The environmental implementation review : Spain.
Date: 2019-04-05
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment
Subjects: EU environmental policy, Spain, circular economy, environmental law, environmental protection, national implementing measure

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The Environmental  
Implementation Review

SPAIN

Europe has ambitious laws and policies to protect air and water, to promote the circular economy, raise recycling rates and 

safeguard nature. Implementing them is key to achieving our environmental objectives. This is why the European Commission 

launched the Environmental Implementation Review (EIR), a tool to help countries address systemic obstacles to environmental 

integration by identifying the causes behind poor implementation. The EIR comprises a regular cycle of analysis, dialogue and 

peer-to-peer support. This factsheet summarises the results of the second EIR package published in April 2019.

Country profile
By  surface  area,  Spain  is  the  second  largest 
country  in  the  EU.  It  is  an  outstanding  refer-
ence  in  terms  of  natural  capital  with  four  of 
the EU’s nine biogeographic regions and two of 
its four marine regions. Implementation of EU 
environmental law and policy has contributed 
to preserve and improve its rich environment, 
with the significant assistance from EU fund-
ing.  Overall,  strengthened  coordination  and 
cooperation  among  all  administrations  could 
result in better environmental implementation.

Main progress EIR 2019
 ✚  A  national  strategy  to  promote  the  circular  economy  has  been 
drawn  up  and  is  under  adoption.  Many  autonomous  communities 
have also adopted or are elaborating regional strategies on the cir-
cular economy. Over 300 stakeholders have signed a Pact for the 
Circular Economy launched in 2017.

 ✚  On water management, the quantity and quality of the information 
included in the second River Basin Management Plans pursuant to the 
Water Framework Directive has significantly improved.

 ✚  Spain has made some progress in drawing up plans for managing 
Natura  2000  sites.  In  April  2018,  77 %  of  the  Natura  2000  sites 
had  been  designated  as  a  special  area  of  conservation  and  had 
management plans.

EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE FROM SPAIN

 ✚  In the field of environmental compliance assurance, Spain has created a police unit to combat environmental crime and 
a specialised Environmental Prosecution Authority. The two have already been succesful in investigating and prosecuting 
organised environmental crime.

 ✚  The  LIFE  Programme  (LIFE+  project  INDEMARES  and  LIFE  integrated  project  INTEMARES)  has  been  used  to  designate 
a consolidate network of marine Natura 2000 sites, with the active participation of the sectors involved and research as 
a basic tool for decision-making.

 ✚  The  Ministry  for  the  Environment  has  created  a  solid  data-gathering  system  which  is  very  similar  to  the  WISE-Water 
reporting tool but also integrates information on the Waste Water Directive. This new system will facilitate sending data 
from the regional to the national level and incorporating the data in the EU WISE system.

Environment

 
 
Main challenges EIR 2019

Waste management

Despite progress on the transition to the cir-
cular  economy,  waste  management  remains  an  important 
challenge.  According  to  the  Commission’s  ‘Early  Warning 
Report’ (2018), Spain is one of the countries at risk of miss-
ing  the  EU  target  of  recycling  50 %  of  municipal  waste  by 
2020. According to 2017 data, the overall recycling rate is 
34 % (including recycling and composting). There are also big 
differences accross regions so further efforts are needed to 
improve waste management.

Treatment  Directive.  The  Commission  has  several  infringe-
ment procedures currently open against Spain. In the most 
advanced case, the EU Court of Justice issued a second ruling 
on 25 July 2018, imposing pecuniary sanctions against Spain 
for the first time in the environmental sector.

Therefore,  further  infrastructure  investment  is  needed 
to  improve  water  management,  e.g.  to  treat  waste  water, 
reduce  leaks  in  the  networks  and  improve  water  supply 
to  bring  environmental,  economic  and  social  benefits 
to Spain.

Urban waste water

Environmental taxation

There  are  still  important  challenges  regard-
ing  water  management,  including  water  governance  and 
the  need  to  close  gaps  in  water  investment,  especially  as 
regards waste water. Despite making progress, Spain has en-
countered difficulties implementing the Urban Waste Water 

The Spanish government is working to adopt 
new measures to increase environmental taxation and re-
duce environmentally harmful subsidies. However, Spain is 
still one of the EU Member States with the lowest rate of 
environmental taxes.

Peer-to-Peer support

The EIR is supported by the TAIEX-EIR Peer-to-Peer (EIR-P2P) tool, which finances peer-to-peer learning between environ-
mental authorities in the Member States. Spain has already benefited from the EIR P2P in the fields of waste management, 
air quality, biodiversity and forest management.

The full country report on Spain, the other Member State reports, as well as the Communication ‘Environmental Im-
plementation Review 2019: A Europe that protects its citizens and enhances their quality of life’ are available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/index_en.htm

#EIReview

EU_ENV

EUEnvironment 

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019  
© European Union, 2019
Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.  

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ISBN 978-92-79-99248-3 

ISBN 978-92-79-99249-0

doi:10.2779/392193

doi:10.2779/57518

KH-02-19-055-EN-C

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