Strasbourg, 15/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 13 June, the Parliament adopted, by a very large majority, the recommendation from Frederika Brepoels (EPP-ED, Belgium)on the Council's common position on the creation of a special information infrastructure in the Community (INSPIRE), re-introducing a large number of the amendments adopted in the first reading, but left aside by the Council. The dossier will now go to conciliation.
The aim of the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community) programme is to create an infrastructure for access to and exchange of geographic information at Community level in order to monitor and improve the state of the environment (air, water, soil, countryside).
The EP wants to reduce obstacles preventing public authorities sharing environmental data, by calling for intellectual property rights to be dropped from the list of exceptions which allow access to the information to be restricted. MEPs consider that free access to data should be guaranteed not only for those using the data for research, but also for those consulting the data. However, if costs are generated, fees should be limited to the costs actually incurred. Parliament also altered the timetable for the establishment of metadata (a huge database) by Member States: at the latest three years after the directive comes into force, notably for transport networks, protected sites (Annex 1), land registers and geology (Annex II); at the latest six years after the directive comes into effect for geographical data on the soil, areas at risk, and public health plans (Annex III). It also reinstated the Commission proposal giving Member States two years to transpose the directive. Finally, for federal states, Parliament called for coordination structures to ensure the effective implementation of the directive.