Key documents on flood risk management

• DIRECTIVE 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of Flood risks
• Negotiations of the Floods Directive
• A legislative proposal on Flood risk management
• Communication on Flood risk management; flood prevention, protection and mitigation
• Information exchange on flood risk management
• About CIRCA – the information exchange platform

 

Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on the assessment and management of flood risks

Published in the Official Journal on 6 November 2007, page 27.

Negotiation and adoption

18/9/2007 : The Council adopts the Floods Directive :

Justice and Home Affairs Council Press release (see pa 32, provisional)

Council voting list, including full document references with corrigendums.

Text of the Directive as adopted by the Council (please note that the text will only be legally binding once published in the Official Journal)

Other language versions are available in the Council's document search engine [Search tip : look for document with the interinstiutional reference 2006/0005(COD), and note the corrigendums in the NL, DK, IT and SK versions.]

Full information on the negotiations can also be accessed from Pre-lex.

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Second reading - negotiations on the proposed Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks

25/5/2007 : The European Commission adopts its opinion on the European Parliaments report in recond reading (COM(2007)294 of 25.5.2007).

25/04/2007 : The European Parliament adopts a compromise package agreed with the Council on the Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks. Final adoption by the Council is expected later in 2007.

• Commission's press release
• more information on the 2nd reading in the European Parliament

First reading - negotiations on the proposed Directive on the assessment and management of floods

6/12/2006 : The Commission's Communication COM(2006)775 to the European Parliament on the Council's Common Position on the Directive on the assessment and management of floods is adopted.

23/11/2006 : The Council adopts the Common Position on the "Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks"

• Common position published in the Official Journal of 19.12.2006
  
• Provisional press release of the Council
• For full documentation please go to the Council's document search engine (Please note that some linguistic revisions are still foreseen before transmission to the European Parliament).

 

Search tips :

• First use the inter- institutional file reference for the dossier : 2006/0005(COD) to access all documents of the Council in relation to this file, then;
• document reference for the text of Directive the Common position : 12131/06
• document reference for the Council's reasons : 12131/06 ADD 1
• document reference for the Commission's statement on the Common position : 14566/06 ADD1

27/6/2006 : The Environment Council adopts a Political agreement on a Common position on the floods Directive

• Provisional Council conclusions (pdf, 227KB)

13/6/2006 : European Parliament adopts a report in the first reading on the Floods Directive

• Report A6-0182/2006, by MEP Seeber (EPP/AT)
  
• Informal consolidated version of EP report
  

17/5/2006 : European Economic and Social Committee adopts an opinion on the Floods Directive

• Opinion n° 737/2006
  

 

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the assessment and management of floods

• Full text of the Proposal (COM(2006)15 final of 18.1.2006)
• Impact assessment (pdf~213KB)
• Press release

Key related background documents:

• Results of the internet consultation
• "Evaluation of the impacts of floods and associated protection policies", April 2005, by Office International de l’Eau and Ecologic. English.
  Final report (pdf ~ 1,4MB)  
  Final report Annexes (pdf ~ 1MB)
• "The impacts of coastal flooding, flood mapping and planning", December 2005, by Water Research Centre (WRC) plc. English. Final report. (pdf ~247KB)
• Best practices on Flood prevention, protection and mitigation (pdf ~420KB)

 

Communication on Flood risk management; Flood prevention, protection and mitigation

• Full text of the Communication (COM(2004) 472 final of 12.7.2004)
• Press release
• Summary of the informal Environment Council
• Conclusions of the Council of the European Union
  
• Opinion of the Committee of the Regions
  
• Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee
  

 

Information exchange on flood risk management

The information exchange carried out in the context of the Floods Action Programme and the Working Group on Floods has led to the development of the following documents. (Please note that these informal documents are endorsed by the Water Directors, but do not necessarily express the view of the European Commission or does not necessarily correspond to the full requirements of Directive 2007/60/EC.)

• Good Practice for Delivering Flood-Related Information to the General Public, 2007. 
• A "Handbook on good practices for flood mapping in Europe" 2007, including the "Atlas of Flood Maps, with examples from 19 European countries, USA and Japan" !

 

CIRCA Information Exchange Platform

In order to promote exchange of information, the Commission set up an internet-based platform, called "CIRCA". CIRCA stands for "Communication Information Resource Centre Administrator" and it is a software tool, developed under the European Commission IDA programme, which is tuned towards Public Administrations’ needs. 

The development of river basin management plans under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and of flood risk management plans are elements of integrated river basin management. To establish an easy exchange of information with the Water Framework Directive, the information regarding the Action programme on Flood risk management is part of the WFD CIRCA. 

An overview of flood related information available on CIRCA is included in this Thematic information sheet of Flood Risk Management!

If you are familiar with the tool, you can directly access the public part of the CIRCA site. However, you may want to know more about the following issues: 

• Who can get access?
  The criteria for accessing the restricted area.
• How to get access to the restricted area?
  The "self-registration" procedure

If you need any help regarding the use of the CIRCA tool, there are comprehensive "help" functions integrated. In addition, there is plenty of additional information on the use of the CIRCA tool available such as user manuals and "frequently asked questions" list under:  http://forum.europa.europa.eu/Public/irc/ida/ircforum/home.