The high and rapidly increasing demand for maritime space for different purposes, such as installations for the production of energy from renewable sources, oil and gas exploration and exploitation, maritime shipping and fishing activities, ecosystem and biodiversity conservation, the extraction of raw materials, tourism, aquaculture installations and underwater cultural heritage, as well as the multiple pressures on coastal resources, require an integrated planning and management approach.

Such an approach to ocean management and maritime governance has been developed in the Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union (‘IMP’), including, as its environmental pillar, Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council4. The objective of the IMP is to support the sustainable development of seas and oceans and to develop coordinated, coherent and transparent decision-making in relation to the Union’s sectoral policies affecting the oceans, seas, islands, coastal and outermost regions and maritime sectors, including through sea-basin strategies or macro-regional strategies, whilst achieving good environmental status as set out in Directive 2008/56/EC.

The IMP identifies maritime spatial planning as a cross-cutting policy tool enabling public authorities and stakeholders to apply a coordinated, integrated and trans-boundary approach. The application of an ecosystem-based approach will contribute to promoting the sustainable development and growth of the maritime and coastal economies and the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources.

Maritime spatial planning supports and facilitates the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (‘the Europe 2020 Strategy’), endorsed by the European Council in its conclusions of 17 June 2010, which aims to deliver high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion, including promotion of a more competitive, resource-efficient and green economy. The coastal and maritime sectors have significant potential for sustainable growth and are keys to the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

In its communication entitled ‘Blue Growth: opportunities for marine and maritime sustainable growth’, the Commission has identified a number of ongoing Union initiatives which are intended to implement the Europe 2020 Strategy, as well as a number of activities on which blue growth initiatives could focus in the future and which could be adequately supported by greater confidence and certainty for investors provided through maritime spatial planning.

Regulation (EU) No 1255/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council5 supported and facilitated the implementation of maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal management. European Structural and Investment Funds, including the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund6, will provide opportunities to support the implementation of this Directive for 2014-2020.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 (‘Unclos’) states in its preamble that issues relating to the use of ocean space are closely interrelated and need to be considered as a whole. Planning of ocean space is the logical advancement and structuring of obligations and of the use of rights granted under Unclos and a practical tool in assisting Member States to comply with their obligations.

In order to promote the sustainable coexistence of uses and, where applicable, the appropriate apportionment of relevant uses in the maritime space, a framework should be put in place that consists at least of the establishment and implementation by Member States of maritime spatial planning, resulting in plans.

Maritime spatial planning will contribute to the effective management of marine activities and the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources, by creating a framework for consistent, transparent, sustainable and evidence-based decision-making. In order to achieve its objectives, this Directive should lay down obligations to establish a maritime planning process, resulting in a maritime spatial plan or plans; such a planning process should take into account land-sea interactions and promote cooperation among Member States. Without prejudice to the existing Union acquis in the areas of energy, transport, fisheries and the environment, this Directive should not impose any other new obligations, notably in relation to the concrete choices of the Member States about how to pursue the sectoral policies in those areas, but should rather aim to contribute to those policies through the planning process.

In order to ensure consistency and legal clarity, the geographical scope for maritime spatial planning should be defined in conformity with existing legislative instruments of the Union and international maritime law, in particular Unclos. The competences of Member States relating to maritime boundaries and jurisdiction are not altered by this Directive.

While it is appropriate for the Union to provide a framework for maritime spatial planning, Member States remain responsible and competent for designing and determining, within their marine waters, the format and content of such plans, including institutional arrangements and, where applicable, any apportionment of maritime space to different activities and uses respectively.

In order to respect proportionality and subsidiarity, as well as to minimise additional administrative burdens, the transposition and implementation of this Directive should to the greatest extent possible build upon existing national, regional and local rules and mechanisms, including those set out in Recommendation 2002/413/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council7 or in Council Decision 2010/631/EU8.

In marine waters, ecosystems and marine resources are subject to significant pressures. Human activities, but also climate change effects, natural hazards and shoreline dynamics such as erosion and accretion, can have severe impacts on coastal economic development and growth, as well as on marine ecosystems, leading to deterioration of environmental status, loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem services. Due regard should be had to these various pressures in the establishment of maritime spatial plans. Moreover, healthy marine ecosystems and their multiple services, if integrated in planning decisions, can deliver substantial benefits in terms of food production, recreation and tourism, climate change mitigation and adaptation, shoreline dynamics control and disaster prevention.

In order to promote the sustainable growth of maritime economies, the sustainable development of marine areas and the sustainable use of marine resources, maritime spatial planning should apply an ecosystem-based approach as referred to in Article 1(3) of Directive 2008/56/EC with the aim of ensuring that the collective pressure of all activities is kept within levels compatible with the achievement of good environmental status and that the capacity of marine ecosystems to respond to human-induced changes is not compromised, while contributing to the sustainable use of marine goods and services by present and future generations. In addition, an ecosystem-based approach should be applied in a way that is adapted to the specific ecosystems and other specificities of the different marine regions and that takes into consideration the ongoing work in the Regional Sea Conventions, building on existing knowledge and experience. The approach will also allow for an adaptive management which ensures refinement and further development as experience and knowledge increase, taking into account the availability of data and information at sea basin level to implement that approach. Member States should take into account the precautionary principle and the principle that preventive action should be taken, as laid down in Article 191(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Maritime spatial planning will contribute, inter alia, to achieving the aims of Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council9, Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/200210, Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council11, Council Directive 92/43/EEC12, Decision No 884/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council13, Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council14, Directive 2008/56/EC, recalling the Commission communication of 3 May 2011 entitled ‘Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020’, the Commission communication of 20 September 2011 entitled ‘Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe’, the Commission communication of 16 April 2013 entitled ‘An EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change’ and the Commission communication of 21 January 2009 entitled ‘Strategic goals and recommendations for the EU’s maritime transport policy until 2018’, as well as, where appropriate, those of the Union’s Regional Policy, including the sea-basin and macro-regional strategies.

Marine and coastal activities are often closely interrelated. In order to promote the sustainable use of maritime space, maritime spatial planning should take into account land-sea interactions. For this reason, maritime spatial planning can play a very useful role in determining orientations related to sustainable and integrated management of human activities at sea, preservation of the living environment, the fragility of coastal ecosystems, erosion and social and economic factors. Maritime spatial planning should aim to integrate the maritime dimension of some coastal uses or activities and their impacts and ultimately allow an integrated and strategic vision.

This framework Directive does not interfere with Member States’ competence for town and country planning, including any terrestrial or land spatial planning system used to plan how land and coastal zone should be used. If Member States apply terrestrial planning to coastal waters or parts thereof, this Directive should not apply to those waters.

Maritime spatial planning should cover the full cycle of problem and opportunity identification, information collection, planning, decision-making, implementation, revision or updating, and the monitoring of implementation, and should have due regard to land-sea interactions and best available knowledge. Best use should be made of mechanisms set out in existing or future legislation, including Commission Decision 2010/477/EU15 and the Commission’s Marine Knowledge 2020 initiative.

The main purpose of maritime spatial planning is to promote sustainable development and to identify the utilisation of maritime space for different sea uses as well as to manage spatial uses and conflicts in marine areas. Maritime spatial planning also aims at identifying and encouraging multi-purpose uses, in accordance with the relevant national policies and legislation. In order to achieve that purpose, Member States need at least to ensure that the planning process or processes result in a comprehensive planning identifying the different uses of maritime space and taking into consideration long-term changes due to climate change.

Member States should consult and coordinate their plans with the relevant Member States and should cooperate with third-country authorities in the marine region concerned in conformity with the rights and obligations of those Member States and of the third countries concerned under Union and international law. Effective cross-border cooperation between Member States and with neighbouring third countries requires that the competent authorities in each Member State be identified. Member States therefore need to designate the competent authority or authorities responsible for the implementation of this Directive. Given the differences between various marine regions or sub-regions and coastal zones, it is not appropriate to prescribe in detail in this Directive the form which those cooperation mechanisms should take.

The management of marine areas is complex and involves different levels of authorities, economic operators and other stakeholders. In order to promote sustainable development in an effective manner, it is essential that stakeholders, authorities and the public be consulted at an appropriate stage in the preparation of maritime spatial plans under this Directive, in accordance with relevant Union legislation. A good example of public consultation provisions can be found in Article 2(2) of Directive 2003/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council16.

Through maritime spatial plans, Member States can reduce the administrative burden and costs in support of their action to implement other relevant Union legislation. The timelines for maritime spatial plans should therefore, where possible, be coherent with the timetables set out in other relevant legislation, especially: Directive 2009/28/EC, which requires the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in 2020 to be at least 20 % and which identifies coordination of authorisation, certification and planning procedures, including spatial planning, as an important contribution to the achievement of the Union’s targets for energy from renewable sources; Directive 2008/56/EC and point 6 of Part A of the Annex to Decision 2010/477/EU, which require Member States to take the necessary measures to achieve or maintain good environmental status in the marine environment by 2020 and which identify maritime spatial planning as a tool to support the ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities in order to achieve good environmental status; Decision No 884/2004/EC, which requires that the trans-European transport network be established by 2020 by means of the integration of Europe’s land, sea and air transport infrastructure networks.

Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council17 establishes environmental assessment as an important tool for integrating environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans and programmes. Where maritime spatial plans are likely to have significant effects on the environment, they are subject to Directive 2001/42/EC. Where maritime spatial plans include Natura 2000 sites, such an environmental assessment can be combined with the requirements of Article 6 of Directive 92/43/EEC, to avoid duplication.

With a view to ensuring that maritime spatial plans are based on reliable data and to avoid additional administrative burdens, it is essential that Member States make use of the best available data and information by encouraging the relevant stakeholders to share information and by making use of existing instruments and tools for data collection, such as those developed in the context of the Marine Knowledge 2020 initiative and Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council18.

Member States should send copies of their maritime spatial plans and any updates to the Commission, so as to enable the latter to monitor the implementation of this Directive. The Commission will use the information provided by the Member States, and existing information available under Union legislation, to keep the European Parliament and the Council informed of progress made in implementing this Directive.

Timely transposition of this Directive is essential since the Union has adopted a number of policy initiatives that are to be implemented by the year 2020 and which this Directive aims to support and complement.

A landlocked Member State would be under a disproportionate and unnecessary obligation if it had to transpose and implement this Directive. Therefore, such Member States should be exempted from the obligation to transpose and implement this Directive,