Brussels, 5 November 2001

Working structure and Procedures of the
Expert Advisory Forum
on priority substances and pollution control
in accordance to Article 16(5) of
the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC
(Final draft)

1.Introduction

The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC[1]) introduces extensive provisions on pollution control in surface, transitional, coastal, territorial and marine waters. The obligations address pollutants to be regulated on Community level or on Member States or river basin level. Community activities are set out in the “Strategies against pollution of water” and the requirements for priority substances under Article 16 of the Directive 2000/60/EC, in particular:

  • the elaboration of a list of priority substances and its review (Art. 16 (2) and (4));
  • the identification of priority hazardous substances (Art. 16 (3));
  • the preparation of emission controls (Art. 16 (6) and (8));
  • the derivation of quality standards (Art. 16 (7));
  • the development of further strategies against pollution (Art. 16 (9));
  • the review of existing directives on discharges of dangerous substances (Art. 16 (10)).

An overview of these requirements and the related deadlines is set out in the annex. The measures under Article 16 are subject to co-decision, i.e. the adoption of proposals in the Council and the European Parliament according to Article 251 of the Treaty. It is the obligation of the Commission to prepare these proposals. Whereas it is general practice in the Commission to prepare such proposals with the assistance of experts in the field, the aspect is specifically emphasised in the WFD.

Article 16 (5) of Directive 2000/60/EC states:

“In preparing its proposal, the Commission shall take account of recommendations from the Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment, Member States, the European Parliament, the European Environment Agency, Community research programmes, international organisations to which the Community is a party, European business organisations including those representing small and medium-sized enterprises, European environmental organisations, and of other relevant information which comes to its attention.”

The Commission will ensure the input of recommendations of all these groups through an Expert Advisory Forum and the subsequent expert groups which are established from March 2001 onwards. The working procedures and the structure of the Expert Advisory Forum and the expert groups are set out below. These procedures intended to facilitate the work and to make the functioning of the EAF more transparent. However, they may be reviewed or adapted progressively or exemptions may be applied, where appropriate, in order to react on specific situations more efficiently.

2.Expert Advisory Forum (EAF)

The “Expert Advisory Forum on Priority Substances and Pollution Control” under the Water Framework Directive will be the key steering group dealing with all the different aspects under Article 16 of Directive 2000/60/EC.

Objectives

The objectives of the EAF in relation to the provisions under Article16 (cf. 1) are:

  • to provide recommendations and expertise;
  • to assist and support the Commission in preparing proposals;
  • to co-ordinate the work and to co-operate with other expert groups;
  • to enhance information exchange and data transmission.

The co-ordination aspect is of particular importance in order to make best use of the expertise available and to avoid duplication of efforts. This applies within the EAF and its sub-structure and, even more important, with other related expert working groups, in particular under the Joint Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive, other related Community policy areas, e.g. the Technical Meetings under Council Regulation (EEC) No. 793/93 or 91/414/EEC or relevant international agreements, e.g. the OSPAR Working Groups.

Participants

In principle, the participation of the experts from the different areas is ensured through a network of Focal Points. Focal Points are individuals with a specific role for their delegation (e.g. administration, organisation, association or group) in the EAF. The correspondence and contacts from and to the Commission’s secretariat of the EAF takes place exclusively via the Focal Points. Any dissemination and co-ordination within the different delegations will be left to the Focal Points. In addition, the Focal Points will get access to a restricted Internet site (CIRCA Interest Group) which shall facilitate the co-ordination, planning, access to documents and exchange of information.

The participation of the different experts will be organised as follows:

  • Commission
    The Directorate General Environment of the Commission will organise and chair the EAF. The secretariat of the EAF will be based in Unit ENV B.1 “Water, the Marine and Soil”. The secretariat will invite other relevant services of the Commission, in particular representatives of the Directorate Generals Enterprise, Health and Consumer Protection, Research, Agriculture and relevant institutes of the Joint Research Centres.
  • Member States
    Each Member State shall be invited to send a delegation to the Forum. The delegation of each Member State shall be considered to be a single member of the Forum and shall not exceed three individuals. Each Member State shall be asked to nominate one representative which it desires to act as a Focal Point for the EAF.
    The composition of the delegation of the Member States shall be notified by the Focal Points to the Commission’s secretariat at least 7 days before the date of the EAF.
  • EEA and Accession Countries
    Each country which is part of the EEA or which is candidate to access the Community shall be invited to send one representative to the Forum. Each country shall be asked to nominate a representative which it desires to act as a Focal Point for the EAF.
    The representatives of the EEA and Accession countries shall be notified by the Focal Points to the Commission’s secretariat at least 7 days before the date of the EAF.
  • Industry
    Representatives of European industry and other European business organisations including those representing small and medium-sized enterprises shall be invited to send delegations to the EAF. The Commission’s relation shall be primarily with UNICE and CEFIC. It shall be primarily for UNICE and CEFIC, if necessary in co-operation with the Commission, to arrange an appropriate representation from industry for meetings of the EAF. The delegation shall comprise permanent and ad-hoc members.
    Permanent members shall be organisations and associations with general representational functions for industry and in particular industrial sectors generally concerned by actions under Article 16 of the Water Framework Directive.
    Ad-hoc members shall be organisations and associations representing specific industrial sectors, individual companies or industrial representatives with expertise on specific issues related to priority substances and pollution control.
    Industrial organisations and associations which are applying through UNICE or CEFIC or directly at the Commission to be permanent members shall be asked to nominate a representative which it desires to act as a Focal Point for the EAF. However, the number of permanent and ad-hoc members of industry may be limited by the Commission due to organisational constraints.
    The composition of the delegation of the industry shall be notified by the Focal Points to the Commission’s secretariat at least 7 days before the date of the EAF.
  • Environmental NGOs
    European environmental organisations (NGOs) shall be invited to send delegations to the EAF. The Commission’s relation shall be primarily with the European Environment Bureau (EEB). It shall be primarily for the EEB, if necessary in co-operation with the Commission, to arrange an appropriate representation from environmental NGOs for meetings of the EAF.
    Environmental organisations which are applying through the EEB or directly at the Commission to send a delegation to the EAF shall be asked to nominate a representative which it desires to act as a Focal Point for the EAF.
    The composition of the delegation of the environmental NGOs shall be notified by the Focal Points to the Commission’s secretariat at least 7 days before the date of the EAF.
  • Other representatives
    The Commission will invite other experts or observers, in particular from
    the European Parliament, the European Environment Agency, the Scientific Committees, e.g. the Scientific Committee on Toxicology, Ecotoxicology and the Environment (SCTEE). Furthermore, the Commission may invite experts from any other organisation which are brought to its attention.
    Any other organisation which is applying directly at the Commission to send a delegation to the EAF shall be asked to nominate a representative which it desires to act as a Focal Point for the EAF.
    The composition of the delegation of the other group shall be notified by the Focal Points to the Commission’s secretariat at least 7 days before the date of the EAF.

Organisational issues

The EAF will be held biannually, preferably in March and October. In general, the meeting will be scheduled for two days. The working language is English. During the EAF meetings, translations will be provided in French and German, at least.

The invitations and the agenda to the EAF will be sent to the Focal Points (see above) four weeks before the date of the EAF. Any documents should be sent electronically to the Focal Points one week before the date of the EAF, at the latest. However, it is possible to present room document for information on the day of the meeting.

The Commission shall draw up a concise draft summary record of the meeting of the EAF. Any delegation may comment on the draft summary record, the presented working documents or on any item on the agenda of the meeting. The deadline for such comments shall be set by the Commission on the EAF meeting, but should not exceed six weeks after the meeting, except for the draft summary record which should be commented six weeks after receipt, at the latest. The comments shall be made in writing to the secretariat, preferably in an electronic form. All the comments will be made available to the other Focal Points.

Proceedings and documents of EAF may be available to the public on request in accordance with the general requirements on access to environmental information according to Directive 90/313/EEC.

For organisational reasons, the number of participants in the EAF has to be limited to 80 people. The Commission may decide to restrict the access of delegations, where appropriate.

Co-operation and co-ordination

The EAF will co-operate and co-ordinate with other related experts groups as close as possible. Other relevant groups are, in particular, working groups under the Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive, expert groups under other pieces of Community legislation, e.g. existing chemicals, plant protection products, integrated pollution prevention and control etc. Furthermore, similar expert groups exist in other international for a, e.g. the international marine conventions (OSPAR, Helsinki, Barcelona) or the international river conventions (e.g. Rhine, Danube). Informal “contact points” will be identified who could update the EAF on relevant ongoing work in other groups and feed back the outcome of the EAF meetings to these other groups. As the informal “contact points” do not have a mandate form the different fora, the Commission will contact the other expert groups in an official way, where necessary. Finally, members of the EAF are encourage to communicate and exchange information to colleagues of their administration or association who are participating in other relevant groups in order to avoid duplication and divergences at an early stage of work.

3.Working Structure

The EAF shall be the central steering group of the preparatory work under Article 16 of the Water Framework Directive. However, it will be necessary to elaborate the technical background of different working tasks in specific expert groups with an appropriate expertise in the field. In order to prepare the EAF meetings, the tasks in the work programme will be carried out with the support of different experts, in particular Expert Groups (EG),, consultants of the Commission or through other supporting structures. All the different experts will report to the EAF.

3.1.Expert Groups (EGs)

Expert Groups (EGs) are permanent or temporary sub-groups of the EAF, to carry out a detailed work for defined tasks, resulting in reports or proposals to the EAF.

EGs may be established for tasks which are of permanent and continuing nature under the work programme of the EAF. The EGs shall be established and dissolved by the Commission, after consultation with the EAF. The Commission will provide the chair and the secretariat of the PEG.

The tasks of the EGs are defined by the Commission, after consultation with the EAF, before its establishment and may be updated at any time. The EG will perform their work in accordance to the Work Programme and reports to the EAF accordingly. The EG may nominate a “Rapporteur” amongst the members of the expert group. The working language is English.

The members of an EG are invited by the Commission. Delegations may indicate representatives to the Commission with proven expertise in relation to the tasks of the EG.

3.2.Consultants

The Commission may use the expertise of consultants to prepare certain tasks of the EAF. The consultants will report to the Commission. The reports will be presented to the EAF for discussion. The EAF will be requested to support the consultants in any possible way, in particular by providing relevant information and data. The consultants will take the comments of the EAF into account, where possible within the scope of the study contract.

Other consultants contracted by the Member States or other stakeholders may provide additional support to the EAF via their clients. Where appropriate, the Commission, after consultation with the EAF, may organise co-ordination meetings amongst the different consultants working on similar tasks.

3.3.Other support

The EAF may be supported by other services of the Commission, in particular the Joint Research Centre. Mainly the “Inland and Marine Waters” Unit of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability, the “European Chemicals Bureau” of the Institute for Health and Consumers Protection and the “European IPPC Bureau” of the Institute of Prospective Technologies and Studies shall be included in the preparation of specific tasks which fall under their expertise and responsibilities. Furthermore, the European Environment Agency and its European Topic Centre “Water” will be invited to contribute to specific tasks which relate to their expertise and their work programme. Other institutions or groups of experts may be asked for support of the EAF, where appropriate.

Moreover, the Commission may establish other supporting ad-hoc groups, where appropriate, after consultation with the EAF. These ad-hoc groups may be organised in a flexible and informal way depending on the requirements of the task which they would address. The members of the ad-hoc group will agree on the procedures of the ad-hoc group, the chair and the rapporteur to the EAF.

4.Work Programme

The EAF shall discuss and agree its Work Programme for, at least, the actual and the subsequent year. The Work Programme shall be reviewed and, if necessary updated, on every EAF meeting. The first Work Programme 2001/2002 will be proposed by the Commission on the first EAF meeting. The EAF shall take the available resources into account while establishing the Work Programme.

ANNEX 1

Provisions under Article 16 of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC

Paragraph / Provision / Deadlines
16 (1) / Objective for specific Community measures on pollution controls to be adopted by Council and EP on proposal of the Commission / -
16 (2) / Establishment of a list of priority substances / First list, COM(2000) 47, adoption Oct 2001
16 (3) / Identification of priority hazardous substances
“Review for certain priority substances” / First list, COM(2001) 17, adoption Oct 2001
COM Proposal one year after adoption of first list: Oct 2002
16 (4) / Review period for list of priority (hazardous) substances / Every 4 years,
next revision: end of 2004
16 (5) / Expert Advisory Forum to the Commission / Established in March2001
16 (6) / Emission controls for priority (hazardous) substances / COM Proposal two years after adoption of list (cf. 16(8)): Oct 2003
16 (7) / Quality standards for priority (hazardous) substances / COM Proposal two years after adoption of list (cf. 16(8)): Oct 2003
16 (8) / Approach and timetable for Community measures; “safeguard clause”: Measures of Member States in absence of Community measures / Proposals in Oct 2003;
MS measures by 2006 afterwards every 5 years
16 (9) / COM strategies against other pollutants including accidental pollution / -
16 (10) / Review of existing directives (cf. Annex IX of WFD) in relation to discharges of certain dangerous substances / COM Proposal two years after adoption of list (cf. 16(8)): Oct 2003
16 (11) / list of priority substances shall become Annex X WFD / -

1

[1]OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p.1