The objective of this project is to assist the European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) in preparing a formal Impact Assessment for an EU Framework on Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans, by assessing different policy options for its establishment. The policy options will aim to improve forest monitoring and strategic forest planning by providing timely, validated, interoperable and freely accessible data and information across the EU for frequent and cost-efficient reporting on priority EU policy-relevant topics, as well as by facilitating coordination of this process through Strategic Plans to be developed by Member States. For this purpose, DG ENV contracted a consortium lead by consulting company Ramboll (lead) and further involving EFI and the Italian Academy of Forest Sciences
The Commission has well-established procedures and specific guidelines for carrying out impact assessments, which establish the minimum standards and principles Impact Assessments need comply with. They are laid down in the Better Regulation Guidelines and the Better Regulation Toolbox and the activities within this contract will be developed fully in line with them.
The Guidelines define a set of seven key questions that an Impact Assessment must answer. These questions translate into seven steps of analysis which are shown in the Figure below.
Ultimately, the study will support the European Commission in selecting the best options for a legislative proposal for a new EU Framework on Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans, as outlined in the EU Forest Strategy for 2030.