The European Union and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive: Continuing the Development of European Ocean Use Management

The European Union has been engaged in an effort to develop a marine strategy to protect the marine environment and a more encompassing integrated maritime policy that would provide a comprehensive system for the management of the uses of the marine areas of Europe. An earlier article by the author described the beginnings of this policy development; this article examines the subsequent 2008 Directive of the European Parliament and the Council, which establishes a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive provides a plan of action with designated responsibilities and obligations and a schedule that is to be adhered to by member states and the European Commission. It represents a significant step in the European endeavor to advance ocean use management and sets the stage for future development of European marine policy. Keywords: European marine strategyEuropean maritime policyEuropean ocean management/governanceocean governance Notes 1. Lawrence Juda, "The European Union and Ocean Use Management: The Marine Strategy and the Maritime Policy," Ocean Development and International Law 38 (2007): 259–282. 2. According to U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook (2008), the European Union (EU) coastline has a length of 65,992.9 km, available at www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ee.html. The landlocked states of the EU are: Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, and Slovakia. 3. Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 (the Maritime Strategy Framework Directive [MSFD]), Official Journal of the European Union L 164 (25 June 2008), 19–40, available at eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:164:0019:0040:EN:PDF. 4. See, for example, European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions, An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union, COM (2007) 575 final (10 October 2007), available at eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0575:FIN:EN:PDF. See also Commission Staff Working Document, An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union, SEC (2007) 1278 (10 October 2007), available at ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/pdf/ActionPaper/action_plan_en.pdf; Commission of the European Communities, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, Thematic Strategy on the Protection and Conservation of the Marine Environment, COM (2005) 504 final (24 October 2005), available at www.waterland.net/showdownload.cfm?objecttype=mark.hive.contentobjects.download.pdf&objectid=C37B22E1-0459-1F1C-0F7615A097B94331; and European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, Towards a Strategy to Protect and Conserve the Marine Environment, COM (2002) 539 final (2 October 2002), available at www.eurocean.org/np4/file/129/Com_20_2002__20Marine_20environment.pdf. 5. Commission of the European Communities, Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council Establishing a Framework for Community Action in the Field of Marine Environmental Policy (Marine Strategy Directive), COM (2005) 505 final (24 October 2005), available at eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2005:0505:FIN:EN:PDF. 6. A detailed examination of the changes proposed by the Parliament of the European Community is found in Council of the European Union, Interinstitutional File: 2005/0211 (COD) (Brussels, 13 December 2007), available at register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/07/st16/st16340.en07.pdf. 7. See Council of the European Union, Statement of the Council's Reasons, Interinstitutional File: 2005/0211 (COD) (Brussels, 3 July 2007), available at register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/07/st09/st09388-ad01.en07.pdf. 8. The full documentation of the legislative history of the MSFD is available at www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5283632. On the co-decision process, see European Commission, The Codecision Procedure, available at ec.europa.eu/codecision/procedure/index_en.htm. 9. Council, Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2002, Concerning the Implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Europe, Official Journal of the European Communities L 148/24 (6 June 2002), available at eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:148:0024:0027:EN:PDF. 10. On the distinction among the different legislative mechanisms, see Consolidated Version of the Treaty Establishing the European Community (the EU Treaty), Official Journal of the European Communities C 325/33 (24 December 2002), art. 249, available at eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/12002E/pdf/12002E_EN.pdf. 11. The constitutional principle of subsidiarity recognizes a division of authority between the European Union and its member states. The EU Treaty, supra note 10, art. 5, provides that in areas not coming under its exclusive competence, the EU can act "only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community." On the concept of subsidiarity and its policy significance, see Andrew Jordan and Tim Jeppesen, "EU Environmental Policy: Adapting to the Principle of Subsidiarity?" European Environment 10 (2000): 64–74; and Gráinne de Búrca, "Reappraising Subsidiarity's Significance after Amsterdam" (Cambridge: Harvard Law School, July 1999), available at www.jeanmonnetprogram.org/papers/99/990701.rtf. 12. The principle of proportionality supplements subsidiarity. The EU Treaty, supra note 10, art. 5, stipulates: "Any action by the Community shall not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of this Treaty." 13. MSFD, supra note 3, paras. 1–48. 14. See, for example, ibid., preambular paras. 2–5. 15. Ibid., preambular para. 3. 16. Ibid. and Joe Borg, member of the European Commission for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, "The EU's Integrated Maritime Policy: Making Headway in Difficult Times" (Malta, 7 May 2009), available at ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/speeches/speech070509_en.html. 17. Ibid., preambular paras. 8 and 44. 18. Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, Official Journal of the European Communities L 327/1 (22 December 2000), preambular paras. 2(18), 2(20), 2(22), and art. 4, available at eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2000:327:0001:0072:EN:PDF. 19. MSFD, supra note 3, art. 3(5). 20. Ibid., art. 3(5)(a)(b). 21. Ibid., art. 1(3). 22. Ibid., preambular paras. 24–27 and 38. 23. Ibid., preambular paras. 11, 14, 24–32, and 35. 24. The Council of the EU has made it clear that the development of an integrated maritime policy should proceed "in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity." Council of the European Communities, Draft Council Conclusions on the Integrated Maritime Policy (5 December 2008), available at register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/st16/st16503-re01.en08.pdf. The Commission has stipulated that it will implement the maritime policy "fully complying with the subsidiarity principle." Commission of the European Communities, Guidelines for an Integrated Approach to Maritime Policy, COM (2008) 395 final (June 26, 2008), at 4, available online at ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/pdf/com08_395_eu.pdf. 25. MSFD, supra note 3, preambular para. 43. 26. Frank Maes, "The International Legal Framework for Marine Spatial Planning," Marine Policy 32 (2008): 797–810, at 799. 27. See the Web sites of the Helsinki Commission at www.helcom.fi; the North Sea Commission at www.northsea.org; and the OSPAR Commission at www.ospar.org. 28. MSFD, supra note 3, preambular paras. 5, 10, 11, and 27. 29. Ibid., preambular para. 10. 30. Ibid., preambular paras. 9, 12, 16–19, and 39–40. 31. Commission of the European Communities, Guidelines for an Integrated Approach to Maritime Policy, supra note 24. 32. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1833 U.N.T.S. 397. 33. Framework Convention on Biological Diversity, 1760 U.N.T.S. 79. 34. The multiple treaties concerning the protection of the Mediterranean Sea, developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme, are available at www.unepmap.org/index.php?module=content2&catid=001001004. 35. The text of the treaties concerning the protection of the Black Sea are available at www.blacksea-commission.org/main.htm. 36. MSFD, supra note 3, preambular paras. 17–19 and 27–28. 37. Ibid., art. 1(3) states that "Marine strategies shall apply an ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities. …" 38. Ibid., art. 3(2). The terminology "politically defined space" and "ecologically defined space" is used in Lawrence Juda, "Considerations in Developing a Functional Approach to the Governance of Large Marine Ecosystems," Ocean Development and International Law 30 (1999): 89–125. 39. Ibid., preambular paras. 13, 16, and 20. 40. Ibid., art. 1(2). 41. Ibid., preambular para. 34. 42. Ibid., preambular para. 38, 43. Ibid., preambular para. 36. 44. Laurence D. Mee et al., "How Good Is Good? Human Values and Europe's Proposed Marine Strategy Directive," Marine Pollution Bulletin 56 (2008): 187–204. 45. Council of the European Union, Information Note, Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council Establishing a Framework for Community Action in the Field of Marine Environmental Policy (Marine Strategy Directive), 16976/06 (20 December 2006), available at register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/06/st16/st16976.en06.pdf (emphasis added). 46. MSFD, supra note 3, art. 1(1)(2). For a detailed review of Parliamentary amendments to the Council's positions on the draft MSFD, see European Parliament, Recommendation for Second Reading, A6-0389/2007 (12 October 2007), available at www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?language=EN&reference=A6–0389/2007. 47. Juda, "The European Union and Ocean Use Management," supra note 1. 48. MSFD, supra note 3, art. 3(a). 49. Ibid., art. 1(1) and (2). 50. Ibid., art. 1(2). 51. Ibid., art. 5(1). 52. Ibid., art. 5(2). 53. Ibid., art. 6. 54. Ibid., art. 4(1). 55. Ibid., art. 4(2). 56. Ibid., art. 4(2). 57. See supra note 34. 58. MSFD, supra note 3, art. 6. 59. Ibid., art. 16. 60. Ibid. 61. Ibid., art. 17(1)(2). 62. Ibid., art. 17(3)(4). 63. Ibid., art. 18. 64. Ibid., art. 8. 65. Ibid., art. 8(2); and the Water Policy Directive, supra note 18. 66. Ibid., art. 8(3). 67. Ibid., art. 11(1). 68. Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, available at eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31992L0043:EN:NOT; and Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds, available at eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31979L0409:EN:HTML. 69. MSFD, supra note 3, art. 11(1)(2) (4). 70. Ibid., art.12. 71. Ibid., art. 9(1). 72. Ibid., Annex I. 73. Ibid., art. 10. 74. Ibid., art. 10(1) and Annex IV. 75. Ibid., art. 10(1). 76. Ibid., Annex IV, para. 9. 77. Ibid., art. 13(1). 78. Ibid., art. 13(2). 79. Ibid., art. 13(8). 80. Ibid., art. 13(4). 81. Ibid., art. 13(5). 82. Ibid., art. 15. 83. Ibid., art. 13(9). 84. Ibid., art. 13(10). 85. Ibid., art. 16. 86. Ibid., art. 13(3). 87. Ibid., art. 14(4). 88. Ibid., article 14(1). 89. Ibid., art. 14(1)(e), 14(2) 90. Ibid., art. 20(1). 91. Ibid., art. 20(2). 92. Ibid., art. 21. 93. Ibid., art. 23. 94. See, for example, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Conclusions from the Consultation on a European Maritime Policy, COM(2007) 574 final (Brussels, 10 October 2007), available at eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0574:FIN:EN:PDF. More recently, the EU, in conjunction with European Maritime Day, has hosted a stakeholder's conference, 19–20 May 2009, to allow for input from a variety of interested parties, available at ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/maritimeday/conference_in_rome_en.html. 95. See, for instance, Stephen Fletcher, "Converting Science to Policy Through Stakeholder Involvement: An Analysis of the European Marine Strategy Directive," Marine Pollution Bulletin 54 (2007): 1881–1886. 96. MSFD, supra note 3, art. 19(1). 97. Ibid., art. 19(2). 98. Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998), (the Aarhus Convention), available at www.unece.org/env/pp/documents/cep43e.pdf. 99. See Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information; and Council Directive 90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom of access to information on the environment. Directive 2003/4/EC notes, at para. 16, that: The right to information means that the disclosure of information should be the general rule and that public authorities should be permitted to refuse a request for environmental information in specific and clearly defined cases. Grounds for refusal should be interpreted in a restrictive way, whereby the public interest served by disclosure should be weighed against the interest served by the refusal.… 100. MSFD, supra note 3, art. 22(1). 101. Ibid., art. 22(2). 102. The vision of the Commission is expressed in its report, An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union, supra note 4. The Council welcomed the Commission's report and called for the further development of the IMP, using the MSFD as the "environmental pillar" of the future IMP. Council of the European Union, Presidency Conclusions, 16616/1/07 Rev. 1 (14 December 2007), at 17, available at www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/97669.pdf. 103. Commission of the European Communities, Communication from the Commission, Roadmap for Maritime Spatial Planning: Achieving Common Principles in the EU, COM (2008) 791 final (Brussels, 25 November 2008), available at eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0791:FIN:EN:PDF; and European Commission, Legal Aspects of Maritime Spatial Planning (October 2008), available at ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/pdf/legal_aspects_msp_report_en.pdf. 104. Commission, Roadmap for Maritime Spatial Planning, supra note 103, at 9. 105. Ibid., at 10–11. 106. Water Policy Directive, supra note 18; and Coastal Management Recommendation, supra note 9. 107. Arild Underdal, "Integrated Marine Policy: What? Why? How?" Marine Policy 4 (1980): 159–169.