set  out  the  methodology  to  be  applied  when  preparing  a  risk  assessment,  taking  into 
account relevant national and international standards and the need to prioritise action against 
invasive  alien  species  associated  with,  or  that  have  the  potential  to  cause,  a  significant 
adverse impact on biodiversity or related ecosystem services, as well as on human health or 
the economy, such adverse impact being considered as an aggravating factor. 

Article 1 of the Delegated Regulation provides that a detailed description of the application of 
the  common  elements  to  be  considered  in  a  risk  assessment  is  set  out  in  the  Annex;  while 
Article 2 lays out a methodology, which sets out also the specification of the type of evidence 
that should underpin a risk assessment, including when the evidence relates to Article 4(3)(b) 
of the IAS Regulation. 

Finally,  the  Annex  to  the  Delegated  Regulation  contains  a  detailed  description  of  the 
application of points (a) to (h) of Article 5(1) of IAS Regulation regarding the elements that 
need to be considered when preparing a risk assessment. 

4.  Conclusion 

The Commission has exercised its delegated powers in a timely and correct manner. 

The  Commission  considers  that  all  delegations  of  power  should  be  retained,  as  further 
specifications may be needed in the future. 

The Commission invites the European Parliament and the Council to take note of this report. 

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3 Published in the Register of Commission Expert Groups and Other Similar Entities, code number E03276 

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