The European Commission has published a Roadmap for the upcoming Fitness Check of the Water Framework Directive and its daughter directives as well as the Floods Directive. The fitness Check will look at the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value of the Directives. This will include an assessment of the potential for regulatory simplification and burden reduction. The fitness check may identify areas where simplifications or improvements to the legislation or its implementation could be possible and therefore may serve as the basis for further action by the European Commission.

According to the Commission, “a quantitative assessment of actual costs and benefits including impacts on business will be carried out in as far as possible. The fitness check may identify areas where simplifications or improvements to the legislation or its implementation could be possible and therefore may serve as the basis for further action by the European Commission.

The fitness check will cover the performance of these key directives in all Member States and over the whole lifespan of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive to date, meaning the two cycles of RBMPs and Programmes of Measures and the first cycle of FRMPs. The Commission will publish in early 2018 implementation reports on these management plans, which will be the starting point of this fitness check. These implementation reports will show the current status in European water bodies and the actions taken by Member States to achieve those objectives. They will point out the main shortcomings identified in the WFD and FD implementation, but will also highlight the progress made in the different areas since the first cycle of RBMPs. They will also contribute to understand the developments that the Directives have brought about to contribute to a sound water management in Member States and at EU level.”

The deadline for feedback is 17 November. See here for more information.