According to Article 6 and Annex IV of the WFD, Member States shall ensure the establishment of a register or registers of all areas lying within each RBD which have been designated as requiring special protection under specific Community legislation for the protection of their surface water and groundwater, or for the conservation of habitats and species directly depending on water, including the protection of Natura 2000 sites and economically significant aquatic species (e.g. shellfish).
A summary of the register of Protected Areas should be part of the RBMPs, including maps indicating the location of each Protected Area and a description of the Community, national or local legislation under which the Protected Areas have been designated. It is expected that all Protected Areas will be reported under the surface water body (SWB) and groundwater body (GWB) schemas, through their links to the surface and groundwater bodies.
The relevant EU legislation for the protection of water with more stringent objectives includes the following directives:
The Freshwater Fish Directive and the Shellfish Directive were repealed on 22 December 2013. According to the WFD, the level of protection should be maintained through the inclusion of the designated areas as Protected Areas under WFD. The necessary additional objectives and measures should be included in the RBMPs and PoMs.
For water bodies which are designated as Protected Areas, the Environmental Objectives set are beyond good status, as more stringent objectives have been set for those areas in the relevant Community legislation.
Annex VII (7)(1) of the WFD requires that the RBMPs contain ‘a summary of the measures required implementing Community legislation for the protection of water’. The additional measures for Protected Areas should be an integral part of the RBMPs in order to ensure that the requirements of those Protected Areas are included in the overall management of the RBDs and to ensure the coherence of the entire water planning with the objectives already established by other Community and national legislation.
Article 4.1(c) of the WFD states that ‘Member States shall achieve compliance with any standards and objectives at the latest 15 years after the date of entry into force of this Directive, unless otherwise specified in the Community legislation under which the individual Protected Areas have been established’. Therefore, water bodies in the Protected Areas must be of good status by 2015 at the latest, and earlier if required by another piece of Community legislation. If a water body is not of good status then it would be expected that an exemption under Article 4.4 of the WFD has been applied.
The additional measures can be of the same nature as those for the WFD (e.g. measures to reduce nitrogen loss from agriculture, or measures to improve the hydromorphological status in a river) but they need to reach a higher level of improvement of status. Alternatively, they may need to address different aspects of pollution which are not included in the WFD definition of good status (e.g. microbiological standards for the protection of shellfish and bathing waters). There can also be different kinds of measures targeted towards the specific objectives for the protection of the area.
As with any other WFD Environmental Objective, exemptions may apply provided the conditions in the relevant Articles are fulfilled. In the case of Protected Areas, it needs to be ensured that the WFD exemptions do not undermine the objectives under the relevant legislation. Reporting of exemptions linked to Protected Areas refer only to the additional objectives set (e.g. based on Article 4(1)(c). Exemptions from the WFD Environmental Objectives in Articles 4(1)(a) and 4(1)b are reported in the context of the reporting of the relevant status of surface or groundwater (see relevant parts of sections 2 and 3).
Class SWAssociatedProtectedArea
Information regarding Protected Areas associated with surface water bodies should be reported at surface water body level according to the schema SWB.
euProtectedAreaCode - Required.
Unique EU code(s) of the (water-dependent) Protected Area(s) associated to the surface water body. If applicable, report the code of the Protected Area as previously reported under other directives. If it has not been reported under other Directives, report the code reported under the GML schema ProtectedAreas (see Annex 5 GIS guidance).
The protected areas under Habitats/Birds directive have the same code for 2 different types (Birds and Habitats)
This aspect should be taken into account in quality checks
In order to report the code of the Protected Area as previously reported under other directives, it would be very useful to include a reference to the EEA's vocabulary with the last updated information:
Yes, it is important to have the link to the EEA's vocabulary of the PA already reported with UWWTD, CDDA and others directives because it is not always easy to have all the info available
We support the comments from ES and IT.
EL supports the suggestions to include a link to the EEA's vocabulary of the PAs already reported under other Directives.
protectedAreaType - Required.(ProtectedAreaType_Enum)
Report the type for each Protected Area related to the surface water body.
The shellfish protected areas seems overruled by the shellfish production areas apointed according LIVSFS 2005:20 and REGULATION (EC) No 854/2004 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 April 2004, laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption. The monitoring and control of microbial conatmination seems stricter according to the regulation than the old Shellfish directive.
The reporting guidance states that "if the Member State applies a "whole territory" approach for UWWT and/or ND, surface water bodies should not be reported as protected areas".
In order to avoid any confusion in the assessments of the RBMPs, it would be helpful to include this information in the reporting so that it is clear that MS have applied this approach.
As the freshwater fish and shellfish directives have been repealed, we were wondering if it is still necessary to include them in the reporting.
protectedAreaOtherType - Conditional.
If the type of Protected Area is reported as ‘Other’, provide more information.
protectedAreaAssociationType - Required.(ProtAreaAssociationType_Enum)
Report the type of association that the surface water body has with the Protected Area. The boundaries of surface water bodies and Protected Areas will not always directly coincide with each other.
In order to avoid any confusion regarding the type of association that should be reported, it could be helpful to include some examples in the reporting guidance.
Is that structure used by other MS? (it is not used in France) If not, it could be suppressed.
protectedAreaHabitatsBirdsObjectivesSet - Conditional.(ProtectedAreaHabitatsBirdsObjective_Enum)
Indicate whether specific water objectives have been set to protect relevant water dependent protected habitats and species by selecting the appropriate option from the enumeration list.
protectedAreaHabitatsBirdsObjectivesMet - Conditional.(YesNoNoInformation_Union_Enum)
Indicate whether the objectives set to protect water dependent habitats and species in Habitats and Birds Protected Areas are met:
It doesn't follow the same logic as for SW EcoStatus, SW and GW ChemStatus and GW quantitative status, where we can find the fields or elements:
It will be advisable to have a similar field here:
protectedAreaDrinkingWaterObjectivesSet - Conditional.(YesNo_Enum)
Indicate whether additional, specific standards have been set to protect drinking water by selecting the appropriate option from the enumeration list.
protectedAreaDrinkingWaterObjectivesMet - Conditional.(YesNoNoInformation_Union_Enum)
Indicate whether the specific standards set to protect drinking water quality in Article 7 Abstraction for Drinking Water Protected Areas are met:
It doesn't follow the same logic as for SW EcoStatus, SW and GW ChemStatus and GW quantitative status, where we can find the fields or elements:
It will be advisable to have a similar field here:
protectedAreaShellfishObjectivesSet - Conditional (ProtectedAreaShellfishObjective_Enum)
Indicate whether microbiological standards have been set to protect shellfish by selecting the appropriate option from the enumeration list.
As the shellfish directive has been repealed, we were wondering if it is still necessary to include it in the reporting.
protectedAreaShellfishObjectivesMet - Conditional.(YesNoNoInformation_Union_Enum)
Indicate whether the microbiological standards set to protect shellfish in Shellfish Protected Areas are met:
It doesn't follow the same logic as for SW EcoStatus, SW and GW ChemStatus and GW quantitative status, where we can find the fields or elements:
It will be advisable to have a similar field here:
As the shellfish directive has been repealed, we were wondering if it is still necessary to include it in the reporting.
protectedAreaComment - Optional.
If objectives have not been set or standards have not been met for the Protected Area, provide further explanation (which objectives have not been set, which standards have not been met, reasons, etc).
protectedAreaExemption - Required.(ExemptionType_Enum)
Report which type(s) of exemption(s) from the relevant Protected Area objectives or standards apply at surface water body level, or 'No exemption'. More than one exemption may apply. Provide further details in the RBMP and/or background documents. For more information see Section 5.4.4 below.
Class GWAssociatedProtectedArea
Information regarding Protected Areas associated with groundwater bodies should be reported at groundwater body level according to the schema GWB
euProtectedAreaCode - Required.
Unique EU code(s) of the (water-dependent) Protected Area(s) associated to the groundwater body. If applicable, report the code of the Protected Area as previously reported under other directives. If it has not been reported under other Directives, report the code reported under the GML schema ProtectedAreas (see Annex 5 GIS guidance).
protectedAreaType - Conditional. (ProtectedGWAreaType_Enum)
Report the type for each Protected Area related to the groundwater body.
the Guidance on completion of schema element says Conditional and should say Required
protectAreaOtherType - Conditional.
If the type of Protected Area is reported as ‘Other’, provide more information.
protectedAreaAssociationType - Required. (ProtAreaAssociationType_Enum)
Report the type of association that the groundwater body has with the Protected Area. The boundaries of groundwater bodies and Protected Areas will not always directly coincide with each other.
In order to avoid any confusion regarding the type of association that should be reported, it could be helpful to include some examples in the reporting guidance.
protectedAreaHabitatsBirdsObjectivesSet - Conditional. (ProtectedAreaHabitatsBirdsObjective_Enum)
Indicate whether specific water objectives have been set to protect relevant groundwater dependent protected habitats and species by selecting the appropriate option from the enumeration list.
protectedAreaHabitatsBirdsObjectivesMet - Conditional. (YesNoNoInformation_Union_Enum)
Indicate whether the objectives set to protect groundwater dependent habitats and species in Habitats and Birds Protected Areas are met
protectedAreaDrinkingWaterObjectivesSet - Conditional.(YesNo_Enum)
Indicate whether additional, specific standards have been set to protect drinking water
protectedAreaDrinkingWaterObjectivesMet - Conditional. (YesNoNoInformation_Union_Enum)
Indicate whether the specific standards set to protect drinking water quality in Article 7 Abstraction for Drinking Water Protected Areas are met.
protectedAreaComment - Optional.
If objectives have not been set or standards have not been met for the Protected Area, provide further explanation (which objectives have not been set, which standards have not been met, reasons, etc).
protectedAreaExemption - Conditional.(ExemptionType_Enum)
Report which type(s) of exemption(s) from the relevant Protected Area objectives or standards apply at groundwater body level (if any). More than one exemption may apply. Provide further details in the RBMP and/or background documents. For more information see Section 5.4.4 below.
Please insert more details regarding additional objectives for protected areas.