- Latest available (Revised)
- Point in Time (31/01/2020)
- Original (As adopted by EU)
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 (Text with EEA relevance)
When the UK left the EU, legislation.gov.uk published EU legislation that had been published by the EU up to IP completion day (31 December 2020 11.00 p.m.). On legislation.gov.uk, these items of legislation are kept up-to-date with any amendments made by the UK since then.
Legislation.gov.uk publishes the UK version. EUR-Lex publishes the EU version. The EU Exit Web Archive holds a snapshot of EUR-Lex’s version from IP completion day (31 December 2020 11.00 p.m.).
Point in time view as at 31/01/2020.
There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Regulation (EU) 2019/1010 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Introductory Text.
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. At the current time any known changes or effects made by subsequent legislation have been applied to the text of the legislation you are viewing by the editorial team. Please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for details regarding the timescales for which new effects are identified and recorded on this site.
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 Articles 114, 192(1) and 207 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) In order to address the need for implementation and compliance information, amendments to several Union legislative acts related to the environment should be introduced, 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 of 9 June 2017 (together referred to as the ‘Fitness Check on reporting’).
(2) This Regulation seeks to modernise information management and ensure a more consistent approach to the legislative acts within its scope by simplifying reporting so as to reduce the administrative burden, enhancing the database for future evaluations and increasing transparency for the benefit of the public, each time in accordance with the circumstances.
(3) It is necessary that accessibility to data should ensure that the administrative burden on all entities remains as limited as possible, especially on non-governmental entities such as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Such accessibility requires active dissemination at national level in accordance with Directives 2003/4/EC(3) and 2007/2/EC(4) of the European Parliament and of the Council and their implementing rules, to ensure the appropriate infrastructure for public access, reporting and data-sharing between public authorities.
(4) The data and the process of Member States’ comprehensive and timely reporting are essential for the Commission to monitor, review and assess the performance of the legislation against the objectives it pursues in order to inform any future evaluation of the legislation, in accordance with paragraph 22 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making(5). It is appropriate to add provisions to several legislative acts in the environmental sector for the purpose of their future evaluation, on the basis of data collected during implementation, possibly complemented by additional scientific and analytical data. In that context, there is a need for relevant data that will allow for a better assessment of the efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, coherence and added value of Union legislation, hence the necessity to ensure appropriate reporting mechanisms that can also serve as indicators for this purpose both for decision-makers and for the general public.
(5) It is necessary to amend the reporting obligations laid down in Articles 10 and 17 of Council Directive 86/278/EEC(6). The obligation to report to the Commission should be simplified and, at the same time, Member States should be required to ensure a higher level of transparency, whereby the required information will be made available in an easily accessible manner by electronic means and in accordance with Directives 2003/4/EC and 2007/2/EC, in particular on public access, data-sharing and services. Given the overriding importance of enabling Union citizens to quickly access environmental information, it is essential that Member States make data publicly available as fast as technically feasible with the aim of having the information available within three months of the year end.
(6) In accordance with the evaluation of 13 December 2016 of Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(7), there is a need to streamline the reporting deadlines for noise maps and action plans to allow sufficient time for public consultation of action plans. To that end, the deadline for the review or revision of the action plans should be postponed, once only, by one year so that the deadline of the fourth round of action plans should not be 18 July 2023 but 18 July 2024. Thus, from the fourth round onwards, Member States will have approximately two years between making the noise maps and completing the review or revision of action plans instead of one year as is currently the case. For the subsequent rounds of action plans, the five-year cycle for the review or revision will then resume. Moreover, in order to better meet the objectives of Directive 2002/49/EC and to provide a basis for developing measures at Union level, reporting by Member States should be carried out by electronic means. It is also necessary to enhance public participation by requiring comprehensible, accurate and comparable information to be made publicly available while aligning this obligation to other Union legislative acts, such as Directive 2007/2/EC, without duplicating practical requirements.
(7) The Union is committed to strengthening the evidence base of Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(8) in a transparent way, as undertaken by the Commission’s Expert Group on that Directive. In order to facilitate comparable evidence, guidelines providing a common understanding of ‘environmental damage’ as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2004/35/EC should be developed by the Commission.
(8) Based on the Commission report of 20 July 2016 on the implementation of Directive 2007/2/EC and the accompanying evaluation of 10 August 2016, it is appropriate, with a view to simplifying the implementation of that Directive and reducing administrative burden related to monitoring by Member States, to no longer require Member States to send to the Commission triennial reports and no longer require the Commission to present to the European Parliament and to the Council a summary report, because the Fitness Check on reporting confirmed the limited use of such reports. Nevertheless, the Commission should continue to carry out, every five years, an evaluation of Directive 2007/2/EC and make that evaluation publicly available.
(9) The Commission’s Fitness Check of 16 December 2016 of the EU Nature Legislation (Birds and Habitats Directives), that is Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(9) and Council Directive 92/43/EEC(10), concluded that a three-year reporting cycle is required under Directive 2009/147/EC. However, in practice a reporting cycle of six years, as under Directive 92/43/EEC, has already been applied for Directive 2009/147/EC, with a similar primary focus on providing up-to-date information on status and trends of species. The need for a streamlined implementation of Directives 92/43/EEC and 2009/147/EC justifies the need to adapt the legislation to the joint practice, by ensuring a status assessment every six years, while acknowledging that Member States still need to carry out the necessary monitoring activities for some vulnerable species. That joint practice should also facilitate the preparation of reports every six years on application of the Directives that Member States are to submit to the Commission. In order to ensure an assessment of the policy progress, Member States should be required to provide information, in particular, on the status and trends of wild bird species, the threats and pressures on them, the conservation measures taken and the contribution of the network of Special Protection Areas to the objectives of Directive 2009/147/EC.
(10) In order to improve transparency and reduce the administrative burden, it is necessary to amend the reporting obligations laid down in Articles 43, 54 and 57 of Directive 2010/63/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(11). It is necessary to establish a central, open-access searchable database for non-technical project summaries and related retrospective assessments, and confer implementing powers on the Commission. Those implementing powers cover establishing a common format for the submission of non-technical project summaries and related retrospective assessments, as well as a common format and information content for submitting information on implementation and statistical information. It is also necessary to replace the statistical reporting by the Commission every three years by a requirement on the Commission to set up and maintain a dynamic central database and to release statistical information on a yearly basis.
(11) In accordance with the findings of the Commission REFIT evaluation of 13 December 2017 of Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council(12), it is necessary to amend or abolish the reporting obligations laid down in that Regulation. In order to enhance coherence with reporting under Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(13), implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to establish the type, format and frequency of information to be made available under Regulation (EC) No 166/2006, and to abolish the reporting format currently set out in that Regulation. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council(14). Given the overriding importance of enabling Union citizens to quickly access environmental information, it is essential that Member States and the Commission make data publicly available as fast as technically feasible with the aim of having the information available within three months of the year end, including by progressing towards that objective through an implementing act under Regulation (EC) No 166/2006. It is also necessary to amend Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 on confidentiality to ensure greater transparency of reporting to the Commission. To minimise the administrative burden on Member States and the Commission, it is further necessary to abolish the reporting obligations laid down in Articles 16 and 17 of that Regulation, as these obligations provide information that is of limited value or does not correspond to policy needs.
(12) To improve and facilitate the access of the public to information on the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council(15), the data provided by the Member States on the implementation of that Regulation should be made publicly available by the Commission through a Union-wide overview of those data. In order to increase consistency of information and to facilitate the monitoring of the functioning of that Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to lay down the format and procedure for Member States to make information available, and the frequency and period of provision of information should be aligned to that of Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005(16). Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
(13) To improve and facilitate the access of the public to information on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005, the data provided by the Member States on the implementation of that Regulation should be made publicly available by the Commission through a Union-wide overview. On the basis of the experience that the Commission and the Member States have gained from the first year of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade licencing, the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 related to reporting need to be updated. The Commission, in exercising its implementing powers to lay down the format and procedure for Member States to make information available, should be assisted by the Committee established in Article 11 of that Regulation. Furthermore, the provisions on evaluation of that Regulation need to be updated.
(14) Reporting under Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97(17) needs to be streamlined and aligned with the reporting requirements under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) of 3 March 1973, to which the Union and Member States are parties. The reporting requirements under CITES were amended at the 17th CITES Conference of the Parties which took place in 2016, to adjust the frequency of the reporting for measures on the implementation of CITES and to create a new reporting mechanism on illegal trade in CITES-listed species. Those changes need to be reflected in Regulation (EC) No 338/97.
(15) The European Environment Agency is already carrying out important tasks in the monitoring and reporting of Union environmental legislation and those tasks should be explicitly introduced in the relevant legislation. For other pieces of environmental legislation, the role and resourcing of the European Environment Agency in relation to supporting the Commission in environmental reporting will be addressed following the finalisation of the ongoing evaluation.
(16) Regulations (EC) No 166/2006, (EU) No 995/2010, (EC) No 338/97 and (EC) No 2173/2005, and Directives 2002/49/EC, 2004/35/EC, 2007/2/EC, 2009/147/EC, 2010/63/EU and 86/278/EEC should therefore be amended accordingly,
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Position of the European Parliament of 26 March 2019 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 21 May 2019.
Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC (OJ L 41, 14.2.2003, p. 26).
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).
Council Directive 86/278/EEC of 12 June 1986 on the protection of the environment, and in particular of the soil, when sewage sludge is used in agriculture (OJ L 181, 4.7.1986, p. 6).
Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise (OJ L 189, 18.7.2002, p. 12).
Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage (OJ L 143, 30.4.2004, p. 56).
Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds (OJ L 20, 26.1.2010, p. 7).
Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7).
Directive 2010/63/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes (OJ L 276, 20.10.2010, p. 33).
Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning the establishment of a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register and amending Council Directives 91/689/EEC and 96/61/EC (OJ L 33, 4.2.2006, p. 1).
Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (OJ L 334, 17.12.2010, p. 17).
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 (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).
Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market (OJ L 295, 12.11.2010, p. 23).
Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 of 20 December 2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community (OJ L 347, 30.12.2005, p. 1).
Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 of 9 December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein (OJ L 61, 3.3.1997, p. 1).
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As adopted by EU): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was first adopted in the EU. No changes have been applied to the text.
Point in Time: This becomes available after navigating to view revised legislation as it stood at a certain point in time via Advanced Features > Show Timeline of Changes or via a point in time advanced search.
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
This timeline shows the different versions taken from EUR-Lex before exit day and during the implementation period as well as any subsequent versions created after the implementation period as a result of changes made by UK legislation.
The dates for the EU versions are taken from the document dates on EUR-Lex and may not always coincide with when the changes came into force for the document.
For any versions created after the implementation period as a result of changes made by UK legislation the date will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. For further information see our guide to revised legislation on Understanding Legislation.
Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including: