Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/911 of 16 May 2025 amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/413 as regards the location of the ground-based infrastructure of the system established under the Galileo programme
Date: 2025-05-16
Institutions: Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU programme, French Polynesia, Greenland, New Caledonia, Réunion, Wallis and Futuna, research body, satellite communications, satellite navigation








L_202500911EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
L series













2025/911


19.5.2025







            COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2025/911
of 16 May 2025
         
amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/413 as regards the location of the ground-based infrastructure of the system established under the Galileo programme
(Text with EEA relevance)


THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,


Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/696 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing the Union Space Programme and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme and repealing Regulations (EU) No 912/2010, (EU) No 1285/2013 and (EU) No 377/2014 and Decision No 541/2014/EU (1), and in particular Article 47 thereof

Whereas:







(1)


Article 47 of Regulation (EU) 2021/696 provides that the Commission is to have overall responsibility for the Galileo programme and grants it implementing powers to determine the location of the ground-based infrastructure of the system under this programme and ensures that it functions. This infrastructure comprises ground-based centres and stations.












(2)


Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/413 (2), provides in its Annex an exhaustive list of ground-based centres and of remote sites; Galileo Sensor Stations (GSS), Uplink Stations (ULS), Telemetry and Telecommand (TTC), Search and Rescue (SAR) and GNSS Service Centre (GSC).












(3)


In 2017, the TTC station in Papeete (French Polynesia) was deployed.












(4)


To facilitate the improved operation of the system, additional GSS stations should be established.












(5)


The selection of a location for the replacement of Ascension GSS station was subject to an open and transparent procedure. Firstly, the preliminary identification of suitable sites led to selecting applications from France and the Netherlands. Subsequently, to decide between those two applications, the two Member States were invited to submit detailed proposals. Finally, after an evaluation of those proposals against criteria relating to safety, risks, timing and costs by a committee composed of representatives of the Commission, the European Space Agency and the European GNSS Agency, the Netherlands’ proposal was found to be the most suitable since the architecture and design of the building on the Bonaire site had been entirely optimised to ensure the logistics of the system under the Galileo programme. The centre is due to be set up in last quarter of 2024 and should be subject to an agreement with the Netherlands.












(6)


In 2020, due to the identification of the need to have at least six operational TTCs to support the constellation in the perspective of planned future developments, it was decided to launch the procedure of inviting the Member States to provide their proposals by expressions of interest for the provision of a potential location for the installation of an additional TTC station. The selection was subject to an open and transparent procedure in four stages: expression of interest by Member States, launch of invitation to tender, selection board procedure, signature of contract. The procedure led to selecting Italy’s proposal to install the additional TTC station in Fucino.












(7)


In 2020, the GSS station in Wallis (Wallis and Futuna) was deployed.












(8)


In 2021, the deployment of a MEOLUT SAR station in La Réunion was finalised.












(9)


In 2022 the need for a redundant Galileo Service Center and SAR Service Center was identified, and the already selected SAR service center in Toulouse (France) and GNSS Service Center in Madrid (Spain) were assigned to provide the mutual backup required to ensure the robustness of the services.












(10)


In 2023, one SAR reference beacon was deployed in Greenland (Denmark) to reinforce the SAR Monitoring in the edges of the coverage area and provide redundancy to the existing system.












(11)


In 2025 the ownership of the TTC Antenna in Redu (Belgium), that was so far supporting the Galileo programme as a service, is to be transferred from the European Space Agency to the Union.












(12)


Several facilities were set up and agreements signed, in particular for the GSMC, GRC and ILS center.












(13)


Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/413 should be amended accordingly.












(14)


The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Programme committee established by Article 107(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/696,





HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:



Article 1
The Annex to Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/413 is amended as set out in the Annex to this Decision.


Article 2
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 Brussels, 16 May 2025.


For the Commission


The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN
            





(1)  
            OJ L 170, 12.5.2021, p. 69, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/696/oj.

(2)  Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/413 of 18 March 2016 determining the location of the ground-based infrastructure of the system established under the Galileo programme and setting out the necessary measures to ensure that it functions smoothly, and repealing Implementing Decision 2012/117/EU (OJ L 74, 19.3.2016, p. 45, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2016/413/oj).




ANNEX
The Annex to Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/413 is amended as follows:

1.   
In the section titled ‘Ground-based centres’, the rows relating to Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC), GNSS Service Centre (GSC), Search and Rescue (SAR) Service Centre, the Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) and the ILS Centre are replaced with the following:






‘Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC)


The Galileo security monitoring center, split into two locations, was deployed in France and Spain. Work to set up the site in France ended in 2017 and is the subject of an agreement signed in 2013 with France. Work to set up the site in Spain ended in 2019 (early configuration) and is the subject of an agreement signed in 2019 with Spain.




GNSS Service Centre (GSC)


The GNSS Service Centre is being deployed in stages in Madrid (Spain) and its back-up site in Toulouse (France). They shall be subject of two hosting agreements to be signed with Spain and France respectively.




SAR Service Centre


The Search and Rescue (SAR) Service Centre was set up in Toulouse (France) between 2012 and 2014 and its back-up is being deployed in Madrid (Spain). They shall be subject of two hosting agreements to be signed with France and Spain respectively.




Galileo Reference Centre (GRC)


The Galileo Reference Centre was set up in Noordwijk (the Netherlands). Work started in 2015 and ended in 2017. It is the subject of an agreement signed with the Netherlands in 2016.




ILS Centre


The Integrated Logistics Support Centre (centre ILS) was set up in Transinne (Belgium) in 2017 and is the subject of an agreement signed in 2018 with Belgium.’






2.   
The section titled ‘Remote ground-based stations’ is amended as follows:






a)


the rows relating to TTC stations and GSS stations are replaced with the following:






‘TTC stations


TTC stations were set up between 2010 and 2017 in Kiruna (Sweden), Kourou (France), Réunion (France), Nouméa (New Caledonia) and Papeete (French Polynesia). A TTC station is to be set up in Fucino (Italy) and in Redu (Belgium) in 2025.




GSS stations


GSS stations were created between 2009 and 2020 in the Azores (Portugal), Fucino (Italy), Jan Mayen (Norway), Kerguelen, Kiruna (Sweden), Kourou (France), Réunion (France), Nouméa (New Caledonia), Papeete (French Polynesia), Redu (Belgium), Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Svalbard (Norway), Troll (Norway), Wallis (Wallis and Futuna). A GSS station is to be set up in Bonaire (the Netherlands) in 2025.’














b)


the row relating to SAR stations is replaced with the following:






‘SAR stations


‘Meolut’ SAR stations were created in 2012 and 2013 in Makarios (Cyprus), Maspalomas (Spain) and Svalbard (Norway) as well as in 2021 in Réunion (France). SAR stations with a SAR reference beacon were created in Makarios (Cyprus), Maspalomas (Spain), Santa Maria (Portugal), Toulouse (France), Svalbard (Norway), and Greenland (Denmark).’












ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2025/911/oj
ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)