Article 1 
The purpose of this Directive is to regulate the use of sewage sludge in agriculture in such a way as to prevent harmful effects on soil, vegetation, animals and man, thereby encouraging the correct use of such sewage sludge.
Article 2 
For the purposes of this Directive: (a) ‘sludge’ means: (i) residual sludge from sewage plants treating domestic or urban waste waters and from other sewage plants treating waste waters of a composition similar to domestic and urban waste waters; (ii) residual sludge from septic tanks and other similar installations for the treatment of sewage; (iii) residual sludge from sewage plants other than those referred to in (i) and (ii); (a) ‘sludge’ means: (i) residual sludge from sewage plants treating domestic or urban waste waters and from other sewage plants treating waste waters of a composition similar to domestic and urban waste waters; (ii) residual sludge from septic tanks and other similar installations for the treatment of sewage; (iii) residual sludge from sewage plants other than those referred to in (i) and (ii); (b) ‘treated sludge’ means: sludge which has undergone biological, chemical or heat treatment, long-term storage or any other appropriate process so as significantly to reduce its fermentability and the health hazards resulting from its use; (b) ‘treated sludge’ means: sludge which has undergone biological, chemical or heat treatment, long-term storage or any other appropriate process so as significantly to reduce its fermentability and the health hazards resulting from its use; (c) ‘agriculture’ means: the growing of all types of commercial food crops, including for stock-rearing purposes; (c) ‘agriculture’ means: the growing of all types of commercial food crops, including for stock-rearing purposes; (d) ‘use’ means: the spreading of sludge on the soil or any other application of sludge on and in the soil. (d) ‘use’ means: the spreading of sludge on the soil or any other application of sludge on and in the soil.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL General background Many legal acts of the Union were adopted without an expiry date. These acts remain formally in force even if their legal effects have been exhausted. Eliminating acts that are no longer applicable or relevant permits a more user-friendly presentation and more efficient and time-saving scrutiny of tools that facilitate access to Union law: CELEX, EUR-Lex and the Directory of Legislation in force (e.g. search results would no longer show obsolete acts alongside those which are applicable). Improving the transparency of Union law is an essential element of the Better Regulation agenda that the Union Institutions are pursuing also under the new Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making 1 . The 2014 REFIT Communication 2 announced that the Commission will prepare repeals of legislation, inter alia, in relation to standardized reporting in the area of environment. Moreover, t he 2015 Better Regulation Communication 3 called for a broad review of reporting in several policy areas including the environment. Given these links, the repeal of Council Directive 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 standardizing and rationalizing reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment ("Directive 91/692/EEC") is now being addressed. This is also linked to a wider Fitness Check for environmental monitoring and reporting. That Fitness Check is now underway, as set out in the Commission's Work Programme 2016 4 , which mentioned the proposal for repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and the related water questionnaire Decision 95/337/EEC under repeal initiatives in Annex V. The repeal package consists of four proposed initiatives related to the repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and Decision 95/337/EEC: 1. A Communication which declares the obsolescence of 11 implementing acts adopted by the Commission to establish questionnaires for environmental reporting including Decision 95/337/EEC. 2. Two proposals for Commission Decisions repealing 2 of the implementing decisions (via comitology procedures), namely Commission Decision 2011/92/EU of 10 February 2011 5 and Commission Decision 2010/681/EU of 9 November 2010 6 that have exhausted their legal effect, but for procedural reasons will be repealed via a later comitology procedure by the Commission. 3. Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision, which will repeal and amend provisions of the 6 legal acts referring to Directive 91/692/EEC. To prepare these initiatives, the Commission has undertaken an analysis and looked into the consequences of keeping or repealing the various obligations. The result of this work is summarised below and is presented in more detail in a supporting study which is published separately. 7 As the aim is to repeal obsolete provisions and legal acts, it is considered that there is no need for a formal impact assessment to be carried out. It is important to highlight that there are no real economic benefits expected to be harvested as a result of the repeal exercise. Main benefits will be mainly linked to have a clearer set of rules on reporting resulting from this clean-up exercise. Shortcomings of Directive 91/692/EEC The Directive 91/692/EEC (SRD) aimed at streamlining the reporting obligations of all EU environmental legislation in effect at the time of its adoption. However in practice, not all environmental reporting requirements were harmonized by Directive 91/692/EEC. For instance Directives 91/271/EEC 8 and 91/676/EEC 9 were excluded from scope. It can be also observed that the implementation of the Directive was burdensome and ineffective from the outset. One main problem was that the directive was adopted prior to the widespread use of information technology (IT). Furthermore, many of the individual instruments for which Directive 91/692/EEC set out reporting requirements were subsequently replaced by instruments which disregarded its reporting provisions. For example, the Directive 2000/60/EC 10 repealed seven pieces of water legislation and hence the related water questionnaire 95/337/EEC adopted under Directive 91/692/EEC became redundant. Instruments such as the Directive 2000/60/EC and the Directive 2010/75/EC 11 (and its predecessor, Directive 96/61/EC) 12 introduced independent reporting obligations. With the successful development of the European Environmental Agency's (EEA) Reportnet and sectoral initiatives on streamlining of reporting (e.g. the Water Information System for Europe), the need and effectiveness of a horizontal instrument on reporting was increasingly put into question. Finally, the adoption of the INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC), and the related development of the Shared Environment Information System (SEIS), 13 introduced a more modern and effective, horizontal approach to information management and reporting related to EU environmental policy. The Commission concluded at the time that "[…] a key step in implementing SEIS, and especially to trigger the expected simplification benefits, will be to modernise the legal provisions relating to the way in which information required by environmental legislation is made available. It is expected that this will be done by revising the Standardised Reporting directive 91/692/EC, which needs to be updated and brought into line with the SEIS principles. To this end, the Commission intends to come forward with a relevant legislative proposal in 2008, including a repeal of outdated provisions in the current standardised reporting directive." 14 In the end, the Commission decided not to come forward with a new legal instrument on reporting but to pursue this agenda through a non-legal approach (see EU Shared Environmental Information System-Implementation Outlook 15 ) combined with coordinated action in the different environmental policy areas (such as water, air, nature, etc.). Summary of current scope and relevance of Directive 91/692/EEC Directive 91/692/EEC refers to 28 environmental acts covered by its provisions. A number of further acts make use of Directive 91/692/EEC. Currently due to subsequent repeals of these acts (see overview in table 2), 1 regulation, 9 directives (see overview in table 1) (two directives remain subject to its provisions, namely Directive 86/278/EEC and Directive 87/217/EEC) and 23 decisions remain in force that still make reference to those provisions (see overview in table 3). In conclusion, the majority of the original obligations set out in Directive 91/692/EEC have become obsolete and have no legal effect anymore As a result, the proposal for a repeal has been made to ensure legal certainty, improve transparency, reduce administrative burden and ensure that EU legislation is "fit for purpose" in line with the Better Regulation agenda. Proposed actions to repeal Directive 91/692/EEC and related acts The first action is a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council removing requirements for standardized reporting. It is also proposed that references to the old comitology rules are replaced by Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers as required by Article 13 thereof on transitional measures. The second action aims at adoption of a Communication on declaring obsolescence of the implementing Decisions under Directive 91/692/EEC still in force. The Communication identifies the Decisions that have become obsolete and whose legal basis was repealed. The third action will aim to repeal two implementing decisions, that still have a valid legal basis but in the meantime have exhausted their legal effects. 16 As part of the preparatory analysis, several options were considered to ensure an effective repeal whilst maintaning the legal effects, where necessary. The findings of this analysis are presented in the supporting study 17 that recommends the complete repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC provisions and removal of obsolete provisions, while making reference to new rules on implementing acts. This option consisting of the above-mentioned three actions was identified as most effective in cutting red tape and enhancing legal clarity. Pre-existing directives referred to by Directive 91/692/EEC As noted above, only Directives 86/278/EEC and 87/217/EEC (see overview in table 1) remain from the 28 instruments (see overview in table 2) originally mentioned in Directive 91/692/EEC. It is proposed to maintain the reporting provisions of Directives 86/278/EEC, while aligning it with the new rules for implementing acts established by the TFEU. The reporting requirements of Directive 87/217/EEC are not being used, mainly due to discontinuation of the use of asbestos across the EU Member States as a consequence of the phasing out of the production and use of raw asbestos and of products containing asbestos in the EU, through REACH (1907/2006/EC).
Revised version (Article 2 ):
For the purposes of this Directive: (a) ‘sludge’ means: (i) residual sludge from sewage plants treating domestic or urban waste waters and from other sewage plants treating waste waters of a composition similar to domestic and urban waste waters; (ii) residual sludge from septic tanks and other similar installations for the treatment of sewage; (iii) residual sludge from sewage plants other than those referred to in (i) and (ii); (b) ‘treated sludge’ means: sludge which has undergone biological, chemical or heat treatment, long-term storage or any other appropriate process so as significantly to reduce its fermentability and the health hazards resulting from its use; (c) ‘agriculture’ means: the growing of all types of commercial food crops, including for stock-rearing purposes; (d) ‘use’ means: the spreading of sludge on the soil or any other application of sludge on and in the soil.
Article 3 
1. The sludge referred to in Article 2 (a) (i) may only be used in agriculture in accordance with this Directive. 2. Without prejudice to Directives 75/442/EEC and 78/319/EEC: — the sludge referred to in Article 2 (a) (ii) may be used in agriculture subject to any conditions that the Member State concerned may deem necessary for the protection of human health and the environment, — the sludge referred to in Article 2 (a) (iii) may be used in agriculture only if its use is regulated by the Member State concerned.
Article 4 
Values for concentrations of heavy metals in soil to which sludge is applied, concentrations of heavy metals in sludge and the maximum annual quantities of such heavy metals which may be introduced into soil intended for agriculture are given in Annexes I A, I B and I C.
Article 5 
Without prejudice to Article 12: 1. Member States shall prohibit the use of sludge where the concentration of one or more heavy metals in the soil exceeds the limit values which they lay down in accordance with Annex I A and shall take the necessary steps to ensure that those limit values are not exceeded as a result of the use of sludge. 2. Member States shall regulate the use of sludge in such a way that the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil does not lead to the limit values referred to in paragraph 1 being exceeded. To achieve this, they shall apply one or other of the procedures provided for in (a) and (b) below: (a) Member States shall lay down the maximum quantities of sludge expressed in tonnes of dry matter which may be applied to the soil per unit of area per year while observing the limit values for heavy metal concentration in sludge which they lay down in accordance with Annex I B; or (b) Member States shall ensure observance of the limit values for the quantities of metals introduced into the soil per unit of area and unit of time as set out in Annex I C. 2. Member States shall regulate the use of sludge in such a way that the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil does not lead to the limit values referred to in paragraph 1 being exceeded. To achieve this, they shall apply one or other of the procedures provided for in (a) and (b) below: (a) Member States shall lay down the maximum quantities of sludge expressed in tonnes of dry matter which may be applied to the soil per unit of area per year while observing the limit values for heavy metal concentration in sludge which they lay down in accordance with Annex I B; or (b) Member States shall ensure observance of the limit values for the quantities of metals introduced into the soil per unit of area and unit of time as set out in Annex I C.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL General background Many legal acts of the Union were adopted without an expiry date. These acts remain formally in force even if their legal effects have been exhausted. Eliminating acts that are no longer applicable or relevant permits a more user-friendly presentation and more efficient and time-saving scrutiny of tools that facilitate access to Union law: CELEX, EUR-Lex and the Directory of Legislation in force (e.g. search results would no longer show obsolete acts alongside those which are applicable). Improving the transparency of Union law is an essential element of the Better Regulation agenda that the Union Institutions are pursuing also under the new Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making 1 . The 2014 REFIT Communication 2 announced that the Commission will prepare repeals of legislation, inter alia, in relation to standardized reporting in the area of environment. Moreover, t he 2015 Better Regulation Communication 3 called for a broad review of reporting in several policy areas including the environment. Given these links, the repeal of Council Directive 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 standardizing and rationalizing reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment ("Directive 91/692/EEC") is now being addressed. This is also linked to a wider Fitness Check for environmental monitoring and reporting. That Fitness Check is now underway, as set out in the Commission's Work Programme 2016 4 , which mentioned the proposal for repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and the related water questionnaire Decision 95/337/EEC under repeal initiatives in Annex V. The repeal package consists of four proposed initiatives related to the repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and Decision 95/337/EEC: 1. A Communication which declares the obsolescence of 11 implementing acts adopted by the Commission to establish questionnaires for environmental reporting including Decision 95/337/EEC. 2. Two proposals for Commission Decisions repealing 2 of the implementing decisions (via comitology procedures), namely Commission Decision 2011/92/EU of 10 February 2011 5 and Commission Decision 2010/681/EU of 9 November 2010 6 that have exhausted their legal effect, but for procedural reasons will be repealed via a later comitology procedure by the Commission. 3. Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision, which will repeal and amend provisions of the 6 legal acts referring to Directive 91/692/EEC. To prepare these initiatives, the Commission has undertaken an analysis and looked into the consequences of keeping or repealing the various obligations. The result of this work is summarised below and is presented in more detail in a supporting study which is published separately. 7 As the aim is to repeal obsolete provisions and legal acts, it is considered that there is no need for a formal impact assessment to be carried out. It is important to highlight that there are no real economic benefits expected to be harvested as a result of the repeal exercise. Main benefits will be mainly linked to have a clearer set of rules on reporting resulting from this clean-up exercise. Shortcomings of Directive 91/692/EEC The Directive 91/692/EEC (SRD) aimed at streamlining the reporting obligations of all EU environmental legislation in effect at the time of its adoption. However in practice, not all environmental reporting requirements were harmonized by Directive 91/692/EEC. For instance Directives 91/271/EEC 8 and 91/676/EEC 9 were excluded from scope. It can be also observed that the implementation of the Directive was burdensome and ineffective from the outset. One main problem was that the directive was adopted prior to the widespread use of information technology (IT). Furthermore, many of the individual instruments for which Directive 91/692/EEC set out reporting requirements were subsequently replaced by instruments which disregarded its reporting provisions. For example, the Directive 2000/60/EC 10 repealed seven pieces of water legislation and hence the related water questionnaire 95/337/EEC adopted under Directive 91/692/EEC became redundant. Instruments such as the Directive 2000/60/EC and the Directive 2010/75/EC 11 (and its predecessor, Directive 96/61/EC) 12 introduced independent reporting obligations. With the successful development of the European Environmental Agency's (EEA) Reportnet and sectoral initiatives on streamlining of reporting (e.g. the Water Information System for Europe), the need and effectiveness of a horizontal instrument on reporting was increasingly put into question. Finally, the adoption of the INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC), and the related development of the Shared Environment Information System (SEIS), 13 introduced a more modern and effective, horizontal approach to information management and reporting related to EU environmental policy. The Commission concluded at the time that "[…] a key step in implementing SEIS, and especially to trigger the expected simplification benefits, will be to modernise the legal provisions relating to the way in which information required by environmental legislation is made available. It is expected that this will be done by revising the Standardised Reporting directive 91/692/EC, which needs to be updated and brought into line with the SEIS principles. To this end, the Commission intends to come forward with a relevant legislative proposal in 2008, including a repeal of outdated provisions in the current standardised reporting directive." 14 In the end, the Commission decided not to come forward with a new legal instrument on reporting but to pursue this agenda through a non-legal approach (see EU Shared Environmental Information System-Implementation Outlook 15 ) combined with coordinated action in the different environmental policy areas (such as water, air, nature, etc.). Summary of current scope and relevance of Directive 91/692/EEC Directive 91/692/EEC refers to 28 environmental acts covered by its provisions. A number of further acts make use of Directive 91/692/EEC. Currently due to subsequent repeals of these acts (see overview in table 2), 1 regulation, 9 directives (see overview in table 1) (two directives remain subject to its provisions, namely Directive 86/278/EEC and Directive 87/217/EEC) and 23 decisions remain in force that still make reference to those provisions (see overview in table 3). In conclusion, the majority of the original obligations set out in Directive 91/692/EEC have become obsolete and have no legal effect anymore As a result, the proposal for a repeal has been made to ensure legal certainty, improve transparency, reduce administrative burden and ensure that EU legislation is "fit for purpose" in line with the Better Regulation agenda. Proposed actions to repeal Directive 91/692/EEC and related acts The first action is a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council removing requirements for standardized reporting. It is also proposed that references to the old comitology rules are replaced by Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers as required by Article 13 thereof on transitional measures. The second action aims at adoption of a Communication on declaring obsolescence of the implementing Decisions under Directive 91/692/EEC still in force. The Communication identifies the Decisions that have become obsolete and whose legal basis was repealed. The third action will aim to repeal two implementing decisions, that still have a valid legal basis but in the meantime have exhausted their legal effects. 16 As part of the preparatory analysis, several options were considered to ensure an effective repeal whilst maintaning the legal effects, where necessary. The findings of this analysis are presented in the supporting study 17 that recommends the complete repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC provisions and removal of obsolete provisions, while making reference to new rules on implementing acts. This option consisting of the above-mentioned three actions was identified as most effective in cutting red tape and enhancing legal clarity. Pre-existing directives referred to by Directive 91/692/EEC As noted above, only Directives 86/278/EEC and 87/217/EEC (see overview in table 1) remain from the 28 instruments (see overview in table 2) originally mentioned in Directive 91/692/EEC. It is proposed to maintain the reporting provisions of Directives 86/278/EEC, while aligning it with the new rules for implementing acts established by the TFEU. The reporting requirements of Directive 87/217/EEC are not being used, mainly due to discontinuation of the use of asbestos across the EU Member States as a consequence of the phasing out of the production and use of raw asbestos and of products containing asbestos in the EU, through REACH (1907/2006/EC).
Revised version (Article 5 ):
Without prejudice to Article 12: 1. Member States shall prohibit the use of sludge where the concentration of one or more heavy metals in the soil exceeds the limit values which they lay down in accordance with Annex I A and shall take the necessary steps to ensure that those limit values are not exceeded as a result of the use of sludge. 2. Member States shall regulate the use of sludge in such a way that the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil does not lead to the limit values referred to in paragraph 1 being exceeded. To achieve this, they shall apply one or other of the procedures provided for in (a) and (b) below: (a) Member States shall lay down the maximum quantities of sludge expressed in tonnes of dry matter which may be applied to the soil per unit of area per year while observing the limit values for heavy metal concentration in sludge which they lay down in accordance with Annex I B; or (b) Member States shall ensure observance of the limit values for the quantities of metals introduced into the soil per unit of area and unit of time as set out in Annex I C.
Article 6 
Without prejudice to Article 7: (a) sludge shall be treated before being used in agriculture. Member States may nevertheless authorize, under conditions to be laid down by them, the use of untreated sludge if it is injected or worked into the soil; (b) sewage-sludge producers shall regularly provide users with all the information referred to in Annex II A.
Article 7 
Member States shall prohibit the use of sludge or the supply of sludge for use on: (a) grassland or forage crops if the grassland is to be grazed or the forage crops to be harvested before a certain period has elapsed. This period, which shall be set by the Member States taking particular account of their geographical and climatic situation, shall under no circumstances be less than three weeks; (b) soil in which fruit and vegetable crops are growing, with the exception of fruit trees; (c) ground intended for the cultivation of fruit and vegetable crops which are normally in direct contact with the soil and normally eaten raw, for a period of 10 months preceding the harvest of the crops and during the harvest itself.
Article 8 
The following rules shall be observed when using sludge: — the sludge shall be used in such a way that account is taken of the nutrient needs of the plants and that the quality of the soil and of the surface and ground water is not impaired, — where sludge is used on soils of which the pH is below 6, Member States shall take into account the increased mobility and availability to the crop of heavy metals and shall, if necessary, reduce the limit values they have laid down in accordance with Annex I A.
Article 9 
Sludge and soil on which it is used shall be analyzed as outlined in Annexes II A and II B. The reference methods for sampling and analysis are indicated in Annex II C.
Article 10 
1. Member States shall ensure that up-to-date records are kept, which register: (a) the quantities of sludge produced and the quantities supplied for use in agriculture; (b) the composition and properties of the sludge in relation to the parameters referred to in Annex II A; (c) the type of treatment carried out, as defined in Article 2 (b); (d) the names and addresses of the recipients of the sludge and the place where the sludge is to be used. 2. The records shall be available to the competent authorities and shall provide a basis for the consolidated report referred to in Article 17. 3. Information on the methods of treatment and the results of the analyses shall be released upon request to the competent authorities.
Article 11 
Member States may exempt from Article 6 (b) and Article 10 (1) (b), (c) and (d) and paragraph 2, sludge from sewage treatment plants with a treatment capacity below 300 kg BOD 5 per day, corresponding to 5 000 person equivalents, which are designed primarily for the treatment of domestic waste water.
Article 12 
Where conditions so demand, Member States may take more stringent measures than those provided for in this Directive. Any decision of this nature shall be communicated to the Commission in accordance with existing agreements.
Article 13 
The Commission shall adapt to technical and scientific progress the provisions of the Annexes to the Directive, except for the parameters and values listed in Annexes I A, I B and I C, any factors likely to affect the evaluation of the values, and the parameters for analysis referred to in Annexes II A and II B. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 15(2).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL General background Many legal acts of the Union were adopted without an expiry date. These acts remain formally in force even if their legal effects have been exhausted. Eliminating acts that are no longer applicable or relevant permits a more user-friendly presentation and more efficient and time-saving scrutiny of tools that facilitate access to Union law: CELEX, EUR-Lex and the Directory of Legislation in force (e.g. search results would no longer show obsolete acts alongside those which are applicable). Improving the transparency of Union law is an essential element of the Better Regulation agenda that the Union Institutions are pursuing also under the new Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making 1 . The 2014 REFIT Communication 2 announced that the Commission will prepare repeals of legislation, inter alia, in relation to standardized reporting in the area of environment. Moreover, t he 2015 Better Regulation Communication 3 called for a broad review of reporting in several policy areas including the environment. Given these links, the repeal of Council Directive 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 standardizing and rationalizing reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment ("Directive 91/692/EEC") is now being addressed. This is also linked to a wider Fitness Check for environmental monitoring and reporting. That Fitness Check is now underway, as set out in the Commission's Work Programme 2016 4 , which mentioned the proposal for repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and the related water questionnaire Decision 95/337/EEC under repeal initiatives in Annex V. The repeal package consists of four proposed initiatives related to the repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and Decision 95/337/EEC: 1. A Communication which declares the obsolescence of 11 implementing acts adopted by the Commission to establish questionnaires for environmental reporting including Decision 95/337/EEC. 2. Two proposals for Commission Decisions repealing 2 of the implementing decisions (via comitology procedures), namely Commission Decision 2011/92/EU of 10 February 2011 5 and Commission Decision 2010/681/EU of 9 November 2010 6 that have exhausted their legal effect, but for procedural reasons will be repealed via a later comitology procedure by the Commission. 3. Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision, which will repeal and amend provisions of the 6 legal acts referring to Directive 91/692/EEC. To prepare these initiatives, the Commission has undertaken an analysis and looked into the consequences of keeping or repealing the various obligations. The result of this work is summarised below and is presented in more detail in a supporting study which is published separately. 7 As the aim is to repeal obsolete provisions and legal acts, it is considered that there is no need for a formal impact assessment to be carried out. It is important to highlight that there are no real economic benefits expected to be harvested as a result of the repeal exercise. Main benefits will be mainly linked to have a clearer set of rules on reporting resulting from this clean-up exercise. Shortcomings of Directive 91/692/EEC The Directive 91/692/EEC (SRD) aimed at streamlining the reporting obligations of all EU environmental legislation in effect at the time of its adoption. However in practice, not all environmental reporting requirements were harmonized by Directive 91/692/EEC. For instance Directives 91/271/EEC 8 and 91/676/EEC 9 were excluded from scope. It can be also observed that the implementation of the Directive was burdensome and ineffective from the outset. One main problem was that the directive was adopted prior to the widespread use of information technology (IT). Furthermore, many of the individual instruments for which Directive 91/692/EEC set out reporting requirements were subsequently replaced by instruments which disregarded its reporting provisions. For example, the Directive 2000/60/EC 10 repealed seven pieces of water legislation and hence the related water questionnaire 95/337/EEC adopted under Directive 91/692/EEC became redundant. Instruments such as the Directive 2000/60/EC and the Directive 2010/75/EC 11 (and its predecessor, Directive 96/61/EC) 12 introduced independent reporting obligations. With the successful development of the European Environmental Agency's (EEA) Reportnet and sectoral initiatives on streamlining of reporting (e.g. the Water Information System for Europe), the need and effectiveness of a horizontal instrument on reporting was increasingly put into question. Finally, the adoption of the INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC), and the related development of the Shared Environment Information System (SEIS), 13 introduced a more modern and effective, horizontal approach to information management and reporting related to EU environmental policy. The Commission concluded at the time that "[…] a key step in implementing SEIS, and especially to trigger the expected simplification benefits, will be to modernise the legal provisions relating to the way in which information required by environmental legislation is made available. It is expected that this will be done by revising the Standardised Reporting directive 91/692/EC, which needs to be updated and brought into line with the SEIS principles. To this end, the Commission intends to come forward with a relevant legislative proposal in 2008, including a repeal of outdated provisions in the current standardised reporting directive." 14 In the end, the Commission decided not to come forward with a new legal instrument on reporting but to pursue this agenda through a non-legal approach (see EU Shared Environmental Information System-Implementation Outlook 15 ) combined with coordinated action in the different environmental policy areas (such as water, air, nature, etc.). Summary of current scope and relevance of Directive 91/692/EEC Directive 91/692/EEC refers to 28 environmental acts covered by its provisions. A number of further acts make use of Directive 91/692/EEC. Currently due to subsequent repeals of these acts (see overview in table 2), 1 regulation, 9 directives (see overview in table 1) (two directives remain subject to its provisions, namely Directive 86/278/EEC and Directive 87/217/EEC) and 23 decisions remain in force that still make reference to those provisions (see overview in table 3). In conclusion, the majority of the original obligations set out in Directive 91/692/EEC have become obsolete and have no legal effect anymore As a result, the proposal for a repeal has been made to ensure legal certainty, improve transparency, reduce administrative burden and ensure that EU legislation is "fit for purpose" in line with the Better Regulation agenda. Proposed actions to repeal Directive 91/692/EEC and related acts The first action is a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council removing requirements for standardized reporting. It is also proposed that references to the old comitology rules are replaced by Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers as required by Article 13 thereof on transitional measures. The second action aims at adoption of a Communication on declaring obsolescence of the implementing Decisions under Directive 91/692/EEC still in force. The Communication identifies the Decisions that have become obsolete and whose legal basis was repealed. The third action will aim to repeal two implementing decisions, that still have a valid legal basis but in the meantime have exhausted their legal effects. 16 As part of the preparatory analysis, several options were considered to ensure an effective repeal whilst maintaning the legal effects, where necessary. The findings of this analysis are presented in the supporting study 17 that recommends the complete repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC provisions and removal of obsolete provisions, while making reference to new rules on implementing acts. This option consisting of the above-mentioned three actions was identified as most effective in cutting red tape and enhancing legal clarity. Pre-existing directives referred to by Directive 91/692/EEC As noted above, only Directives 86/278/EEC and 87/217/EEC (see overview in table 1) remain from the 28 instruments (see overview in table 2) originally mentioned in Directive 91/692/EEC. It is proposed to maintain the reporting provisions of Directives 86/278/EEC, while aligning it with the new rules for implementing acts established by the TFEU. The reporting requirements of Directive 87/217/EEC are not being used, mainly due to discontinuation of the use of asbestos across the EU Member States as a consequence of the phasing out of the production and use of raw asbestos and of products containing asbestos in the EU, through REACH (1907/2006/EC).
Revised version (Article 13 ):
The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 15a to amend the Annexes in order to adapt them to technical and scientific progress. The first paragraph shall not apply to the parameters and values listed in Annexes I A, I B and I C, any factors likely to affect the evaluation of those values, and the parameters for analysis referred to in Annexes II A and II B.
Article 14 
1. A committee for adapting this Directive to technical and scientific progress (hereinafter called ‘the Committee’) is hereby set up. It shall consist of representatives of the Member States with a representative of the Commission as chairman.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL General background Many legal acts of the Union were adopted without an expiry date. These acts remain formally in force even if their legal effects have been exhausted. Eliminating acts that are no longer applicable or relevant permits a more user-friendly presentation and more efficient and time-saving scrutiny of tools that facilitate access to Union law: CELEX, EUR-Lex and the Directory of Legislation in force (e.g. search results would no longer show obsolete acts alongside those which are applicable). Improving the transparency of Union law is an essential element of the Better Regulation agenda that the Union Institutions are pursuing also under the new Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making 1 . The 2014 REFIT Communication 2 announced that the Commission will prepare repeals of legislation, inter alia, in relation to standardized reporting in the area of environment. Moreover, t he 2015 Better Regulation Communication 3 called for a broad review of reporting in several policy areas including the environment. Given these links, the repeal of Council Directive 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 standardizing and rationalizing reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment ("Directive 91/692/EEC") is now being addressed. This is also linked to a wider Fitness Check for environmental monitoring and reporting. That Fitness Check is now underway, as set out in the Commission's Work Programme 2016 4 , which mentioned the proposal for repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and the related water questionnaire Decision 95/337/EEC under repeal initiatives in Annex V. The repeal package consists of four proposed initiatives related to the repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and Decision 95/337/EEC: 1. A Communication which declares the obsolescence of 11 implementing acts adopted by the Commission to establish questionnaires for environmental reporting including Decision 95/337/EEC. 2. Two proposals for Commission Decisions repealing 2 of the implementing decisions (via comitology procedures), namely Commission Decision 2011/92/EU of 10 February 2011 5 and Commission Decision 2010/681/EU of 9 November 2010 6 that have exhausted their legal effect, but for procedural reasons will be repealed via a later comitology procedure by the Commission. 3. Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision, which will repeal and amend provisions of the 6 legal acts referring to Directive 91/692/EEC. To prepare these initiatives, the Commission has undertaken an analysis and looked into the consequences of keeping or repealing the various obligations. The result of this work is summarised below and is presented in more detail in a supporting study which is published separately. 7 As the aim is to repeal obsolete provisions and legal acts, it is considered that there is no need for a formal impact assessment to be carried out. It is important to highlight that there are no real economic benefits expected to be harvested as a result of the repeal exercise. Main benefits will be mainly linked to have a clearer set of rules on reporting resulting from this clean-up exercise. Shortcomings of Directive 91/692/EEC The Directive 91/692/EEC (SRD) aimed at streamlining the reporting obligations of all EU environmental legislation in effect at the time of its adoption. However in practice, not all environmental reporting requirements were harmonized by Directive 91/692/EEC. For instance Directives 91/271/EEC 8 and 91/676/EEC 9 were excluded from scope. It can be also observed that the implementation of the Directive was burdensome and ineffective from the outset. One main problem was that the directive was adopted prior to the widespread use of information technology (IT). Furthermore, many of the individual instruments for which Directive 91/692/EEC set out reporting requirements were subsequently replaced by instruments which disregarded its reporting provisions. For example, the Directive 2000/60/EC 10 repealed seven pieces of water legislation and hence the related water questionnaire 95/337/EEC adopted under Directive 91/692/EEC became redundant. Instruments such as the Directive 2000/60/EC and the Directive 2010/75/EC 11 (and its predecessor, Directive 96/61/EC) 12 introduced independent reporting obligations. With the successful development of the European Environmental Agency's (EEA) Reportnet and sectoral initiatives on streamlining of reporting (e.g. the Water Information System for Europe), the need and effectiveness of a horizontal instrument on reporting was increasingly put into question. Finally, the adoption of the INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC), and the related development of the Shared Environment Information System (SEIS), 13 introduced a more modern and effective, horizontal approach to information management and reporting related to EU environmental policy. The Commission concluded at the time that "[…] a key step in implementing SEIS, and especially to trigger the expected simplification benefits, will be to modernise the legal provisions relating to the way in which information required by environmental legislation is made available. It is expected that this will be done by revising the Standardised Reporting directive 91/692/EC, which needs to be updated and brought into line with the SEIS principles. To this end, the Commission intends to come forward with a relevant legislative proposal in 2008, including a repeal of outdated provisions in the current standardised reporting directive." 14 In the end, the Commission decided not to come forward with a new legal instrument on reporting but to pursue this agenda through a non-legal approach (see EU Shared Environmental Information System-Implementation Outlook 15 ) combined with coordinated action in the different environmental policy areas (such as water, air, nature, etc.). Summary of current scope and relevance of Directive 91/692/EEC Directive 91/692/EEC refers to 28 environmental acts covered by its provisions. A number of further acts make use of Directive 91/692/EEC. Currently due to subsequent repeals of these acts (see overview in table 2), 1 regulation, 9 directives (see overview in table 1) (two directives remain subject to its provisions, namely Directive 86/278/EEC and Directive 87/217/EEC) and 23 decisions remain in force that still make reference to those provisions (see overview in table 3). In conclusion, the majority of the original obligations set out in Directive 91/692/EEC have become obsolete and have no legal effect anymore As a result, the proposal for a repeal has been made to ensure legal certainty, improve transparency, reduce administrative burden and ensure that EU legislation is "fit for purpose" in line with the Better Regulation agenda. Proposed actions to repeal Directive 91/692/EEC and related acts The first action is a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council removing requirements for standardized reporting. It is also proposed that references to the old comitology rules are replaced by Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers as required by Article 13 thereof on transitional measures. The second action aims at adoption of a Communication on declaring obsolescence of the implementing Decisions under Directive 91/692/EEC still in force. The Communication identifies the Decisions that have become obsolete and whose legal basis was repealed. The third action will aim to repeal two implementing decisions, that still have a valid legal basis but in the meantime have exhausted their legal effects. 16 As part of the preparatory analysis, several options were considered to ensure an effective repeal whilst maintaning the legal effects, where necessary. The findings of this analysis are presented in the supporting study 17 that recommends the complete repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC provisions and removal of obsolete provisions, while making reference to new rules on implementing acts. This option consisting of the above-mentioned three actions was identified as most effective in cutting red tape and enhancing legal clarity. Pre-existing directives referred to by Directive 91/692/EEC As noted above, only Directives 86/278/EEC and 87/217/EEC (see overview in table 1) remain from the 28 instruments (see overview in table 2) originally mentioned in Directive 91/692/EEC. It is proposed to maintain the reporting provisions of Directives 86/278/EEC, while aligning it with the new rules for implementing acts established by the TFEU. The reporting requirements of Directive 87/217/EEC are not being used, mainly due to discontinuation of the use of asbestos across the EU Member States as a consequence of the phasing out of the production and use of raw asbestos and of products containing asbestos in the EU, through REACH (1907/2006/EC).
Article 15 
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL General background Many legal acts of the Union were adopted without an expiry date. These acts remain formally in force even if their legal effects have been exhausted. Eliminating acts that are no longer applicable or relevant permits a more user-friendly presentation and more efficient and time-saving scrutiny of tools that facilitate access to Union law: CELEX, EUR-Lex and the Directory of Legislation in force (e.g. search results would no longer show obsolete acts alongside those which are applicable). Improving the transparency of Union law is an essential element of the Better Regulation agenda that the Union Institutions are pursuing also under the new Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making 1 . The 2014 REFIT Communication 2 announced that the Commission will prepare repeals of legislation, inter alia, in relation to standardized reporting in the area of environment. Moreover, t he 2015 Better Regulation Communication 3 called for a broad review of reporting in several policy areas including the environment. Given these links, the repeal of Council Directive 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 standardizing and rationalizing reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment ("Directive 91/692/EEC") is now being addressed. This is also linked to a wider Fitness Check for environmental monitoring and reporting. That Fitness Check is now underway, as set out in the Commission's Work Programme 2016 4 , which mentioned the proposal for repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and the related water questionnaire Decision 95/337/EEC under repeal initiatives in Annex V. The repeal package consists of four proposed initiatives related to the repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and Decision 95/337/EEC: 1. A Communication which declares the obsolescence of 11 implementing acts adopted by the Commission to establish questionnaires for environmental reporting including Decision 95/337/EEC. 2. Two proposals for Commission Decisions repealing 2 of the implementing decisions (via comitology procedures), namely Commission Decision 2011/92/EU of 10 February 2011 5 and Commission Decision 2010/681/EU of 9 November 2010 6 that have exhausted their legal effect, but for procedural reasons will be repealed via a later comitology procedure by the Commission. 3. Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision, which will repeal and amend provisions of the 6 legal acts referring to Directive 91/692/EEC. To prepare these initiatives, the Commission has undertaken an analysis and looked into the consequences of keeping or repealing the various obligations. The result of this work is summarised below and is presented in more detail in a supporting study which is published separately. 7 As the aim is to repeal obsolete provisions and legal acts, it is considered that there is no need for a formal impact assessment to be carried out. It is important to highlight that there are no real economic benefits expected to be harvested as a result of the repeal exercise. Main benefits will be mainly linked to have a clearer set of rules on reporting resulting from this clean-up exercise. Shortcomings of Directive 91/692/EEC The Directive 91/692/EEC (SRD) aimed at streamlining the reporting obligations of all EU environmental legislation in effect at the time of its adoption. However in practice, not all environmental reporting requirements were harmonized by Directive 91/692/EEC. For instance Directives 91/271/EEC 8 and 91/676/EEC 9 were excluded from scope. It can be also observed that the implementation of the Directive was burdensome and ineffective from the outset. One main problem was that the directive was adopted prior to the widespread use of information technology (IT). Furthermore, many of the individual instruments for which Directive 91/692/EEC set out reporting requirements were subsequently replaced by instruments which disregarded its reporting provisions. For example, the Directive 2000/60/EC 10 repealed seven pieces of water legislation and hence the related water questionnaire 95/337/EEC adopted under Directive 91/692/EEC became redundant. Instruments such as the Directive 2000/60/EC and the Directive 2010/75/EC 11 (and its predecessor, Directive 96/61/EC) 12 introduced independent reporting obligations. With the successful development of the European Environmental Agency's (EEA) Reportnet and sectoral initiatives on streamlining of reporting (e.g. the Water Information System for Europe), the need and effectiveness of a horizontal instrument on reporting was increasingly put into question. Finally, the adoption of the INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC), and the related development of the Shared Environment Information System (SEIS), 13 introduced a more modern and effective, horizontal approach to information management and reporting related to EU environmental policy. The Commission concluded at the time that "[…] a key step in implementing SEIS, and especially to trigger the expected simplification benefits, will be to modernise the legal provisions relating to the way in which information required by environmental legislation is made available. It is expected that this will be done by revising the Standardised Reporting directive 91/692/EC, which needs to be updated and brought into line with the SEIS principles. To this end, the Commission intends to come forward with a relevant legislative proposal in 2008, including a repeal of outdated provisions in the current standardised reporting directive." 14 In the end, the Commission decided not to come forward with a new legal instrument on reporting but to pursue this agenda through a non-legal approach (see EU Shared Environmental Information System-Implementation Outlook 15 ) combined with coordinated action in the different environmental policy areas (such as water, air, nature, etc.). Summary of current scope and relevance of Directive 91/692/EEC Directive 91/692/EEC refers to 28 environmental acts covered by its provisions. A number of further acts make use of Directive 91/692/EEC. Currently due to subsequent repeals of these acts (see overview in table 2), 1 regulation, 9 directives (see overview in table 1) (two directives remain subject to its provisions, namely Directive 86/278/EEC and Directive 87/217/EEC) and 23 decisions remain in force that still make reference to those provisions (see overview in table 3). In conclusion, the majority of the original obligations set out in Directive 91/692/EEC have become obsolete and have no legal effect anymore As a result, the proposal for a repeal has been made to ensure legal certainty, improve transparency, reduce administrative burden and ensure that EU legislation is "fit for purpose" in line with the Better Regulation agenda. Proposed actions to repeal Directive 91/692/EEC and related acts The first action is a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council removing requirements for standardized reporting. It is also proposed that references to the old comitology rules are replaced by Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers as required by Article 13 thereof on transitional measures. The second action aims at adoption of a Communication on declaring obsolescence of the implementing Decisions under Directive 91/692/EEC still in force. The Communication identifies the Decisions that have become obsolete and whose legal basis was repealed. The third action will aim to repeal two implementing decisions, that still have a valid legal basis but in the meantime have exhausted their legal effects. 16 As part of the preparatory analysis, several options were considered to ensure an effective repeal whilst maintaning the legal effects, where necessary. The findings of this analysis are presented in the supporting study 17 that recommends the complete repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC provisions and removal of obsolete provisions, while making reference to new rules on implementing acts. This option consisting of the above-mentioned three actions was identified as most effective in cutting red tape and enhancing legal clarity. Pre-existing directives referred to by Directive 91/692/EEC As noted above, only Directives 86/278/EEC and 87/217/EEC (see overview in table 1) remain from the 28 instruments (see overview in table 2) originally mentioned in Directive 91/692/EEC. It is proposed to maintain the reporting provisions of Directives 86/278/EEC, while aligning it with the new rules for implementing acts established by the TFEU. The reporting requirements of Directive 87/217/EEC are not being used, mainly due to discontinuation of the use of asbestos across the EU Member States as a consequence of the phasing out of the production and use of raw asbestos and of products containing asbestos in the EU, through REACH (1907/2006/EC).
Revised version (Article 15 ):
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the committee established by Article 39 of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 ). That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 2 ). 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Article 16 
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive within three years of its notification. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. 2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the texts of the provisions of national law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.
Article 17 
At intervals of three years Member States shall send information to the Commission on the implementation of this Directive, in the form of a sectoral report which shall also cover other pertinent Community Directives. The report shall be drawn up on the basis other of a questionnaire or outline drafted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 6 of Directive 91/692/EEC ( 8 ). The questionnaire or outline shall be sent to the Member States six months before the start of the period covered by the report. The report shall be made to the Commission within nine months of the end of the three-year period covered by it. The first report shall cover the period 1995 to 1997 inclusive. The Commission shall publish a Community report on the implementation of the Directive within nine months of receiving the reports from the Member States.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL General background Many legal acts of the Union were adopted without an expiry date. These acts remain formally in force even if their legal effects have been exhausted. Eliminating acts that are no longer applicable or relevant permits a more user-friendly presentation and more efficient and time-saving scrutiny of tools that facilitate access to Union law: CELEX, EUR-Lex and the Directory of Legislation in force (e.g. search results would no longer show obsolete acts alongside those which are applicable). Improving the transparency of Union law is an essential element of the Better Regulation agenda that the Union Institutions are pursuing also under the new Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making 1 . The 2014 REFIT Communication 2 announced that the Commission will prepare repeals of legislation, inter alia, in relation to standardized reporting in the area of environment. Moreover, t he 2015 Better Regulation Communication 3 called for a broad review of reporting in several policy areas including the environment. Given these links, the repeal of Council Directive 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 standardizing and rationalizing reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment ("Directive 91/692/EEC") is now being addressed. This is also linked to a wider Fitness Check for environmental monitoring and reporting. That Fitness Check is now underway, as set out in the Commission's Work Programme 2016 4 , which mentioned the proposal for repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and the related water questionnaire Decision 95/337/EEC under repeal initiatives in Annex V. The repeal package consists of four proposed initiatives related to the repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC and Decision 95/337/EEC: 1. A Communication which declares the obsolescence of 11 implementing acts adopted by the Commission to establish questionnaires for environmental reporting including Decision 95/337/EEC. 2. Two proposals for Commission Decisions repealing 2 of the implementing decisions (via comitology procedures), namely Commission Decision 2011/92/EU of 10 February 2011 5 and Commission Decision 2010/681/EU of 9 November 2010 6 that have exhausted their legal effect, but for procedural reasons will be repealed via a later comitology procedure by the Commission. 3. Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision, which will repeal and amend provisions of the 6 legal acts referring to Directive 91/692/EEC. To prepare these initiatives, the Commission has undertaken an analysis and looked into the consequences of keeping or repealing the various obligations. The result of this work is summarised below and is presented in more detail in a supporting study which is published separately. 7 As the aim is to repeal obsolete provisions and legal acts, it is considered that there is no need for a formal impact assessment to be carried out. It is important to highlight that there are no real economic benefits expected to be harvested as a result of the repeal exercise. Main benefits will be mainly linked to have a clearer set of rules on reporting resulting from this clean-up exercise. Shortcomings of Directive 91/692/EEC The Directive 91/692/EEC (SRD) aimed at streamlining the reporting obligations of all EU environmental legislation in effect at the time of its adoption. However in practice, not all environmental reporting requirements were harmonized by Directive 91/692/EEC. For instance Directives 91/271/EEC 8 and 91/676/EEC 9 were excluded from scope. It can be also observed that the implementation of the Directive was burdensome and ineffective from the outset. One main problem was that the directive was adopted prior to the widespread use of information technology (IT). Furthermore, many of the individual instruments for which Directive 91/692/EEC set out reporting requirements were subsequently replaced by instruments which disregarded its reporting provisions. For example, the Directive 2000/60/EC 10 repealed seven pieces of water legislation and hence the related water questionnaire 95/337/EEC adopted under Directive 91/692/EEC became redundant. Instruments such as the Directive 2000/60/EC and the Directive 2010/75/EC 11 (and its predecessor, Directive 96/61/EC) 12 introduced independent reporting obligations. With the successful development of the European Environmental Agency's (EEA) Reportnet and sectoral initiatives on streamlining of reporting (e.g. the Water Information System for Europe), the need and effectiveness of a horizontal instrument on reporting was increasingly put into question. Finally, the adoption of the INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC), and the related development of the Shared Environment Information System (SEIS), 13 introduced a more modern and effective, horizontal approach to information management and reporting related to EU environmental policy. The Commission concluded at the time that "[…] a key step in implementing SEIS, and especially to trigger the expected simplification benefits, will be to modernise the legal provisions relating to the way in which information required by environmental legislation is made available. It is expected that this will be done by revising the Standardised Reporting directive 91/692/EC, which needs to be updated and brought into line with the SEIS principles. To this end, the Commission intends to come forward with a relevant legislative proposal in 2008, including a repeal of outdated provisions in the current standardised reporting directive." 14 In the end, the Commission decided not to come forward with a new legal instrument on reporting but to pursue this agenda through a non-legal approach (see EU Shared Environmental Information System-Implementation Outlook 15 ) combined with coordinated action in the different environmental policy areas (such as water, air, nature, etc.). Summary of current scope and relevance of Directive 91/692/EEC Directive 91/692/EEC refers to 28 environmental acts covered by its provisions. A number of further acts make use of Directive 91/692/EEC. Currently due to subsequent repeals of these acts (see overview in table 2), 1 regulation, 9 directives (see overview in table 1) (two directives remain subject to its provisions, namely Directive 86/278/EEC and Directive 87/217/EEC) and 23 decisions remain in force that still make reference to those provisions (see overview in table 3). In conclusion, the majority of the original obligations set out in Directive 91/692/EEC have become obsolete and have no legal effect anymore As a result, the proposal for a repeal has been made to ensure legal certainty, improve transparency, reduce administrative burden and ensure that EU legislation is "fit for purpose" in line with the Better Regulation agenda. Proposed actions to repeal Directive 91/692/EEC and related acts The first action is a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council removing requirements for standardized reporting. It is also proposed that references to the old comitology rules are replaced by Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers as required by Article 13 thereof on transitional measures. The second action aims at adoption of a Communication on declaring obsolescence of the implementing Decisions under Directive 91/692/EEC still in force. The Communication identifies the Decisions that have become obsolete and whose legal basis was repealed. The third action will aim to repeal two implementing decisions, that still have a valid legal basis but in the meantime have exhausted their legal effects. 16 As part of the preparatory analysis, several options were considered to ensure an effective repeal whilst maintaning the legal effects, where necessary. The findings of this analysis are presented in the supporting study 17 that recommends the complete repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC provisions and removal of obsolete provisions, while making reference to new rules on implementing acts. This option consisting of the above-mentioned three actions was identified as most effective in cutting red tape and enhancing legal clarity. Pre-existing directives referred to by Directive 91/692/EEC As noted above, only Directives 86/278/EEC and 87/217/EEC (see overview in table 1) remain from the 28 instruments (see overview in table 2) originally mentioned in Directive 91/692/EEC. It is proposed to maintain the reporting provisions of Directives 86/278/EEC, while aligning it with the new rules for implementing acts established by the TFEU. The reporting requirements of Directive 87/217/EEC are not being used, mainly due to discontinuation of the use of asbestos across the EU Member States as a consequence of the phasing out of the production and use of raw asbestos and of products containing asbestos in the EU, through REACH (1907/2006/EC).
Revised version (Article 17 ):
At intervals of three years Member States shall send information to the Commission on the implementation of this Directive, in the form of a sectoral report which shall also cover other pertinent Community Directives. The sectoral reports shall be drawn up on the basis of a questionnaire or outline adopted by the Commission in the form of an implementing act. That implementing act shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 15(2). The questionnaire or outline shall be sent to the Member States six months before the start of the period covered by the report. The report shall be sent to the Commission within nine months of the end of the three-year period covered by it. The first report shall cover the period 1995 to 1997 inclusive. The Commission shall publish a Community report on the implementation of the Directive within nine months of receiving the reports from the Member States.
Article 18 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.