INSPIRE DIRECTIVE

In Europe a major recent development has been the entering in force of the INSPIRE Directive in May 2007, establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in Europe to support Community environmental policies, and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.

INSPIRE is based on the infrastructures for spatial information established and operated by the 27 Member States of the European Union. The Directive addresses 34 spatial data themes needed for environmental applications, with key components specified through technical implementing rules. This makes INSPIRE a unique example of a legislative “regional” approach.

Legislation

Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) was published in the official Journal on the 25th April 2007. The INSPIRE Directive entered into force on the 15th May 2007

To ensure that the spatial data infrastructures of the Member States are compatible and usable in a Community and transboundary context, the Directive requires that common Implementing Rules (IR) are adopted in a number of specific areas (Metadata, Data Specifications, Network Services, Data and Service Sharing and Monitoring and Reporting). These IRs are adopted as Commission Decisions or Regulations, and are binding in their entirety. The Commission is assisted in the process of adopting such rules by a regulatory committee composed of representatives of the Member States and chaired by a representative of the Commission (this is known as the Comitology procedure).

Draft Commission Legislation

Editor's Choice

Call for Expression of Interest for participation in development of INSPIRE data specifications for Annex II & III Data Themes launched

The Call is addressed to the INSPIRE Spatial Data Interest Communities (SDICs) and Legally Mandated Organisations (LMOs). The Commission is seeking voluntary contributions of SDICs and LMOs, asking them to propose experts (domain experts, Facilitators, Editors) for the Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) and reference materials to be taken into consideration for the data specifications.

We recommend that you carefully read the following documents before responding to this call.

SDICs and LMOs can participate by logging in and completing the required forms.

The closing date has been extended to 8th January 2010 for candidate experts.

INSPIRE Conference 2010
INSPIRE as a Framework for Cooperation

The INSPIRE Conference 2010 will take place from 23 to 25 June 2010 in Krakow, Poland. On 22 June pre-conference workshops will be organized. The theme ofthis year’s edition is "INSPIRE as a Framework for Cooperation".

The Call for papers is now open, for more information visit: http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/conferences/inspire_2010/callforpapers.cfm

Featured News


14-Dec-2009  Amendment of the INSPIRE Network Services Regulation for Download and Transformation approved
14-Dec-2009  INSPIRE Implementing Rules on interoperability of spatial data sets and services have been approved by the INSPIRE Committee
07-Dec-2009  INSPIRE Conference 2010: Call for papers
03-Dec-2009  INSPIRE Forum: Connecting people and sharing knowledge
05-Nov-2009  Call for Expression of Interest for participation in development of INSPIRE data specifications for Annex II & III Data Themes launched
09-Sep-2009  Call for expressions of interest: INSPIRE development