Decision (ΕU) 2024/2829 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2024 amending Directive 2007/2/EC as regards certain reporting requirements for infrastructures for spatial information (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2024-10-23
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: EU Member State, EU environmental policy, disclosure of information, environmental protection, exchange of information, geographical information system, information network, information system, report, spatial data








L_202402829EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
L series













2024/2829


6.11.2024







            DECISION (ΕU) 2024/2829 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
         
of 23 October 2024
         
amending Directive 2007/2/EC as regards certain reporting requirements for infrastructures for spatial information
(Text with EEA relevance)


THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 192(1) thereof,


Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,


After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,


Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),


After consulting the Committee of the Regions,


Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (2),

Whereas:







(1)


Reporting requirements play a key role in ensuring the proper monitoring and correct enforcement of Union legal acts. However, it is important to streamline such requirements in order to ensure that they fulfil the purpose for which they were intended and to limit the administrative burden.












(2)


Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) lays down general rules aimed at the establishment of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) for the purposes of Union environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment. That Directive requires Members State to update, if necessary, and publish a report including, among other things, a summary description of the costs and benefits of implementing that Directive by 31 March of each year.












(3)


Taking into account the results of the Commission report of 9 June 2017 on Actions to Streamline Environmental Reporting and the accompanying Fitness Check of Reporting and Monitoring of EU Environment Policy, Directive 2007/2/EC was amended by Regulation (EU) 2019/1010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) in order to reduce the scope of reporting to the governance for its implementation and the reuse of public spatial data. In its evaluation of Directive 2007/2/EC, that was concluded in 2022, the Commission found that the legal framework could be made more efficient by means of further reducing the administrative burden.












(4)


In order to reduce the administrative burden of the reporting requirements under Directive 2007/2/EC, it is necessary to align the frequency and timing of reporting on the implementation and use of Member States’ infrastructures for spatial information with more recent horizontal digital data legal acts. It is therefore appropriate to lower the frequency of reporting under Directive 2007/2/EC to once every two years.












(5)


Since the amendment to be made to Directive 2007/2/EC concerns the provision of information to the Commission by Member States, there is no obligation for Member States to transpose it. In this particular situation, it is therefore appropriate to use a decision for such an amendment.












(6)


Since the objective of this Decision, namely to streamline the reporting requirements laid down in Directive 2007/2/EC, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of its scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.












(7)


Directive 2007/2/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,





HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION:



Article 1

Amendment to Directive 2007/2/EC

In Article 21(2) of Directive 2007/2/EC, the introductory part is replaced by the following:
‘No later than 31 March every two years, starting from 31 March 2025, Member States shall update, if necessary, a summary report. Those reports, which shall be made public by the Commission services, shall include summary descriptions of:’.


Article 2

Entry into force

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




Done at Strasbourg, 23 October 2024.


For the European Parliament


The President

R. METSOLA
            



For the Council


The President


               ZSIGMOND B. P.





(1)  
            OJ C, C/2024/1586, 5.3.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/1586/oj.

(2)  Position of the European Parliament of 14 March 2024 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 14 October 2024.

(3)  Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) (OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, p. 1).

(4)  Regulation (EU) 2019/1010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the alignment of reporting obligations in the field of legislation related to the environment, and amending Regulations (EC) No 166/2006 and (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directives 2002/49/EC, 2004/35/EC, 2007/2/EC, 2009/147/EC and 2010/63/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Regulations (EC) No 338/97 and (EC) No 2173/2005, and Council Directive 86/278/EEC (OJ L 170, 25.6.2019, p. 115).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2024/2829/oj
ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)